Q: Is it permissible in Islam to purchase a shared property, where you buy 50% of the property and pay rent on the rest and the rent includes building insurance?
A: الجواب حامدا ومصليا ومسلما ومنه الصدق والصواب
It is permissible to buy a share of of a property and then rent the remaining share from the owner of that share. However, the sale contract and the lease contract must be separate from one another and not mutually conditional. All rights and obligations of ownership must also endure. e.g. The responsibility for major maintenance must be shared pro rata and not simply put on to the tenant as a condition of the lease. If all conditions for sharia compliance are met but the rent [or service charge] includes an allowance for [non-sharia compliant] building insurance, then, in the absence of sharia compliant insurance being available, there is dispensation for entering in to such a contract on account of necessity. However, in the situation at the link provided in the question, the sale and lease contract are mutually contingent and there are potentially other non-compliant elements. Thus, in its current form it is not permissible.
And Allah knows best.
Mufti Mohammed Zubair Butt
Chair, Al-Qalam Sharia Scholars Panel