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In reply to VAn1971
It also depends what the Indemnity Insurance was for - Indemnity Insurances can be obtained for a number of problems - not just flying freeholds.0 -
The following is happening with me, regarding flying freehold and any advice would be appreciated. I live in a row of victorian terraced houses with passageways between adjoining houses, allowing shared access to the rear yards. My house also covers the area over the passageway i.e it is bigger than next door. However, this is extremely common in the area, and I would have thought across the country.
The buyers solicitor has raised this as a problem - even though it must occur in thousands of rows of houses. Anyone else have experience of this ?0 -
mondeo wrote:The following is happening with me, regarding flying freehold and any advice would be appreciated. I live in a row of victorian terraced houses with passageways between adjoining houses, allowing shared access to the rear yards. My house also covers the area over the passageway i.e it is bigger than next door. However, this is extremely common in the area, and I would have thought across the country.
The buyers solicitor has raised this as a problem - even though it must occur in thousands of rows of houses. Anyone else have experience of this ?
The solicitor may be raising it as a "problem" as it means he has to do more work!
It is not a problem as such - our flying freehold is above our neighbour's ground floor. Our neighbour on the other side (who bought the place earlier this year) has a flying freehold above the passageway.
Ask your solicitor why they think it is a problem. Your surveyor/mortgage valuer should also have picked this up. Most mortgage providers will lend money on properties with flying freeholds, so again, there shouldn't be a problem. Your solicitor is obliged to inform the building society/bank though.0 -
I am selling a terrace house for £90,000 and am doing my own conveyancing. The buyer's solicitor has asked me to obtain indemnity insurance for a flying freehold as my bedroom is over a quarter of a joint passage way. She has offered to sell me this for £150. Can anyone else let me know where I can buy this, hopefully cheaper.
Does anyone know what this will indemnify me against? Thanks0 -
rosiesheffield wrote:I am selling a terrace house for £90,000 and am doing my own conveyancing. The buyer's solicitor has asked me to obtain indemnity insurance for a flying freehold as my bedroom is over a quarter of a joint passage way. She has offered to sell me this for £150. Can anyone else let me know where I can buy this, hopefully cheaper.
Does anyone know what this will indemnify me against? Thanks
You could google "indemnity insurace" I'm sure that would point you in the right direction. Be aware though that the solicitor won't accept any old insurance so you would probably need to run the policy by the solicitor first before they would accept it.
It won't indemnify you against anything. It is a policy for the benefit of your purchaser (and subsequent owners). They want you to pay for it instead of them. It basically will pay out should there be a problem with repairs to your home due to damage to your neighbours passageway.0 -
I am in a similar situation. I am currently selling a terraced house which has a side access (to the rear of the property) which is shared with the next door neighbour below the first floor bedrooms in each house. in 1994 the house was transferred from council ownership and has subsequently been sold three times privately. As with all the houses in the street the council retained ownership of the access (I assume to prevent future problems of owners attempting to fence off their half of the passage).
As the passage has been locked up for the sole use of ourselves and the neighbour (since 1994) there seems to be no issue here for future owners. However the buyers solicitor is insisting that we provide an indemnity policy for the flying freehold for the access passage.
Does anyone know whether this is necessary in this situation and if so for what purpose and to what extent are the buyers covered under such a policy.
We have already contacted the council who believe that this should not be an issue and that such a policy is not required. We are are confused.0 -
If the council has retained ownership of the access, then your property has a flying freehold over the council's property, and an indemnity policy is required. I don't think they are too expensive though and should be quick to sort out. Your solicitor should be aware that a policy is needed and able to resolve this.0
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I am posting here for some advice. I recently purchased a commercial property from my city council with a joint passage between our building and the next door neighbours. Both properties (previously both under the city council) have been operated as restaurants for the past 40 years by the present owners, and for this period the passage had been shared with no problems. My neighbour was first to purchase his property from the council as he was offered to buy his first, and in this he says he was sold the freehold to the previously shared passage. Our building is an old two storey one with two fire exits on the ground floor and two fire exits on the first floor which lead onto this shared passage. The shared passage has also been used for 40 years by both of us to store our rubbish bins.
