Arranging buildings insurance for freehold flats is not something you tend to consider until you come to try it and for many insurers, the pitfalls of insuring freehold flats outweigh the commercial rewards and so most tend to shy away from offering competitive insurance quotes for freehold flats or apartments.
If you own the freehold of your flat
Flats are usually purchased leasehold, which means that the freeholder of the whole building leases the flats to their owners. Sometimes the leaseholders will club together and buy the freehold of the whole building so that they have a share in the freehold but the flats will remain on individual leases. It is rare to find a true freehold flat, which is where the ownership extends only to the boundaries of the flat itself and most mortgage lenders will generally not accept these as security.
If you own a share of the freehold
From an insurance point of view, there are potential difficulties in getting flat owners to agree on costs of repair and maintenance and this could also affect the security in the eyes of the bank or building society that provides any loan to buy the property.
QuoteRack’s range of specialist insurance brokers will be able to assist you if you are the owner of a freehold flat and if you need to arrange freehold flat owners insurance.