Shared land insurance

PennysIntoPounds

Hello all, we're looking at home and contents insurance which would be in our names only.

However, the front driveway, paving outside two homes, and small alley to the side is jointly owned by us and next door.

We own the land our house is on, and all is freehold.

Do we need to get a separate type of insurance for the shared land/access area or would any costs/liabilities (that are covered by our home insurance) also cover our 'share' of the outside land?

MyRealNameToo

In what way is it shared? From a legal perspective rather than practical? In most cases either you either own up to the mid point and each has the right to use the other half too or one party owns it all but the other party has the right to use it. Given you mention you have freehold do they have a leasehold on part/all of it?

PennysIntoPounds

Both houses are listed on the land registry plot as owners of the shared space, the shared space has its own land registry entry separate from the houses

MyRealNameToo

In practical terms you may get away with just having it as your home insurance but there is a risk they will argue that if it has its own registration then it's not part of the home insurance.

You could get a land liability policy, probably cost about £200-£300 a year so will be disproportionate compared to Home but welcome to niche needs where distribution costs are proportionally higher

PennysIntoPounds

Thanks for your comments @MyRealNameToo, we're in two minds about it as that would be a big extra cost for us, but then better to be covered. But then major works or damage unlikely to occur (no nearby risk factors, paving all new etc), and people don't usually have to get public liability for private property. But then I guess people don't usually have their front driveway on a separate land registry plot...

MyRealNameToo

They normally do, Buildings insurance covers you as the owner of the property and Contents covers you as the occupier… most people dont realise that their Home insurance has a liability section until someone tries to sue them.

The issue here is that its shared… most policy wordings arent great in defining the home to say strongly if its inscope or not… There has been similar questions in the past on non-continuous properties on a single title (eg the house with a pasture or something on the other side of a road). Certainly some here have had arguments with their insurers on what is considered "their home" under their home policy with such issues.

PennysIntoPounds

Ah okay, so we'd want to get it in writing that we are also covered for our half of the cost/responsibility of the shared deed area under our non shared house insurance?