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Commercial Property Insurance

At Cover4LetProperty we can help you access a range of cost-effective yet comprehensive commercial property insurance policies, providing you with competitive business property insurance quotes coupled with the protection you require.

We pride ourselves on our knowledge and our ability to put together bespoke packages that meet your requirements – we do not believe in trying to sell you policy cover which does not match your needs.

What does a commercial property insurance policy cover?

At Cover4LetProperty, we are regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and we use a wide-ranging panel of trusted insurance companies so you can feel secure that your investment is protected by a reputable insurer. We offer a range of policy options so that the protection can be tailored to your own unique needs.

Some examples of the benefits of our business property cover include:

  • cover for shops, blocks of flats, surgeries, restaurants, cafes, and takeaways, public houses and wine bars, motor trade, offices, warehouses and industrial units;
  • quotes for up to ten properties within a portfolio;
  • the ability to cover unoccupied and partly occupied property, and property where there is business and residential use;
  • property owner’s liability up to £5,000,000;
  • loss of rental income due to an insured event (optional);
  • accidental damage;
  • contents cover (optional);
  • full glass cover (optional);
  • all property and tenant types covered;
  • communal contents, subsidence, trace and access cover, and malicious damage by tenant typically all included as standard (limits and terms apply).

Our policies are designed to cover all the standard risks associated with insurance for business properties including many extras such as subsidence cover and malicious damage by tenant – elements of protection which some let property policies from other providers may exclude or charge you as an add-on.

Commercial Property Insurance

Here are some of the FAQS we are asked about insurance for commercial premises – these are designed to help you make an informed decision when choosing your cover. If you have any questions or require clarification on any aspect of your commercial building cover, however, or for a quote, please do not hesitate to call us on 01702 606301.

And while you are here, please feel free to browse our website for useful property insurance tips, articles and guides (including our Complete guide to being a commercial property landlord).

Commercial property insurance FAQS

Who needs commercial property insurance cover?

The type of commercial property insurance you arrange is likely to differ in some regards depending on whether you are the owner or lease-holding tenant of the premises:

Owners

  • if you own the building, you are likely to have invested a considerable sum in the purchase of the building, the structure and fabric of which needs to be safeguarded against some potentially very damaging events – such as fire, flooding, storm damage, lightning strikes, impacts, vandalism and theft;
  • similarly, if you are using the premises for your own business purposes, you are likely to have made a significant investment in equipment, and in furnishing and fitting out your shop, warehouse or office space;
  • if you have invested in the property to let to tenants who are running their own businesses, you might nevertheless include a certain level of furnishings, fittings, equipment and appliances for their use – these need the protection of contents insurance;

Leaseholders

  • If you are the leaseholder, your landlord is likely to have assumed responsibility for building insurance, but the plant, equipment, furnishings and appliances used during your business typically need the protection of contents insurance.

Can you explain a bit more what does commercial property insurance cover?

If you have taken the plunge and entered the commercial property market, insurance is likely to become a priority in order to keep your investment safe and secure against a wide range of risks and perils.

Since this is going to be an ongoing cost, it might help to look at just what needs to be covered and how you might save money on the commercial property insurance you arrange.

Commercial property insurance safeguards a wide range of risks associated with your ownership or occupation of the premises:

The building

  • if you own it, your investment has been in the purchase of the commercial property itself – the structure and fabric of the building;
  • it is this that your insurance needs to protect against a wide range of potentially serious threats, such as fire, flooding, storm damage, escape of water, smoke damage, impacts (by vehicles, aeroplanes or from falling trees and branches), vandalism and theft;
  • the potential from damage is such that the entire building may be destroyed, so that any insurance cover needs to anticipate the possibility of having to rebuild it from scratch – and, when making this evaluation, it is important to remember that rebuild costs may be quite different from the price for which you bought the property or to its current market value;

Contents

  • whether you own the commercial property from which to run your own business or let it to tenants, you might have a valuable amount of contents also to protect against a range of threats and perils – these contents need to be carefully evaluated, to ensure that you avoid the twin pitfalls of over- or underinsurance;

Property owner’s liability

  • as the property owner, you owe a particular duty of care in preventing your tenants, their visitors, neighbours or even passing members of the public from sustaining an injury or having their property damaged through some connection with your commercial property;
  • if someone suffers an injury or other loss and holds you negligent in that duty of care, you may be sued for damages;
  • these may assume very substantial proportions – especially if physical injury is involved – and it is usual, therefore, for commercial property insurance to offer indemnity of £1 million, £5 million or even more.

