Archive for the ‘unoccupied building insurance’ Category

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Unoccupied commercial building insurance – quote to cover, how long?

Thursday, January 19th, 2012

Unoccupied commercial building insurance is a type of cover that is normally available from most insurers. There are various reasons for this. Over time most insurers keep and build up huge databases of the statistics associated with all the different types of cover they provide. This means that they can work out, very accurately, for the different types of policies.

They know, for example, if they insured 500 fish and chip shops, they could expect 10-15% of the businesses to claim in the first year. They can also work out, fairly well, what the losses are likely to be and what the costs are. But, and it is another big but, dozens of years of statistics are never guaranteed to be right. Most years they are, but then we have a couple of bad winters as we did at the end of 2009 and 2010 and with the thousands upon thousands of burst pipe claims we had, the statistics are blown out of the water. Overall though, all business insurance companies can work out what they will make money on and rate accordingly.

This is why insurers, if they want to cover them, will charge higher premiums for unoccupied, or empty, buildings. Over time they suffer more losses from buildings that are empty. Therefore, they charge higher premiums and provide restricted (fire, lightning, earthquake, explosion and property owners liability) cover for these types of risks.

One downside of looking for a quote is that it may take longer, for certain insurers, to provide a quote. Some may not even quote until they have undertaken a pre-cover survey, which can take days and days. Others may need you to provide recent photographs which they will need to review before offering terms.

As ever, please always, always speak to an independent business insurance broker for a range of quotes.

Here at Businessinsure, for most types of empty (commercial, residential and mixed) buildings, with a sum insured of less then £1,000,000, we can offer terms on the same day you request them. There are of course scenarios where we cannot meet this, but overall, we aim to provide a written quote via email, on the same day you ask us to.

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Unoccupied commercial property insurance quotes – quick and cheap-ish…

Saturday, January 14th, 2012

Unoccupied commercial property insurance quotes are not cheap. There is no getting away from the fact that insurers penalise you in two ways when you are looking to get quotes. Over the years, all of the business insurance companies collate statistics. They also have the ability to share and use statistics from many other bodies, whether for the insurance industry, fire prevention or loss adjusting professions. Everyone you speak to in the insurance world will tell you that empty properties are more susceptible to losses than occupied properties. It is, statistically, the same story year in year out. I have been working in this industry for just over 25 years and every insurer I have ever worked with or for has adopted the same approach.

The first one is not to touch this type of business. The second one is to underwrite unoccupied business property insurance, but with caution. I can guarantee you that hen’s teeth would appear before you would find an insurer that offers a scheme to underwrite all types of unoccupied properties. Every single risk is to be considered on it’s merits. An unoccupied building in one street could be completely different to a very similar looking one in the next street.

When you want to get a quote, as with every type of business, you need to speak to an independent business insurance broker. They will then look around for you. Going back to the heading of this blog, you are never going to get a quote that is cheap. You can certainly get one that is very, very expensive. This is because the insurers are really saying that they do not want the risk.

To get a quote that is somewhere in he middle, nearer to the cheap, you need to speak to us. Unoccupied residential insurance quotes can be purchased for around 0.20% of the buildings sum insured, this can increase to 0.5 or 0.6% for some of the higher risk empty buildings quotes, such as pubs, hotels and other licensed trades.

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Unoccupied property insurance quotes

Thursday, December 29th, 2011

If you need an unoccupied property insurance quote, whether for residential, commercial or a mix of the two, then you need to go to a business insurance broker. It may seem strange as to why you would go to a business broker for an empty residential property owners insurance policy, but stick with us and we will explain why.

A fair proportion of  our business is property owners. We do not differentiate at all, the only thing we cannot do is a home that you occupy yourself, this is better suited to a domestic, or personal, insurer. Even the larger commercial and business insurance companies will split their companies into two, one for the business side and one for the domestic. There is a problem though in going to a domestic insurer for an empty house that you are looking to insure. Why? Because most of them will have restrictions about insuring a property that is empty for more than 30, 45 or 60 days. Instead of applying restrictions, the cover simply ceases.

