Unoccupied Office Insurance

The Property must be inspected internally and externally at least once a week by You or on Your behalf and a written record of
the inspection is maintained by You

All refuse and waste materials must be removed from the interior of the Property and no accumulation of refuse and waste is
allowed in the adjoining yards or space owned by You.

The gas, water and electricity supplies must be turned off at the mains (except electricity needed to maintain any fire or intruder
alarm systems).

During the period 1st October to 31st March all water systems must be drained.

Letterboxes must be sealed.

The final exit door of the Property must be secured by an appropriate mortice deadlock which has five or more levers and
conforms to British Standard (BS) 3621 or European Norm (EN) 1303 together with a matching metal box striking plate, installed
in accordance with the manufacturer’s recommendations.

What type of cover do you get for Unoccupied Office Insurance

Cover will normally reduce if your office become unoccupied. You may well get special dispensation from the insurer if you can illustrate that the property will be occupied very shortly, however, this is rare and as a rule of thumb the following level of cover will apply from day 1 of unoccupancy:

Fire
Lightning
Earthquake
Aircraft
Property Owners Liability only

Again, depending on the insurer you may well be asked to pay an additional premium to keep the property on cover. The premium requested will depend on numerous underwriting factors, such as how long you think it will be empty for & the postcode. For example, if the unoccupied office is in a high risk post code for arson, then your insurers may impose a heavy additional premium just for them to keep on risk (along with some very stringent conditions), as an unoccupied office may well be attractive to would-be vandals.

See also Are you Jubilee ready?

What happens when the unoccupied property becomes occupied again?

Essentially, the cover you lost will re re-applied to your office buildings policy – such as theft or malicious damage for example will no longer be excluded. Your wallet won’t feel as light either, as your will be a given pro-rata refund on the extra you have had to pay. It is important to remember, insurers will be continuing to rate the risk element attached to your property, and if you manage to get the office occupied again then, statistically at least, there will be less likely to be any property owners claims for either material damage or liability.

What do we recommend as a broker for unoccupied office insurance?

First, it is best to have the property let out or being in use. However, in the current climate this is not always possible, and may get harder still with the somewhat continued working from home scenario meaning some property owners are finding very difficult to keep a tenant or find a new one. But, let’s say the property becomes unoccupied, you should do regular inspections and keep a diary of these inspections – this will keep you right should you ever need to make a claim. It also makes sure you are maintaining your property instead of being left with a large bill as you haven’t been checking regularly which results in rather large maintenance costs. Regular inspection of unoccupied office building will ensure you catch any maintenance problems before they escalate further. You should also install some security cameras. These security cameras can be picked up at a relatively cheap price these days, in addition to acting as a deterrent, they may well also earn you some extra brownie points with an insurance company and earn you a discount!