Converted Flats Insurance

Converted flats insurance

Taking on a property and converting it can be a challenging but highly rewarding experience. There is nothing like opening the doors on a new apartment project having put time, effort and care into it. But you are now effectively operating a number of properties for profit, and as such it can be confusing when the time comes to insure them. Likewise there are risks involved during the actual construction process. Specialised converted flats insurance can often be the most cost effective and straightforward way of getting adequate protection in place.

Unfortunately your current domestic insurance policy provider probably won't be able to give you an adequate deal. And, legally, as you are running a business, as a landlord, you need to have commercial insurance in place. This means turning to a specialist who can supply a policy which includes all the basics including cover for properties in the development which may remain empty for a period of time. Remember that a domestic insurance policy normally only protects an empty building for a limited period, perhaps 30 days, for example. Converted flats insurance will protect one or all of the units for a much longer period if they are empty.

A policy can also provide protection for the original property you bought, and you can often even get cover for any repair work which has to be done because the conversion or extension work itself has damaged it. As with the sum insured on a simple domestic property, there will be a limit, often known as the professional reinstatement cost, which is the amount you are protected for the cost of rebuilding the existing structure.

The conversion project can often be a work in progress, and hopefully the value will be increasing as the work itself is done. Once again, this will need to be protected and a conversion policy can even provide a kind of 'live' policy, supplying protection for the conversion work done to date.

You can normally add in employers’ liability insurance as standard, which can apply to any claims brought against you by people working on the site. Public liability insurance is also important, when you consider the risk of someone wandering onto the site and being injured, or the possibility that neighboring property could be damaged by an accident which occurs due to the work undertaken on the conversion.

Converted flats insurance can often even supply protection for legal costs, as a considerable amount of work on an older building can lead to something of a web of paperwork and agreements with councils, builders and suppliers - so even legal costs, should a dispute arise, are protected for.