The reason for sticking with us is, that a business insurance broker will be able to get an annual unoccupied quote for you. Businessinsure can even get wider cover to include storm, flood, theft and malicious damage. You will not get cover for glass, sanitaryware, loss of rent, accidental damage or burst pipes though.

So whether it is an empty house, factory, restaurant, shop or industrial unit, we can get a quote for you. We can usually turn quotes around within an hour or so. Therefore, even if your existing provider has hit you with a massive premium increase at the last minute, come to Businessinsure and we’ll see what we can do. We are not naive, or should we say daft, enough to say that we will beat any other quote. What we will do is our best, for you. You can then rest assured in the knowledge that at least you have found out what the ball park is, price and cover wise. You can then choose whether or not you want to move insurer.

Posted in business insurance, commercial insurance, unoccupied building insurance, unoccupied buildings insurance, unoccupied commercial building insurance, unoccupied property insurance | Comments Off

Unoccupied commercial buildings insurance – what premium is charged?

Monday, November 21st, 2011

When speaking to a commercial insurance company about their top ten risks that they do not like, I can guarantee that unoccupied properties, whether commercial or residential, will more than likely be in their top five. Having worked for various insurers over many, many years they all treat them (unoccupied properties) the same. They consider them to be a higher risk than tenanted properties and also offer restricted cover, because they suffer more losses and they also charge a higher rate for this lesser cover.

The way a commercial building premium is calculated can be a bit complex, because it is based on years and years of statistics. As underwriters though, we do not need to use this information. The insurers produce a “rate” which is a percentage amount (per mille is another story altogether) applied to the rebuilding sum insured for a building.

If you own a property that is let out, for example, as a low risk retail (ie sweet shop, newsagent, chemist etc), you would be looking at an average rate, in 2011, of 0.15 to 0.20% depending on where the building is and the cover you get. If the tenant left and you need to cover this as an unoccupied building insurance, the main stream companies (the big brand insurers we have all heard about) will either not provide cover or will charge rates up to 0.75% and restrict the cover. Normal cover includes fire, storm, flood, accidental damage, galss and property owners liability, to name but a few. Unoccupied cover is restricted to what we summarise as FLEA cover. Fire, lightning, earthquake and aircraft (plus property owners liability). Whilst this gives you the main cover (fire) it does not provide any cover, say for storm.

We have access to insurers that, whilst they are not looking to be market leaders, are keen to insure unoccupied buildings at rates nearer to 0.275 to 0.30% with wider cover than FLEA. It of course depends on a number of other factors and you are better to speak to us over the phone to discuss your individual requirements.

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Fast track business insurance claims

Thursday, August 11th, 2011

Whilst the tragic events of the past week in London and other Englich cities have concentrated on the trouble caused, we cannot forget that this really is a tiny minority of people that caused the trouble. Of course there are opportunists who just get dragged along, but for most English people, life has to go on as normal.

It is of course a shame that certain communities will be tarnished for years. Hopefully the community spirit we have sene in the past few days will lead these areas to put this behind them very quickly.

As a business insurance broker we have had to deal with manuy many calls from custoemrs throughout the UK who have asked whether cover operates under their policies or not.

We have re-assured them and confirmed that cover does apply. But what of those customers that are looking to make a claim? What are the commercial insurers going to do? We have had some very good, confident positice messages from insurers that they are geared up and ready to deal with valid claims very quickly. For some, the only reason for the delay is that they are unable to gain access to the areas in question because the police are restricting access. As soon as they are allowed in to see the properties and speak to the customers then they can move forward to settlement.

The only bad news is that now, some customers are going to realise the value of going through a good quality broker who places the insurance cover with a company that has a reputation for paying claims very quickly. We have seen in the past few months certain fringe insurers make it very difficult for perfectly valid claims to get paid.

Unless you have a cover with restricted cover, such as unoccupied building insurance,  your policy should cover you for riot, looting, theft, arson, malicious damage and fire. If you have any problems whatsoever with your insurer, you can always complain to them and then the Financial Services Authority if you have no luck.

But, this really should not be a necessary process.

Posted in business insurance, unoccupied building insurance, unoccupied buildings insurance | Comments Off

Unoccupied building insurance – instantly?