Recently my neighbour has blocked off my fire exits, and removed my dustbins, and has also denied me the ability to have my electric supply going along my building through the passage. previously last week he also cut my water supply off as our shared water supply of 40years was entering the cellar of his property from the road and then went on to feed our water supply.
What I need to know is that :
a) Is he in his right to deny me access to the shared passage? (and hence block off our fire exits)
b) Is he in his rights to put a stop valve on our water supply so as to dictate when we get water or not ?
c) Does he have right to stop me from using the shared passage to keep my dustbins the passage like he does ?
I would appreciate some guidance with this and would most appreciate any advice.0 -
No it won't it will indemnify you from legal blame only for any problems caused specifically from there being a flying freehold in place. For example if someone in the past illegally built the bedroom over the passsagewayor was granted flying freehold incorrectly, then you would be covered against legal costs to defend any enforcement and in some cases compensated for the effects of any enforcement it wouldn't prevent enforcement.For example if the owner of the passageway says that the bedroom above is illegal and takes you to court you would be covered for the legal costs, if he won his case and it was ordered that you remove the bedroom the policy would not stop you having to remove the bedroom but would in most cases cover you for any loss incurred eg loss of value to your house.It basically will pay out should there be a problem with repairs to your home due to damage to your neighbours passageway.
Any damage caused by your property to the passageway would be covered by buildings insurance.
As flying freehold has been granted I would be very surprised if any action were ever taken I would have thought it to be very low risk.
Indemnity insurance is spreading like a rash through the conveyancing market and in my opinion is unnecessary in 90% of cases, adecent solicitor can sort most of these problems with a bit of thought, insurance is in my opinion just a quick fix, however how can you be sure you have the right policy for your needs everytime.
Can't wait to here how these policies hold up, anyone actually know anyone who has had to make a claim.0 -
No it won't it will indemnify you from legal blame only for any problems caused specifically from there being a flying freehold in place. For example if someone in the past illegally built the bedroom over the passsagewayor was granted flying freehold incorrectly, then you would be covered against legal costs to defend any enforcement and in some cases compensated for the effects of any enforcement it wouldn't prevent enforcement.For example if the owner of the passageway says that the bedroom above is illegal and takes you to court you would be covered for the legal costs, if he won his case and it was ordered that you remove the bedroom the policy would not stop you having to remove the bedroom but would in most cases cover you for any loss incurred eg loss of value to your house.
Any damage caused by your property to the passageway would be covered by buildings insurance.
As flying freehold has been granted I would be very surprised if any action were ever taken I would have thought it to be very low risk.
Indemnity insurance is spreading like a rash through the conveyancing market and in my opinion is unnecessary in 90% of cases, adecent solicitor can sort most of these problems with a bit of thought, insurance is in my opinion just a quick fix, however how can you be sure you have the right policy for your needs everytime.
Can't wait to here how these policies hold up, anyone actually know anyone who has had to make a claim.
I'm sorry but i am not wrong. Since I posted my original message I have bought a property with flying freehold. An indemnity policy was paid for by the vendor and I can quote from the policy "Nature of defect: There is no provision in the title to directly enforce covenants for maintenance or repair against the owner of the adjoining building or rights of support and protection of rights of entry to carry out maintenance or repair"
One of the problems with flying freehold is that if my bedroom collapses into my neighbours passage way, how do we sort out who repairs what? My buildings insurance will only repair my property, not the neighbours, hence the need for the indemnity policy.
What if I need to repair my building but the neighbour obstructs the passageway? That's the reason for the policy It has nothing to do with illegally building anything. The property was built in the 1800's so its a bit late to take any enforcement action. And there is no such thing as 'granting flying freehold' Either the property does have a flying freehold or it doesn't there isn't someone who goes around "granting".
The policy would only pay out however if the property suffered damage and caused a reduction in open market value on sale.0
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