If you are looking for a commercial building insurance quote, you are in luck because this is one of the easiest insurance products to purchase.
You do not need a surveyor to visit your building prior to getting a quote, you just need to look on the net for a business insurance broker and check that they are independent. The broker being independent means that they have the ability to get prices from a number of different insurers, rather than a restricted market of one or two. The basic information you need is a rebuild cost, the location of building, the type of tenants, basic construction details and your claims history.
When speaking to a broker, they will usually offer you the option of including loss of rental income insurance. Nowadays, many insurers include this free, up to 20% of the overall building sum insured. This does not mean that you will get a straight 20%, this is just the limit they will pay, you need to provide the rental income for, say, the last six months. One common error is to believe that this covers you if the tenants defaults, for whatever reason, this cover is not available in the open, commercial market.
Loss of rent covers you if there is an insured event, ie a fire, flood, break in and as a result the tenant has to move out of the property and you no longer receive rent.
It may be that you don’t want to pay the small extra premium for this cover but, you have to consider with all insurances the pro’s and con’s. The downside is that you have to pay extra for it, and that is about it. The good points are that you have that financial cushion that your mortgage can continue to be paid whilst your property is being repaired or rebuilt.
On balance, the cover is worth having. If you do not currently have it in place, you can usually add mid-term to your existing policy.