Friday, July 8th, 2011

While the UK property market is still extremely sluggish, there are still bargains to be had. But they tend to only be accessible to those who are either cash buyers or can put down a serious deposit. We are seeing a big increase in customers looking for unoccupied building insurance, as this is usually a requirement of any funding. Even the cash buyers are sensible enough to get cover for their new asset.

If you are looking to buy a building for £200,000 and are putting down 20%, then the bank or finance house will be lending, give or take £160,000. They want insurance in place not just for this amount, but for the full rebuilding cost.

Given how badly the banks have behaved over the past ten years, they are now even more particular about making sure that any asset you purchase, that they are lending money for, is insured correctly.

Usually, purchases take place on a Friday. It has always been the traditional day to move house, purely because of it’s proximity to the weekend. This is the day when we find the most policies are sold, usually at the last minute. If it is a business purchase, then it is not always clear what insurance cover the bank needs, they are not renowned for letting you know early. We normally get calls from customers early on a Friday saying not only do they need cover, but they need to prove it is in force and have the banks financial interest noted.

In reality, how easy is it to get unoccupied building insurance, in an instant? To tell the truth, it has never been easier. BIB had a call last night, after 5pm from an existing customer who had just found out they were to exchange and complete on the same day. To do this, they had to ensure the bank had in their possession policy documents, as noted above, before a penny would be transferred.

The good thing is, that with the internet we were able to get a quote, £850 for an empty residential house at a sum insured of £450,000, go on cover and email the whole policy document in pdf format, within 15 minutes. The fall out of course is that they have to pay for it, but their business account manager will have this document sitting in their in box for 9am. Think back 10 years and this would not have been possible.

If you are stuck and need cover quick, call us and we’ll do our level best to help you. As an independent business insurance broker, we have access to many different markets to get you the best price possible.

Posted in business building insurance, unoccupied building insurance, unoccupied buildings insurance | Comments Off

Unoccupied pub insurance

Thursday, June 23rd, 2011

Everyone loves a bargain. It is a big difference though between saving a few pounds on something in the high street compared to taking a financial gamble in the fickle UK property market.

As a major business insurance broker, dealing with thousands of customers on an annual basis, we see which parts of the UK economy have suffered more than most. Nearly every quarter of industry has suffered, even now, in 2011, I am struggling to think of one industry that did well out of the recession. But, the leisure and building industries seem to have been hardest hit. The number of empty pubs, restaurants and takeaways throughout the land are still increasing.

The bargains we talk about are people that look to buy up empty properties and get planning permission to convert to other use, normally residential. If you are buying a pub, you are probably getting some sort of funding and will have a need for unoccupied building insurance.

Unoccupied pubs are an extremely difficult type of business to place. We have an ever decreasing number of markets available to us and can only get quotes if you comply or meet the following demands.

1) The pub needs to have been empty for less than three years.

2) You need to have definite plans in place for the future use of the building.

3) If you are looking to convert to residential use, you need to have planning permission in place and the work has to start within 60 days.

Any other type of unoccupied property is pretty easy to get a quote for, it is just that pubs are the ones that suffer the most losses. The best thing to do is to give us a call to discuss what you need and we can tell you there and then whether we can help you or not.

Posted in business insurance, unoccupied building insurance, unoccupied buildings insurance, unoccupied commercial building insurance, unoccupied property insurance, unoccupied pub insurance | Comments Off

Unoccupied building insurance – average costs?

Monday, January 24th, 2011

Unoccupied building insurance, whether for commercial, residential or mixed properties, has always been charged at a higher rate than most occupied policies.

Policies are based on a number of different factors. Depending on the insurer, they could be taking over 50 different rating factors into account. These range from the the potential flood risk of the area you are in, to the theft and malicious damage potential down to the risks presented by the actual occupation.

This is where the unoccupancy rates increase. If you have a building where people are regularly working or living, then the chances of malicious damage, or fire (arson) are significantly increased. You may not appreciate it, but there is a huge difference in the loss ratios (the amount and cost of claims) between empty properties and the rest.

As a business insurance broker, we have access to a wide range of insurers who are able to provide not only restrictive, but wider cover, for these types of properties. We do get people, who phone in for a quote, who say that empty buildings, in their opinion, represent a much better risk. Statistically though, this is not the case. Take pubs for example, empty ones, whether or not they are boarded up are a magnet for thieves (even the copper pipes are still valuable) and they do suffer their share of fires, sometimes caused by the owners when the planning permission they expected does not materialise.

