Commercial Landlord Insurance

Commercial landlord insurance

Sorting out the right kind of protection can become a bit more daunting if you are looking for commercial landlords insurance, and it can also involve extra cost considerations. But there are plenty of firms out there who will supply this kind of deal and compete for your custom, meaning it is possible to get an effective deal at a reasonable premium.

Commercial buildings insurance for landlords often typically includes protection for the building itself against all the usual possible eventualities including fire, vandalism and theft, with a few other elements.

It can often include cover in the event that someone, ie a "third party", is injured on the property or as a result of visiting the property. This can be important because a more legally-aware society can mean a heightened chance of legal action if something goes wrong, and a law-related dispute can be an expensive prospect. Landlords insurance with a liability element covers the cost of legal advice for defending a case and even the cost of any compensation, should it be awarded, up to a set limit.

Different types of cover

You can combine different types of let under one deal, for example holding a commercial landlord insurance policy which covers properties let to commercial and residential tenants or a mixture of the two. A commercial deal can involve one level of protection for a property which is empty, guarding against vandalism, flood and fire damage and so on, and then a second level which is active when the building is let to a commercial tenant. This may include the likes of public liability, employers’ liability, flood, malicious damage and loss of rent.

There's another option known as loss of rent which can apply if your property was damaged and put out of action while repairs were made following, for example, a flood or a fire. This means no-one will be in the building earning you rent, so a commercial cover deal may protect this and pay all or some of the rent you would have received.

Something else to think about is the possibility of a commercial landlord insurance policy which includes emergency call out cover, which can protect you if you ever need to call on a professional expert at short notice because of something like a plumbing emergency.  For example, a straightforward burst water main may flood a commercial premises and require urgent attention.  Emergency call out cover would pay for the cost of getting a professional involved at short notice, which may be considerable, although an excess might apply.