How do I get an insurance quote?

We have two easy ways for you to get a quote – simply complete our online quote form for commercial property owners here. Or, give us a ‘phone call.

Our dedicated team are on hand to discuss your personal requirements, so please feel free to ‘phone us on 01702 606301.

What properties can be covered under commercial building insurance?

Our business property owners’ cover is for anyone who owns a commercial property. We can insure all types of business premises. For example: shops, surgeries, blocks of flats, restaurants, cafes, and takeaways, public houses and wine bars, motor trade, offices, warehouses and industrial units, warehouses, unoccupied property (when a property typically stands empty for 30 days consecutively, or more) and commercial properties which are also part residential.

We can also insure up to ten properties under one portfolio, meaning you benefit from only having one renewal date a year as well as attractive discounts for insuring multiple properties.

How much does commercial property insurance cost?

The cost of your business property insurance will depend on a number of factors. Typically, these will include – but are not limited to – the size and location of your building; if there has been a history of subsidence or flooding; the building’s use or uses; its construction materials; the type of activities carried out on the premises; the number of people working there; if the building is vacant; the property’s value; whether you require insurance for stock etc.

As there are so many variants, it is impossible to give an accurate cost here without knowing your own unique property details. You can, however, rest assured that at Cover4LetProperty we pride ourselves on offering what we believe is very competitively-priced, bespoke insurance for your business’ building, so we will do our utmost to ensure you get suitable, cost-effective, cover.

Save money on commercial property insurance

If you want to save money on commercial property insurance – or, indeed, commercial empty property insurance – a careful comparison is needed between the many competing products on the market. Your quest for cheaper insurance cover, therefore, might be furthered by:

Shopping around

  • as with the purchase of practically any goods or services, you may want to use all the resources at your disposal to shop around, compare commercial property insurance products and their prices;
  • the cheapest price is not everything, of course, since you need to ensure that the policy you choose provides the protection your commercial property requires – your objective is more likely to involve finding good value for money at a competitive price;

Tailoring the cover

  • to secure that good value for money, you may need to tailor the insurance cover to suit your particular needs;
  • some risks may be more important than others in your individual case, whilst others might pose less of a threat – both subsidence and flooding are risks which typically attract relatively high premiums, for example, so if you are able to do without such cover, you may significantly reduce the cost of your premiums;

Specialist advice

  • matching your particular, individual needs for commercial property insurance with the most suitable product from a huge range of possibilities is no mean achievement;
  • to ensure that you get the closest fit possible, you might want to draw on the expertise and experience of specialists in the provision of this kind of insurance;

Security

  • the more you demonstrate your own responsibility for minimising the risks to your property, the more favourably is any insurer likely to view your proposal for cover – and charge an accordingly reduced premium;
  • this is likely to be reflected in the measures you take to improve the physical security of the premises against theft, break-ins and vandalism and in the early warning systems you can install – such as smoke detectors and fire alarms, intruder alarms and regular maintenance inspections;

Pay annually

  • to help manage the cash flow of your business, it might be tempting to pay for essential insurance cover as you go – through monthly instalments;
  • in some cases, this may prove an expensive way of purchasing the cover, however, and you are likely to achieve significant savings by paying for your insurance through a single annual transaction.

By carefully considering just what needs to be covered and how you might save money on the purchase of that cover, you may succeed in securing good value for money from your commercial property insurance.

What is property owners liability insurance?

We incorporate up to £5m worth of cover under the property owners’ liability element of our insurance.  This protects you as a property owner against liability claims made for personal injury or property damage suffered by third parties and arising from your ownership of the property.

