The continued restrictions that have been put in place to fight the coronavirus have had a drastic impact on UK businesses, particularly within the retail, food, leisure and hospitality sectors. These closures attribute to mounting concerns within businesses and insurers due to buildings continuing to remain unoccupied during lockdown 3.
Reviewing your unoccupancy cover
During the first lockdown, many insurers extended their unoccupancy terms to ensure that businesses were still covered despite exceeding the fixed limit of their standard terms and conditions.
As we continue to tackle lockdown 3.0, many businesses have changed their trading methods, with some not being able to open their doors despite being allowed to do so due to lack of footfall and other factors.
At The Insurance Centre we aim to support our clients through this period however we can. This means that it’s incredibly important that you make us aware of any changes in the way you trade – whether you’ve adapted from your usual practices or temporarily closed your business.
Many insurers are no longer placing blanket extensions on unoccupancy policies and are instead taking a much more tailored approach on an individual basis. How you are affected will vary based on the individual terms and conditions of your policy.
Protecting your unoccupied premises
When a building is left unoccupied, it is subject to an increased risk of vandalism, theft and water damage, more so than when it is being utilised on a regular basis.
To better protect your premises while it remains unoccupied, ensure that you utilise the security measures you have by ensuring alarms are working and activated and all doors and windows are locked and secured. If you don’t have them in place already, it may be worth investing in CCTV and light sensors to deter and capture criminal activity.
To discuss how your unoccupancy cover will be affected, please do get in touch with a member of the team at The Insurance Centre. We’ll review exactly what you’re covered for based on your policy conditions. Just call us on 01524 848506
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