Roof repairs and water damage in flat – No freehold insurance?

Hello, we own the freehold of a maisonette building made up of eight flats and we also own the leasehold of the first-floor flat. The ground floor flat is completely self-contained and includes both the front and back gardens.

There is a hole in the roof and rain is coming into the loft and our flat causing water damage. We had to paint and plasterboard the entire ceiling of our flat to try and stop the leak from the hole in the loft from damaging our flat. We are constantly calling the electrician to do repairs to the electricity. The entire loft space needs to be refurbished and an old water tank is still there since 1958 when the flat was built.

We applied for planning from our local council and were granted permission to remove the water tank, refurbish the loft and install two Velux windows. We informed the director of the Freehold including the other seven leaseholders citing the damage to the roof, and loft. The director said we need to get a “Licence to Alter”. Not a problem, we are happy to get the license to alter. The problem is there is no building insurance to cover the repairs to the roof or the loft or any other communal area of the maisonettes.

My question since the Freehold does not have insurance and the other leaseholders are not willing to pay for the repairs to the roof and the loft and we are willing to do all the repairs ourselves. Can we change our lease to reflect that we own the roof and the loft space after the repairs are completed?

Thank you,

Freddy

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