This means that if one of your tenants, a customer, or a visitor to your property makes a claim against you for loss, damage or injuries as a result of being in your building or on your land, the owner’s liability insurance is there to help towards legal fees and any compensation awards.

As a responsible landlord, of course, you are obliged to make sure your property is well maintained and does not present any unnecessary risks to your tenants, their guests, or passers-by.

What are the different types of commercial insurance?

When people refer to commercial insurance, they are generally talking about business insurance – so elements of business protection such as professional indemnity insurance, business interruption insurance and employers’ liability insurance etc.

For commercial property owners, specialist commercial buildings insurance is required to protect the structure, fixtures and fittings should there be loss, damage or total destruction. This is completely different to commercial / business insurance.

We understand that making sure you have the most appropriate cover for your business is extremely important, and understanding the different business product features, terms and conditions may be confusing. So, for clarification on any aspect of your insurance needs, please do not hesitate to contact us – we are here to help.

The need for unoccupied commercial property insurance

Your commercial property is likely to be at its most vulnerable if it is left vacant and unoccupied for longer than a month or two. You may need to check the terms and conditions of your commercial property insurance carefully, since many insurers restrict or remove cover altogether once the building has been unoccupied for a given period – a period which varies from one insurer to another.

This is because of the increased vulnerability to which empty commercial properties may be exposed.

Having reviewed the exact provisions of your existing commercial property insurance, you may need to consider the importance of unoccupied property insurance to restore the level of protection you require for the building, its contents and your liabilities as the property owner.

The risks

Arson is not the only risk to empty or unoccupied commercial property. When it is standing empty, the property almost inevitably acts as a magnet to attract all manner of unwelcome attention from thieves, vandals, squatters and fly-tippers. The potential for damage caused by such intruders is considerable.

In addition to these external threats, an empty property is also far more vulnerable to damage caused by internal problems and incidents. When there is no one on the scene to spot a leaking tap, burst pipe, or electrical fault, for instance, and otherwise relatively routine maintenance problem might develop into a major event – with accordingly severe damage.

Asking yourself whether you need any kind of insurance generally involves weighing up the risks against the protection offered by the kind of insurance that may be available – as well as understanding your obligations under any mortgage you have. It may be a condition of your mortgage agreement that you have adequate cover.

Commercial empty property insurance

If you have invested a significant amount of money in the purchase of your commercial property but need to leave it temporarily unoccupied, the bare protection offered by any remaining cover is likely to be insufficient – a major disaster might still leave you without the financial wherewithal to make good considerable losses.

That is when you might need to restore the required level of protection offered by commercial empty property insurance.

The principle of this type of insurance is simple and straight forward – aiming simply to restore the level of cover you require for the premises when they are left unoccupied.

Nevertheless, it is important to get the appropriate type and level of unoccupied property insurance for your own premises and the stakes involved in getting it wrong may be costly. Therefore, you might want to draw on the expertise and experience of a specialist provider of unoccupied commercial property insurance when arranging the cover you need.

Your responsibility

There may be any number of reasons why your commercial property is empty – you might be waiting for new tenants to move in, for example, or it might be undergoing substantial renovation and refitting. Although you may have taken the precaution of arranging unoccupied property insurance, you still have a responsibility for mitigating the risk of any loss or damage.

Some of the precautions which your insurer may require, or which might help to reduce the cost of your empty property insurance, include:

  • not only the fitting of suitably secure locks on all windows and doors, but also the installation of intruder alarms and smoke detectors;
  • utilities – gas, electric and water – may need to be turned off completely, and, depending on the nature of the commercial property concerned, locked in that off position. However, it may also be a condition of your insurance that an ambient temperature is maintained in the property when unoccupied to prevent frozen pipes – check with your insurer;
  • another exception might be made for any sprinkler system installed in the property, when the water for that needs to kept on – again, check with your insurer;
  • insurers are also likely to insist on the regular inspection of the empty premises – at intervals depending on the nature of the property concerned, but with a written log kept of each inspection visit.

Do you need help or have more questions?

We hope this brief overview of commercial property insurance is useful. If you have any questions or queries, or to speak to someone about a quote, please call us today on 01702 606 301. We will be very happy to help!