Buildings insurance for house split into flats (share of freehold)

tg99

Hi,

We have a Victorian house split into several flats each with a share of freehold. The buildings insurance covers the whole building and the policy is in the name of the freehold company. Can anyone with a similar set up advise on who they’ve managed to get the cheapest prices for buildings insurance from? And are there any insurers who will provide direct quotes (as per standard residential insurance) rather than needing to go through a broker given the policy is in the name of a company and for a whole building split into flats? 

The standard residential buildings insurers I’ve contacted have said that given that the insured is a company and covering multiple flats in one building then they cannot insure it and we’d need a commercial property policy for blocks of flats or go poss via a Landlord insurer.

Thanks

MyRealNameToo

tg99 said:

We have a Victorian house split into several flats each with a share of freehold. The buildings insurance covers the whole building and the policy is in the name of the freehold company. Can anyone with a similar set up advise on who they’ve managed to get the cheapest prices for buildings insurance from? And are there any insurers who will provide direct quotes (as per standard residential insurance) rather than needing to go through a broker given the policy is in the name of a company and for a whole building split into flats? 

The standard residential buildings insurers I’ve contacted have said that given that the insured is a company and covering multiple flats in one building then they cannot insure it and we’d need a commercial property policy for blocks of flats or go poss via a Landlord insurer.

What does your lease state about who's responsible for the insurance? 
How many units are there and are you all share of freehold? 

The normal setup is that it's the freeholder that has to buy the insurance and as such its Block (of flats) Insurance that it needs to buy. 

Were the leases changed to make the leaseholders responsible for insurance then you could each individually buy home insurance for your units but that leaves you exposed to damages that impact the common areas, much longer claims for damage to roof or foundations and the big risk that your neighbour fails to buy insurance (or invalidates their insurance) and you are left in an unrepairable property because they can't afford to repair their part of the property. Eg your top floor, their bottom floor, they have a significant fire causing major damage to their unit and moderate damage to yours. Your insurer won't fix the damage to your until until the structural damage to the supporting walls below are fixed and they dont have insurance and can't afford to fix them themselves. 

tg99

Yes all share of freehold and freehold company in which we each share responsible for insuring whole building. Hence we currently have block of flats policy. Hence wondering anyone in similar situation who they’ve got the cheapest quote with, whether managed to get quotes direct from insurers or needed to go via a broker etc.