Owning your own home

All me at the moment in here woops...

1. Insurance won't pay a penny (sort of appealing it but unlikely they'll change their mind. Asked the lady on the phone if she'd seen The Rainmaker..). Reason being it was gradual. I disputed this - most damage done after a particular day. Completely get where they are coming from in that the render is old / not maintained - though it is hard to inspect cracks proactively 20m up with no access
   
2. Neighbouring flats in my building - building is a disaster. It isn't often proactively maintained. If I come cap in hand for the repair works including to my own flat, and they can't contribute, we effectively have a dysfunctional management company. I maintain a "rainy day" (Aptly named) fund so can fund my 1/5th of it, but I am not willing or able to pay the full whack, and don't think I should given it is the building's fault which we collectively maintain - like we do with the roof. It's all done on goodwill really - don't know how enforceable it all is.
   
3. Texted my (3+ car/ 2nd or nth home) neighbour next door on it on Tuesday lunchtime (Hi __, please can I pop round for a quick chat one day this week when convenient..). 2 full days later and he's fucked off to another of his properties without even writing back. Going to essentially need access, scaffolding, and hacking render off may be messy. His stance will be no. Gone over all my leases and even though 18a was build about 50 years later, nothing obvious on access rights. Not sure how that gets solved - do it anyway, pay a solicitor, get council involved.
   
4. It is fucking the neighbour below me, who is close to completing, but this must be putting off their prospective buyers. They have 2 kids and are in a 1.5 bed flat and need more space. It is harming everyone.
   
5. 2 builders lined up to quote which is good.
   
   

Rant over.... One step forward two steps back and all that.

Tips I have learnt from this

1. Don't buy a flat if you can avoid it (houses are spenny so this one is hard).
   
2. If buying a flat, try and check the building is proactively maintained, is well funded and has a sinking fund. We spend 70% of our service charge on insurance.
   
3. Avoid places that rely on access from 3rd parties. A normal terraced house would have been fine here.
   
4. Do DD on neighbours (I half did this one)
   
   

Edit - been encouraged not too worry to much about the neighbour. And I am focusing on my building and damp first off. Still a shame we couldn't properly fix the roof last year (see pic above, near chimney stack) as they couldn't get to it without resting scaffolding on their roof.