So what sort of price should you pay for an unoccupied property insurance policy? Firstly, you have to have an annual policy. There are no insurers that offer monthly policies. What they tend to do is to provide an annual policy, which you would have to cancel, or alter, when the property is sold or the occupation changes. Beware though, some insurers and brokers do still charge a minimum and deposit premium, which means that even if you cancel after a few weeks, you will still be due for the full annual premium.

So what sort of price should you pay? For fire, lightning, explosion, aircraft and property owners liability, you should expect to pay approximately 0.40% applied to the re-building cost and for residential around 0.25 to 0.30%. So, for a £100,000 (cost of rebuilding, not the purchase/sale price) property, you would pay (including 6% insurance premium tax) £300 odd for an empty house and around £425 for a commercial one.

If you are looking for a quote, quickly, give us a call as soon as you can. For most types of commercial premises, we can turn a quote round in a couple of hours. This is from enquiry, to issue of policy stage, which is not too bad when you compare this to the industry averages.

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Unoccupied commercial building insurance

Friday, January 21st, 2011

If you are looking for commercial building insurance, for an unoccupied property, you may be in for a bit of a shock when you see the prices being quoted.

The prices quoted depend a great deal on the previous use of the property, how long it has been empty, whether the property is boarded up, the location and what your plans are for the property.

Whilst times are tough out there, there are still people who are looking to get a bargain, buying empty commercial properties and changing the use to residential (in the main). But, local authorities are unfortunately as pedantic as ever and whether you think the property would be ideal as flats or not, they may decide differently.

There are many, many empty public houses up and down the land, in prime residential areas. Unlike an empty high street shop, the pub is more suited to being converted to residential use, because it is already in a non-commercial area.

The problem you may face is that the time from purchase, to getting planning permission and then starting the work, can be not just months, but years. If you have a mortgage or finance on the property, then you will need to consider carefully the requirements of that loan and whether or not you need to insure the building. The last thing you want to do is to have a £250,000 mortgage hanging around your neck for a building that is just a pile of rubble!

To get a competitive quote, you need a business insurance broker to look into this for you. They can search the market for you and find the best price, sometimes for wider cover than the standard fire, lightning, aircraft and explosion.

As a very rough guide, you are looking at a rate of around 0.25% applied to the rebuilding cost for residential buildings, this can increase to 0.45% depending on which type of commercial property. But, remember to ask what the cancellation terms are. No-one wants to pay thousands of pounds for a policy, to cancel this in a few months if you get a buyer to find you get a nil return.

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Unoccupied building insurance – is this a business policy?

Thursday, September 16th, 2010

We received a call from an existing customer who is renovating a house and living in a mobile home on-site. Their home insurers are refusing to extend cover as the property is, under their definitions, unoccupied. They have advised the customer to get a business insurance policy.

The question from the customer is, why is this a business policy? You would think, that a business policy would be only one available to live, trading businesses. However, nothing is of course that easy.

You can get business policies for charities, non-trading companies, dormant companies and of course, residential and commercial property insurance. So, the unoccupied property, that is not a business, is not earning income, is probably a complete drain on resources, is not one that a traditional house insurer will cover.

What you need to do, is to speak to a business insurance broker. They will have access to a huge range of property owners policies, many of which will cover unoccupied, vacant or untenanted properties. It does not matter whether these are residential or commercial, they will be able to get the right policy for you. The only difference, that will affect the premium and cover considerably, is whether there is just general “tidying up” renovation, ie painting, decorating, new kitchen/bathroom etc, or whether you are being more ambitious and structural changes are undertaken. This would include new windows, extensions, conversions and new roofs.

This is when the insurers may restrict the cover to simply, fire, lightning, aircraft and explosion. If you are not doing structural work, you can get cover for storm, burst pipes and/or theft and malicious damage.

Posted in business insurance, commercial property insurance, commercial property insurance quote, commercial property owners insurance, unoccupied building insurance, unoccupied commercial building insurance | Comments Off

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