Although the UK has a great history in financial services (including business insurance), it can seem at times that getting the right quote is akin to searching for the elusive needle in a haystack.

As we go through the tail end of the recession there are still a huge number of buildings and properties throughout the UK which remain empty. This is either because property owners cannot get the properties rented out or they are just biding their time until rental incomes increase.

In the meantime, as a property owner they need to make sure that they have adequate cover for their property. This covers two points, firstly there is the actual cover (ie fire, storm, flood etc) and secondly, there is the issue of making sure that the insurers have this covered on the correct policy wording.

As a business insurance broker, we have access to many different insurers and as you can imagine, each insurer has dozens and dozens of different types of policy wording. What this means is that you could have a property that is tenanted by a third party, owner occupied (including for business purposes) or it could be empty. Certain companies may cover this on one type of policy, whereas most will have a different wording for each type of tenancy (or otherwise).

The reason that insurers do this is because they have spent many years understanding the different types of risk associated with the different types of premises. This is why there are policies specifically for unoccupied building insurance. A standard policy will give much wider cover and a better price, for tenanted premises. As soon as it is empty or unoccupied, insurers will restrict the cover and charge a higher premium.

This may seem unfair, but the good news is that there are, amongst all the covers available, policies that do not charge the earth and do not have cover that is too restrictive. Don’t bother looking for the diamond in the rough yourself, come to us and let us do the hard work for you.

In the world of business insurance, we love to shorten phrases into mnemonics. The problem is, that we don’t appreciate how confusing this can be for people that don’t deal with policies day in and day out.

Take for example, unoccupied building insurance. Many customers, who call us to discuss and get a quote, feel that an empty building represents a much better risk than a building that is occupied. Partly this is true, there are no processes or production going on and there is nothing in the building to steal (so the fabric of the building is not damaged during a theft).

But, from an insurers point of view, the opposite can be the case. They perceive an empty building to be an Aladdin’s cave for criminals and kids wanting to play in. Smashed windows, burst water pipes, theft of non-ferrous metals (copper pipe and lead roofing) are all claims that occur for empty buildings.

You can’t blame the insurers though, they have building up their statistics over dozens and dozens of years and the result is that they know where the claims occur, and obviously do not want to pay out on them.

So, going back to the mnemonics, one you may hear is FLEA cover. What this is, is a restricted type of cover that insurers will usually only offer for empty buildings. Normally, you would get full perils (types of loss) cover including theft, malicious damage, storm, glass etc. However, FLEA restricts the cover to fire, lightning, aircraft and explosion. Alternatively, you may get FLEEA cover, which includes earthquake.

In addition, most insurers will give property owners liability. Certain insurers will give wider cover, including theft and storm. The best thing to do is to speak to a business insurance broker as they have knowledge of, and access to a wide range of insurers.