Buildings Insurance for Ground Floor Flats. How much trouble am I in?

NWLondon_2

Having a bit of a xmas sort out, as I'm sure many others are!

Going through mortgage paperwork, I discover to my horror that we are without buildings insurance! We have been here 4 years now and I don't know how it got missed by the lender, solicitor etc! (Though I realise the ultimate responsibility is mine)

So...

a) Am I in trouble with my lender as I think this is a legal requirement?
b) Assuming I don't end up in prison or reposesed by teatime (and the house doesn't collapse!!!), a preliminary scoot round some websites suggests I may be up against it because we are in a ground floor converted flat. Do I need to pay an expert to estimate the re-build cost or does anyone know of a specialist website or other resource I can use?

Anyone else been in the same predicament or can otherwise tell me where to start?

Badger_Lady

Don't panic - if there hasn't been a reason to claim over the last 4 years, you've got away with it.

Get yourself covered ASAP and just don't mention it to the mortgage company. Yes, you should have got some earlier, and you would have been in trouble if there'd been a problem, but there's nothing you can do about that now! There's certainly no point buying back-dated insurance :-D

It can be slightly harder to find insurance for flats, but some high street insurers do it, no problem. I recently moved out of a ground floor flat, and got some quotes for my buyer - best offer for them was Halifax through http://www.quidco.com/halifax-home-insurance/ who have no problem covering a flat. Many others are the same, but you don't know unless you go to each one individually...

NWLondon_2

That's a relief! At least I get to sleep tonight! Now the for practical bit....

Badger_Lady

Oo, make sure you get a quote with Natwest too - they're doing £100 cashback, so that quote for my old flat comes down to £22 for the year!
http://www.quidco.com/finance/general-insurance/natwest-home-insurance/

aah

doesn't the leaseholder pay this for the whole block? (or whole house if its a coversion? ) This is what happens with mine - they probably pay it and then claim it back from you. If they haven't claimed it back then thats their lookout surely...

it could be part of your service charges...

Davidboy

aah wrote: »

doesn't the leaseholder pay this for the whole block? (or whole house if its a coversion? ) This is what happens with mine - they probably pay it and then claim it back from you. If they haven't claimed it back then thats their lookout surely...

it could be part of your service charges...

I agree.

I have a 7 year old flat, leasehold. It is part of the management company responsibility to cover the Buildings Insurance, you pay for it via the maintenance charge. I have to find my own contents insurance. As other have said Quidco for that.


D

Badger_Lady

They vary - some freeholders manage the whole building's insurance, but there are also many flats that simply stipulate that the leaseholders must obtain their own individually. This was the case with my old flat, and sounds like it's the same for the OP.