flat with no landlord?

I think I would be inclined to go with the solicitor - this is surely one of the things s/he is paid to spot and advise on.

I assume by "landlord" you mean freehold owner. If so, do not touch it with someone else's bargepole, let alone your friend's, as this means they do not know who actually owns the building and this will mean that there will be problems if the need to repair the building or deal with other issues that are the responsibility of the freehold owner ever arise, and they will.

What about the other flat? Surely it has the same predicament. Who has been arranging buildings insurance?

I was in a similar position with a flat I bought about ten years ago. The freehold had been owned by a company that had gone bankrupt and as nobody laid claim to the freehold it went by default to the crown. My solicitor also advised me not to buy the place for the same reasons given to your friend but I went ahead anyway.

My solicitor advised me that I (with the owner of the downstairs flat) could buy the freehold from the crown but the people in the other flat were did not want me to buy the freehold or to buy it between us so things remained in the limbo state.

When I sold the flat about four years latter the new owner took out an insurance policy which I believe protected them in the case that someone came along and laid claim to the freehold.

Personaly I wish I had taken the advise of the solicitor in the first place as it just gave me hassle that I did not need seeing as there were plenty of other similar flats for sale at the time.

Regards Andy

Thanks for the advice. I'll pass it on.

tim