Clitheroekid wrote:Only slight issue was that the leaseholder no longer existed, so I felt I did have to try to find some, only to discover that no insurer would insure me as I was not the leaseholder.....
I don't understand this. I presume by the `leaseholder' you mean the freeholder, i.e. the owner of the land on which the flats were built. Whilst mancos do sometimes disappear it would be extremely unusual for a corporate owner of the freehold to do so, simply because the freehold is usually a valuable asset.
Sorry, yes, freeholder.
There was no manco, the builders had gone bankrupt and nothing seemed to have happened since then. I had a lease but I never paid the ground rent, no-one ever asked me for it. I got buildings insurance the first year I was there via the mortgage co at their insistence (which I now know was them scamming me!) and simply renewed it every year until I decided one year to look for a better rate and it was then I was told I not only *shouldn't* but indeed *couldn't* have buildings cover on a leasehold flat. So, I tried to track down the managing co or builder only to find there either was none, or they had gone bust or whatever. I was told when that happens unless the tenants form their own manco the freehold reverts to the Crown. Well, there were only three flats, the rest of the development was houses, and one of the flats was rented out and I had no clue, so we never did anything about it.
I got buildings insurance again via the mortgage company who were happy to sell it to me. Which mortgage company you ask? Oh, glad you did. Barclays bank! Never did like them much. (oh, I recently got an £800 refund from them for mortgage indemnity insurance they never should have sold me - maybe I should write to them about the buildings insurance misselling too)
When I sold I had to buy one of those solicitor insurance policies to indemnify the new owners against a freeholder turning up and asking for 20 years worth of ground rent.
I would never buy a leasehold flat again. Nor deal with Barclays.
I did ask about it on TMF at the time, but I can't easily find the post.
Mel