Commercial property insurance

Property Owners Liability might not seem necessary at first; with many landlords expecting their tenants to have their own Public Liability cover in place should an accident involving the public occur. However as a landlord and commercial property owner you are in fact liable should injury or property damage be caused due to negligence. This means if your property is not adequately maintained and a claim arises due to your negligence in maintaining the property, you will in fact be liable.

Property Owners Liability cover is available with limits of 1m, 2m, 5m or 10m.

Covering your building ensures that you are protected for the costs of repairing damage to the property or even a full rebuild as a result of an insured incident. Seen as one of the most critical parts of commercial property insurance, it’s essential that the sums insured are correct in order to avoid under-insurance. If you are under-insured, the sum declared will be lower than the actual cost of a rebuild. Meaning should a rebuild be required or even a less serious claim a reduction in payout may be due.

Commercial landlords are not responsible for any accidental damage caused to a tenant’s property and belongings. Anything that the tenant owns will need to be covered under their own business insurance policy. However your commercial property may include items such as commercial fridges which you as the property owner would seek to insure under your own policy.

Loss of rent cover can be included in any commercial property policy with it providing cover should your property become uninhabitable from an insured event such as a flood or fire. Loss of rent insurance will then reimburse your business for rent you would therefore be unable to collect from tenants. The period of cover will depend on the indemnity period set. Cover is available for 12, 24 or 36 months. Your indemnity period should be carefully considered, often with a worst case scenario in mind. It may for example take years to rebuild your property and find new tenants following a loss.

With additional legal cover you can get help with covering the costs of legal action. This could come into use for example after taking court action for non payment of rent, evicting a tenant or defence of prosecutions.

Your property will likely face periods of being unoccupied. During these periods without tenants your property will be more susceptible to a variety of risks such as squatting and break-ins. We can therefore source and tailor your policy to include cover for the periods without tenants.

Typically insurers will allow a period of 30 days for the property to be unoccupied before requiring a specialist Unoccupied Property Owners policy this could for example be due to a changing of tenants. Remember to ALWAYS check the Terms & Conditions of your policy as some insurers need to be informed as soon as the building becomes vacant.

Commercial property insurance provides comprehensive business cover for commercial property owners i.e. those letting out their properties for commercial/ business use. Disaster can unfortunately strike at any time, with little to no warning, but with the right cover in place and adequate sums insured tailored business insurance cover can provide unrivalled levels of peace of mind.

As a property owner you’ll appreciate the list of possible perils can be extensive, including anything and everything from fire and floods to theft and accidental damage. So with these in mind, you’ll understand it makes good sense to ensure you have more than adequate insurance cover in place to cover your business should the worst happen.