Block of flats insurance

Insurance for blocks of flats can be complex. Whether or not you need to arrange cover for the building will depend on whether you’re the freeholder or the leaseholder, and what legal agreement you have in place.

If you own the whole building and all the flats within it, you are likely to be the freeholder. You would therefore be responsible for arranging buildings insurance cover for the property.

If you own a lease on just one of the flats, you are likely to be the leaseholder. As the freeholder would usually be responsible for buildings cover as above, you will usually only require cover for any contents you own.

However, this might not always be the case, so it’s important to check your property agreement.

There are a number of different types of property ownership relating to flats. This can affect who arranges suitable insurance cover. Responsibility may fall on:

• The freeholder – In some instances, the freeholder will be responsible for organising flats building insurance.
• Management agent – A block of flats can also sometimes have a managing agent who is appointed by the freeholder to manage the property day-to-day, including arranging insurance.
• Residents’ association – Separate leaseholders might team together to form a residents’ association or a ‘right to manage’ company. Once they take over the management of the building, the leaseholders will then be responsible for arranging buildings insurance, meaning they all pay a fair share of the cover.

It’s therefore important to check the agreement you have in place and what your responsibilities are before taking out block insurance.

What insurance is needed for a leasehold flat?

Buildings insurance is required for a leasehold property. However, who arranges the cover for your flat will be down to your agreement with the freeholder.

In many instances, the freeholder will be responsible for organising the buildings insurance. But the leaseholder may pay a management fee/service charge to them for maintenance services.

And in other instances, the leaseholder may be part of a leaseholder association or ‘right to manage’ company where they will source their own leasehold buildings insurance.

It’s always worth checking just in case you have any property insurance responsibilities in your leasehold agreement.

Rules around leaseholder’s responsibilities are slightly different in Scotland, so we are able to offer buildings insurance for an individual flat on this basis. Please speak to the team to find out more.

What does a freeholder do?

A freeholder is either a person or company who owns the freehold of a building. They may either choose to sell the individual flat leaseholds or rent them out to tenants.

The freeholder will normally be responsible for a variety of different tasks such as

• Maintaining and repairing shared facilities
• Maintaining and repairing the building’s structure
• Implementing buildings insurance to cover the entire building. In this case, the leaseholder won’t need to source their own leaseholder cover.

Block of flats building insurance works just like any other type of property insurance. The person responsible for arranging cover (the leaseholder, freeholder, management agent or residents’ association) arranges a block of flats insurance policy to protect the property’s structure in the event of an insured event (such as fire, theft or flood).

There is also the opportunity to extend block insurance to protect contents, plus provide cover in other circumstances (such as covering periods of unoccupancy or protecting against pet damage).

Arranging block insurance for flats, otherwise known as apartment complex insurance, doesn’t have to be a long-winded process. With Endsleigh, all you have to do is call our UK-based team on 0333 234 0039 or click ‘Arrange a call’ further down this page to fill out an enquiry form.

We’ll then take the time to get to know you and your property or portfolio. This is so we can ensure we’re getting you the right block of flats insurance cover at the right price from our leading panel of insurers. Once you’ve received your quote, simply let us know when you want to go ahead, and we’ll get you set up.

Whether you’re searching for a building insurance quote for an entire block of flats, or just one leasehold, we can help.

As a freeholder of a block of flats, you may be responsible for insuring the buildings as well as the service and maintenance of the building itself and the surrounding grounds. This could include parking areas, pathways, shared corridors and everything that needs to be maintained in those areas of the building.

This general maintenance will not be covered by a block of flats buildings insurance policy, but is usually charged back to the leaseholder in the form of a ‘management fee.’ However, if you’re the freeholder then a specialist block of flats buildings insurance policy – like Endsleigh’s freeholder building insurance - should meet your responsibilities to the leaseholders.

Get a freeholder insurance quote for your block of flats

You may find that you would like to add on additional protection for your building within your block of flats insurance. Endsleigh offer a range of optional extras which can easily be added to your block insurance policy, including:

• Employers' liability insurance
• Terrorism cover
• Engineering and inspection cover, including passenger lifts
• Extended legal expenses cover - including tenant disputes

This is a question only you can answer – but it’s worth bearing in mind that the government's model tenancy agreement aims to support people with pets becoming eligible to rent. Use of the model tenancy agreement is entirely voluntary - however if you’re not currently allowing lets with pets, it could be a good time to re-think your stance.

If you do decide to let to tenants with pets, Endsleigh’s landlord insurance via NIG gives you peace of mind that you’re covered against pet damage at no extra charge. Speak to our specialist property team for a quote, mentioning that you’d like to include pet damage cover on your insurance policy.

No, if you’re renting a flat within a wider block, your landlord will be responsible for the buildings insurance.

If your landlord is the freeholder, they will normally be required to sort the buildings insurance, unless they use a management company, or have a separate agreement with the leaseholder.

If your landlord is the leaseholder, this may mean that they either rely on the freeholder or management company, are part of a residents’ association or a ‘right to manage’ company or could even be responsible for organising leasehold buildings insurance themself.

It’s a sensible idea to approach this query with the landlord as soon as you know that you want to rent a flat within a wider block of flats.

Still have some questions? Find out more in our guides:

Can I insure multiple properties on one insurance policy?

What types of landlord insurance are there?

What is landlord liability cover, and do I need it?

What does landlord home emergency cover?

What is landlord legal cover?

Read more

A building valuation will provide an accurate reinstatement cost for your property giving you the information you need to request the right amount of cover from your broker.

BCH is a RICS-regulated company that provides building insurance rebuilding cost valuations via desk-based e-valuations or site-based reinstatement cost assessments (RCA).

Find out more about building insurance valuation services today.