Maisonette insurance

eddddy

Rekusu26 said:

But what happens in a fire?  If I have a fire, hopefully, my insurance would provide cover, but most likely, all maisonettes in the block would suffer one way or another (smoke, water, may be fire itself.)  So how would  insurance work with four policies?

Each maisonette owner would make their own claim on their own policy - for the damage to their maisonette.  So 4 insurance claims.

Your insurer would pay for the damage to your maisonette, Your neighbour's insurer would pay for the damage to your neighbour's maisonette, etc.

As you can imagine, it might get a bit messy - which is why this arrangement isn't ideal.

Rekusu26 said:

As for the land owners, they have never to the best of my knowledge, visited or asked for anything.  it is s 999 year lease and the original landowners are most likely dead.  I pay a 6 monthly peppercorn rent.

If you are paying a peppercorn ground rent every 6 months, you will paying it to the freeholders. Presumably, the freeholders (or their agents) ask for it every 6 months - otherwise you wouldn't have to pay it.

The original freeholder (or what you describe as the original land owners) would have either sold the freehold at some point before they died, or it would have passed to their heirs when they died.

ThisIsWeird

Would you expect the 'usual/standard' arrangement for leasehold properties (like maisonettes and flats) to be covered using a freeholder-arranged communal building's insurance to be written into the deeds? Or is it simply a responsibility that a FHer is conscious of and is expected to sort?
If the former, is there any such condition in your deeds, Rekusu? What else does it say in the sections concerning Peppercorn rent, joint responsibilities, contributing to clearing the sewers, and stuff?
Regardless, for each maisonette to be left with their individual responsibilities for their 'building' cover - certainly if there is no expectation of demonstrating this cover is in place to your fellow maison-owners - sounds like a far-from-ideal arrangement, even if all are trustworthy. 
Do all of you have contingency policies?! I doubt it. Even if so, then all of you are surely paying over the odds, even more so than by just having 'individual' policies; a double-financial-whammy, surely?
Rekusu, certainly read the dull deeds as carefully as you can, and post exact sections on here for those who understand to decipher. Regardless of whether it indicates communal policies, it is surely, by far, the most sensible arrangement moving forward? And almost certainly cheaper.
This is something surely worth broaching the other three about? You may wish to arm yourself with info such as the kinds of scenarios should one person (cough, accidentally) not have cover, and also with some ballpark quotes for whole building insurance - hopefully indicating nice savings for all?
On the premium points, I think most folks insurances are increasing dramatically, regardless of property - ours must have been around 30-odd % increase on renewal last month, and that was after shopping around. Never ever made a claim.