© 2025 News On The Block. All rights reserved.
News on the Block is a trading name of Premier Property Media Ltd.
© 2025 News On The Block. All rights reserved.
News on the Block is a trading name of Premier Property Media Ltd.
News On The Block and our team of industry specialists are here to help you with your questions, queries and concerns about the apartment sector. If you have a question you would like answered, please contact us:-
BY EMAIL: editor@newsontheblock with “Question” in the subject heading; BY PHONE: 08700 600 663
BY POST: News On The Block, One Great Cumberland Place, Marble Arch, London W1H 7AL
As a flat-owner, could you explain what is included in my buildings insurance?
The lease will normally require the landlord to take out adequate insurance for the building and the common parts and will give him the right to recover the cost of the premium through the service charges. However, this policy will not normally cover the possessions of individual leaseholders.
Building insurance policy generally covers the structure of your flat, including its fixtures and fittings, and the part of any communal areas that the lease states each leaseholder is responsible for. The policy does not include the contents of the apartment or personal possessions. The insurers should provide a Statement of Cover booklet which gives full details.
Leasehold flats are insured on a block policy. The insurers will require all leaseholders to complete an insurance proposal form. This creates a contract between the insurers and the leaseholder and ensures that the leaseholder (and any mortgagers) receive the full benefit of the insurance policy.
What are the responsibilities of the leaseholder and the landlord when it comes to service charges?
Service charges are payments by the leaseholder to the landlord for all the services the landlord provides. These will include maintenance and repairs, insurance of the building and, in some cases, provision of central heating, lifts, porterage, lighting and cleaning of the common areas, etc. Usually the charges also will include management costs, either by the landlords or by a professional managing agent.
Details of what can (and cannot) be charged by the landlord and the proportion of the charge to be paid by the leaseholder will all be set out in the lease.
The landlord can recover those costs that are reasonable. Leaseholders have powerful rights to challenge at the LVT service charges they feel are unreasonable.
When considering the purchase of a leasehold flat, it is important to find out, for personal budgetary purposes, what the current and future service charges are likely to be. Check if there is a reserve fund and what plans there are for major works that could affect the service charge during the years after your purchase. In reply to our readers’ questions last month.
I have recently bought a flat and have been offered building insurance from my mortgage lender, however I have noticed while looking at the service charge accounts that there is a provision for insurance, what shall I do?
Almost certainly you will find buildings insurance for a leasehold flat is required under the lease to be arranged by the freeholder under a block policy. The freeholder may be an individual or a management company owned jointly by the lessees. The policy premium is then paid by the lessees as part of their annual service charge. If your situation is unusual, then your solicitor should raise queries and point out any requirements to you.
In most cases, lessees will not need to buy buildings insurance from their mortgage lender. Blocks of flats have such specialist insurance needs that anyone responsible for arranging the buildings insurance would be advised to speak to a specialist broker and not to purchase an ‘off-the- shelf’ policy that may not meet all their requirements.
The buildings insurance should include cover for contents in the building’s common areas, however be advised that while the buildings insurance policy will cover contents belonging to the management company, your personal possessions and furniture within your flat will not be covered and you should ensure you arrange cover for these separately.
As a lessee you have the right to ask the freeholder for a copy of the buildings insurance schedule and policy wording that will show you what is covered – your solicitor may have obtained details already.
(Specialist Flats Insurer, Deacon)
I have heard lots of talk about Section the 20 Notice, please explain what they are and how they would affect me as a lessee.
The Section 20 Notice arises from S20 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 that required landlords to consult their leaseholders prior to carrying out major works. These procedures weren’t very successful and were overhauled and expanded by the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002.
The new rules state that where a landlord proposes to carry out works that will cost the leaseholder more than £250, or intends to enter into a long-term contract that will cost the leaseholder more than £100 a year, he must consult the leaseholders to seek their views. The landlord must comply with the procedures or he will not be able to recover any more than £250 or £100 per annum from the leaseholders whatever the works cost.
The procedures are complicated and lengthy, involving three notices to the leaseholders:
o Notice of intention – simply setting out what works the landlord proposes to do; no prices at this stage. He must seek the leaseholders’ views and invite them to nominate a contractor, if they wish to do so. He must allow 30 days for comment.
o Notice of proposals – the landlord obtains estimates (and must seek an estimate from a contractor nominated by a leaseholder) and presents at least two prices. It must also include a summary of the leaseholders’ observations on the first notice and his response to them. Again he must allow a further 30 days for comment.
o Notice of contract – where leaseholders have made observations or nominated a contractor then the landlord must serve this further notice, explaining his reasons for selection of the successful contractor.
There is a full note on S20 consultation on the LEASE website (www.lease-advice.org)
(Peter Haler, Chief Executive, LEASE)