Ground Rent, Building Insurance, Service Charge?

[chris1982]

I am looking at buying a flat and have found out today that the flat has a Ground rent of £150 a year / Service Charge of £85 a month / Building Insurance of £345 a year. My question is do i have to have the building insurance? I thought this was covered with the Service Charge...or am i wrong? Anyone able to clarify what i should or shouldnt be looking to pay?

[sumo69]

Residential service charges for flats normally include BUILDINGS insurance - check with the managing agent.

David

[Wings]

Building insurance is usually included in the service charge, you should also check other service charges such as water rates to see how they are paid for.

[craigb84]

When I bought my flat I became a shareholder of the maintenance company with a stake of something like £1. Don't know why but my solicitor said it was quite normal.

Anyway, because of this you are entitled to receive a copy of the accounts which are often worth checking too.

But as previously said, building insurance should be included as should communal electricity & water charges, cleaning and landscaping and any communal repairs.

I would also ask for confirmation of the previous years charges as its been known for new build flats to have a reasonable rate one year then suddenly hike up.

[GhiaX]

20 Years ago when I had a Leasehold property we had to pay the service charge and had to have the arranged Buildings Insurance. Contents was down to us to sort separately.

I assumed that was the norm.

[5705]

IME, it varies according to the type of flat and how the freeholder (or the managing agent) wants to work it.

In house conversions the insurance might be billed separately to the other service charges. For larger blocks of flats, it's usually counted within the service charge.