Today’s commercial premises insurance policies have been underwritten by UK insurance companies, using the accumulated knowledge and experience built up over 200 years of offering commercial building insurance in the United Kingdom. With a wealth of historic insurance claims data, insurance underwriters can be reasonably confident of the likelihood of a particular risk occurring for most classifiable trades.
The purpose of commercial premises insurance policy is to protect the property investment made by a landlord, should unexpected future events cause financial damage. Modern policies use an established set of perils. If you start shopping around, you will soon realise that most of these perils seem broadly similar. Of course, you should always read the policy wording in detail to make sure it meets your individual needs and requirements in conjunction with the ” Key facts” leaflet which gives a brief synopsis of cover and all the salient points.
Over a period of time, business operations have changed somewhat. New technologies have been introduced and policyholder needs have altered as have the risks that face them. Insurers have kept pace with these changes by modifying and developing their policy wordings to meet the requirements of both commercial landlords and their lenders alike.
The architectural design and build quality of commercial housing stock has radically changed over the last century; now modern construction methods are employed using the latest materials. Whereas originally, much commercial stock was simply modified to meet the occupiers needs, new builds tend to be constructed very much with the tenant in mind. Insurers keep up to date with construction methods employed and their policy wordings try to reflect as broad a spectrum as possible of the risks faced by the commercial building owners whilst taking in to consideration important risk factors that may increase the chances of a loss at a premises.
Commercial Premises Insurance- Rating factors
Commercial Property Insurance companies use many factors when seeking to offer an insurance quotation for this type of risk. These include how the premises is likely to be occupied by the tenant, the postcode of the premises, details of any manufacturing processes that will be undertaken on the site, and of course the reinstatement value of the building its self.
This premium inevitably varies according to the differences of each individual client scenario. In the case of landlords of commercial premises, there are a range of building types that are used for commercial purposes. So, if you are a landlord seeking a quote, one of the first questions an insurance broker or insurance company is likely to ask you, is ‘what type of premises do you need cover for, and what is it made of?’. Most modern commercial premises are made of standard brick built construction. From an insurance perspective, ‘standard construction’ usually means commercial premises made of concrete block, brick or stone and with a roof made up of slate or tiles. Age is an important factor with commercial premises and many insurers will load their premiums depending on the year of construction. If an older property has been refurbished, it is worth pointing this out to insurers as it may be taken in to consideration.
The UK has gone through a huge growth of out-of-town, business parks over the last 20 years – (as the town planners have failed to keep up with the insatiable demand for new commercial premises). These modern factories, shopping centers and industrial units, provide ideal risks for insurers, keen to insure newly constructed, purposes built developments.
If your rental property is some kind of industrial unit (such as a modern metal clad building with a slopping glass roof), insures may take a slightly different view and adjust the premium accordingly. In particular if the premises has a flat roof or the roof slopes under a certain angle, there is an increased chance (that without regular maintenance), water damage may occur at some point in the future. Insurers always need to know of any premises that have a flat roof and will charge their rates according to the percentage of flat roof in situation. If the building you want cover for, was previously a non standard residential property and has now been granted approval for commercial use (such as a bar that has been converted into a tea room, or a listed building that now has a shop front), you may find that a more specialist insurer is require to help provide you with cover.
At Assetsure, we are able to offer commercial premises insurance quotes for a wide range of commercial buildings situated in the UK. We can provide cover for a wide range of occupational trades, including:-
