It's important to make sure your insurance
company knows about the commercial side, and the residential side of your
mixed-use property.
Read on to learn more about mixed-use insurance for UK landlords.
The Risks of Mixed-Use Properties
When you're renting out commercial
and residential properties in the same building, that you own through
your business or privately, do it right, and in this case, a mixed-use
insurance policy is needed.
There are numerous risks that are
simply factored into the process of mix-use offices, from the local
butcher shop, downstairs and the barbershop downstairs.
When you're
looking for a policy, your mixed-use landlord insurance company need to
know you want a policy for the commercial property and the residential
let, above the commercial property.
Getting this wrong by not letting
your insurers know about a mixed-use property, could mean a massive
financial loss, and in the harshest situation, you could get a prison
sentence if someone dies in a fire.
There's a big difference between commercial and residential, in landlords insurance companies eyes.
Why Is There a Difference?
There are many reasons, but let's put this in layman terms.
If you rent a flat that's in the same building as the shop downstairs, a lot of things could be affected:
Private let's do not have the
same risks as a business that uses commercial ovens and gas appliances,
fires happen, and if they do, and you're not insured properly, you have a
very big problem.
Other situations like salons that
use commercial hair chemicals (that are fire hazards) have a higher
risk, compared to the flat upstairs.
There are many scenarios and
situations where risk differs, from flat to the commercial property in
the same building, from night clubs to retail shops, and that's where
insurers need to know.
Video: Understanding commercial and mixed-use properties
More on Mixed-Use Landlord Insurance*
All landlord and buy-to-let
insurance companies in existence today are required to offer you some form
of liability protection for mixed-use buildings.
The amount of coverage that is
required for commercial and residential lets is actually quite
different, (by UK law) and can be rather varied among the entire
spectrum of a written-up policy (read the small print).
Getting help from a specialized
landlord insurer is actually a critical process that should be treated
like taking on a first-time mortgage, get it right from the start.
What's Cover With Mixed-Use Landlord Insurance?
First, the building itself...
Your building comes first, from
lower ground to higher ground, your options are not all that much and
are straightforward.
These options are offered after your building
re-build cost and the value of the building is taken into
consideration.
If you live in London or other
cities like Birmingham and your right in the city centre, you could pay a
bit more and to be honest.
One of the main considerations in
this insurance process is ensuring the building is covered for fires,
flooding, vanadium, terrorism and explosion.
And since you have a
mixed-use property, making sure you have both properties, one insured
for the commercial side and one insured for the residential.
What about building emergencies?
What do you do if the roof is damaged with 80 miles per hour winds, or the flat upstairs floods out the retail shop downstairs?
If you have Landlord Home
Emergency Insurance, that can do you more good, even more so if you have
a lot of properties like a portfolio of properties.
Mixed-Use Landlord Contents Insurance
Contents insurance for mixed-use
properties may not be the answer for every UK landlord.
The flat
upstairs could be kitted out with some nice ( and expensive) furniture
and you might want to cover those assets with a policy.
On the other hand, the commercial
property downstairs might have no property that you own as the owner or
the property.
You could be renting out the bare bones or a shop or a
unit and therefore, contents insurance may not be required.
Rember contents insurance cover
things like fixtures and fitting too, so you could look into that if you
are worried about tenants wreaking the place when you have a fallout?
Do you need mixed-use landlord insurance?
Check out our quote page and cover
your properties the right way, both commercial and residential with one
form.
You can also compare landlord business insurance quotes for
buildings and contents insurance and anything else you would need for
mixed-use properties.
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