In England and Wales, you have many different choices when looking for a residential property to buy. You can get houses, flats, riverboats, park homes, retirement buildings or a maisonette. Even if you purchase the property outright, you will still need to have a building insurance policy to protect your asset.

If the property is mortgaged, either in full or in part, you will find that it is a condition of your mortgage that you will need to have a suitable insurance policy in force. How the mortgage companies act on this condition differs. Many of them will look for you to do two things. Firstly, to have their financial interest noted on the policy and secondly, that you, or your insurance broker, sends a copy of the “live” policy wording and schedule of insurance to them before they will release any funds. On the other hand, the company providing the finance may not ask for their interest to be noted, nor for you to prove that there is cover in place.

Either way, you will need to arrange a policy that covers the structure. If you buy an individual flat, you will find that at least half of the domestic, household or personal lines insurers, do not cover individual flats within a block. There are huge potential problems with who is responsible for separate parts of the building and also to do with water seepage and leakage from one flat to another.

The good news is that you also have the option of buying one single block of flat insurance policy. This covers the overall structure, from the depths of the foundations all the way up to the highest point of the roof. You will usually find that the premiums, when spread amongst each of the flat owners, are much cheaper than getting individual policies.

You do need to check on the level of cover that is provided under many policies. The best thing to do is to speak to a business insurance broker to arrange a quotation. This may sound a bit strange because you are not running a business. The reason for doing this is that the commercial insurance companies are usually the ones that offer these larger, block policies. You get better access to their products through a broker that deals with business insurance on a day to day basis.

You always have the choice of looking around for a number of quotes but you need to ensure that the cover includes accidental damage and subsidence, heave & landslip as this will be a minimum requirement of most mortgage conditions. In addition, you can get property owners liability, glass cover, loss or rent and alternative accommodation. As ever, looking around and spending some time in getting different alternatives is always the best option. But, makes sure that you are fully aware of each and every loss that has occurred in the building over the past five years and that this is fully declared at quote stage.