Who insures a leasehold flat?

Buy a leasehold flat and you own a lease, not a building. That one distinction decides who insures what, and it is why a flat owner can end up paying twice for the same cover, or paying for none at all.

The usual arrangement

For many leasehold flats, the building is insured by the freeholder or the management company under a single policy covering the whole block. You pay toward it through the service charge, along with the lighting in the hall and the gardener.

That arrangement makes sense. A block is one structure. Insuring it in slices — a policy per flat, each with its own insurer — would be an argument waiting to happen the first time water came through a ceiling.

So for many leaseholders, the practical answer is: you do not need buildings insurance, because the building is already insured, and you are already paying for it.

Why "many" is doing real work in that sentence

Your lease decides it, not the convention.

Some leases put the obligation on the leaseholder, particularly in converted houses — a Victorian terrace split into two or three flats, where there is no managing agent and the leaseholders between them are responsible for the structure. Some leases split it, making the freeholder responsible for the main structure and the leaseholder responsible for everything from the plaster inwards.

The lease is the document that settles this. If you have not read the insurance clause, that is the thing to read before you decide you are covered.

What is still yours either way

Even where the freeholder insures the building, contents are almost always yours to arrange. The block policy covers the structure; it does not cover your sofa, your clothes, your laptop or your bike.

Between those two there is a middle layer that depends on the lease: fitted kitchens, bathroom suites, internal doors, and floor coverings. Some leases treat these as part of the demised premises and therefore yours; some treat them as part of the building. Fitted carpets are a common point of disagreement even in ordinary home policies, and a lease adds a second document that can take a view.

Improvements you have made are worth a separate thought. If you have put in a new kitchen, the block policy may insure the flat as it was originally built rather than as you have left it.

What to ask for, and what to check

Ask the managing agent or the freeholder for a copy of the current building policy schedule. You can ask what you are paying for through the service charge, and the schedule is the document that tells you.

Then look at four things:

What it covers. The structure, certainly. Whether it reaches inside your flat is the question.

What the sum insured is. A block policy has a rebuild figure too, and it can drift out of date in exactly the way a house policy can.

What the excess is. This is the one that surprises people. If you need to claim on the block policy — water from the flat above, say — the excess may be substantial, and it may be yours to pay. Knowing the number before you need it is better than discovering it afterwards.

Who handles a claim. Usually the managing agent, which means your claim goes through someone else's hands and on someone else's timetable.

If you have a mortgage on the flat

Your lender will usually require buildings insurance, but you're free to choose any insurer. You don't have to arrange it through us. Contents and landlord cover are your choice.

On a leasehold flat, a lender's requirement is normally satisfied by the block policy — the building is insured, which is what the lender needs. Your conveyancer should have checked that at purchase. If the lease makes buildings cover your responsibility, that is a different situation and the lender's requirement lands on you directly.

If you let the flat out

A leasehold flat you let is still a let property, and letting is a change the insurer expects to hear about. The block policy insures the building; it does not insure your position as a landlord — the contents you provide in a furnished let, loss of rent, or your liability as the person letting it. Those sit with you.

The short version

- For many leasehold flats the freeholder or management company insures the building, paid for through the service charge. - The lease decides it, and some leases put it on the leaseholder instead. - Contents are almost always yours. Fittings and floor coverings depend on the lease. - Ask for the block policy schedule and check the sum insured, the excess, and whether cover reaches inside your flat. - Letting the flat is a separate situation again.

If you take out a policy and change your mind, you can cancel a new home insurance policy within 14 days, without penalty and without giving a reason. The period runs from the day the contract is concluded, or from the day you receive the policy terms and the pre-contractual information, whichever is later. FCA Handbook ICOBS 7.1.1R and 7.1.5R — checked October 2026.

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Read next: the who insures the building? tool on our buildings and contents insurance page walks through freehold, leasehold and let property side by side, and who insures a leasehold flat? covers the same ground in short.

There is no fee for the advice. We are paid by commission from the insurer.