Whether you own an office, retail unit, warehouse or mixed-use building — compare tailored cover from FCA-authorised UK insurers in minutes.
🤝 Partnerships launching soon
A comprehensive policy typically includes several layers of protection. Here's what to look for — and what you may need to add as an optional extra.
Covers the cost of repairing or rebuilding your commercial property following damage from fire, flood, storm, subsidence, escape of water or malicious damage.
Protects furnishings, fixtures, fittings and equipment belonging to you as the property owner — not the tenant's contents.
Covers lost rental income if your property becomes uninhabitable due to an insured event, while repairs are carried out. Critical for income-reliant landlords.
Covers legal costs and compensation if a third party — tenant, visitor, passer-by, contractor — is injured or has property damaged due to the state of your building, typically up to £2–10 million. This includes claims arising from disrepair, falling masonry, faulty common-area lighting or a slip on an unsalted car park — not just accidents inside a tenant's own demise.
Shopfronts, curtain walling and large glazed frontages are usually covered under a separate glass section with its own specified limit — not simply folded into the general buildings sum insured. Check the limit reflects full replacement cost of your actual glazing, including specialist or toughened/laminated glass, as under-specifying this limit is a common gap.
Covers damage that isn't deliberate or a designated peril — a contractor's forklift striking a wall, a dropped tool cracking flooring. Rarely included as standard on commercial property policies; usually needs adding as an extension, and is worth it given how often minor accidental damage claims arise on let or multi-occupied buildings.
Standard policies restrict cover when a property is empty for 30–60 days. Specialist unoccupied cover bridges the gap during voids, refurbishments or sales.
Optional cover for lifts, boilers, air conditioning, electrical inspection and breakdown of building services machinery — required by many commercial leases.
Available in most policies, though premiums vary by flood risk area. Always check the level of excess applied to flood and subsidence claims before buying.
Own multiple commercial properties? A portfolio policy covers all units under a single renewal, often at a lower total premium than insuring each separately.
If your commercial property has protected or heritage status, this must be declared to your insurer — it directly affects rebuild cost, materials and how a claim is settled.
Graded by Historic England (and Cadw in Wales). Grade I covers buildings of exceptional interest (around 2.5% of listed buildings), Grade II* particularly important buildings of more than special interest (around 5.8%), and Grade II — by far the most common — buildings of special interest.
Graded by Historic Environment Scotland. Category A denotes outstanding examples of a period or style, Category B major examples, and Category C representative or more modest examples — the rough equivalents of Grade I, II* and II respectively.
Graded by the Historic Environment Division. Grade A covers buildings of greatest importance, with B+, B1 and B2 marking progressively more common categories — broadly comparable to the England/Wales and Scotland systems.
Reinstatement following damage to a listed building must use original or matching materials and methods — often specialist lime mortar, natural stone, timber joinery or specific roofing materials — and typically requires listed building consent before any work begins. This can push rebuild costs well above what a standard calculation would suggest.
This is the single most common cause of underinsurance in commercial property — and one of the most expensive mistakes to discover at claim time.
The full cost to demolish what remains and reconstruct the property from scratch to current Building Regulations — not what you paid for it, and not what it would sell for. A RICS Reinstatement Cost Assessment is the recognised way to establish this figure accurately.
A proper rebuild figure includes demolition and debris removal, site clearance, foundations and substructure, all materials and labour, professional fees (architects, surveyors, engineers), statutory fees, and VAT where applicable — not just the visible above-ground structure.
Some policies specifically exclude foundations from the sum insured or from a claim payment via a foundations clause, on the basis they rarely need full replacement. Check your policy wording — if foundations are excluded, your effective sum insured needs adjusting accordingly, or the exclusion negotiated out.
Construction costs move significantly year to year. A rebuild figure that was accurate three years ago is very likely stale today. Review your sum insured at every renewal, and commission a fresh RICS assessment every 3–5 years or after any significant alteration.
If you directly employ anyone to help run or maintain your property, employers' liability insurance is a legal requirement — not an optional extra.
Under the Employers' Liability (Compulsory Insurance) Act 1969, any business employing staff must hold at least £5 million of employers' liability cover — this applies from your very first employee, including part-time, casual or temporary staff such as a caretaker, cleaner or handyman.
Caretakers, on-site maintenance staff, gardeners or cleaners you employ directly — as opposed to self-employed contractors or an agency's own staff, who carry their own employer's responsibility for cover.
You're legally required to display your employers' liability certificate at each place of business, or make it available electronically to staff — and to keep copies for at least 40 years after the policy ends, given how long an illness or injury claim can take to emerge.
Operating without required employers' liability cover can result in a fine of up to £2,500 per day, with a further penalty for failing to display the certificate — regardless of whether a claim has ever been made.
Anyone you engage to work on the building — from a routine plumbing job to a full refurbishment — should carry their own adequate public liability cover before they start.
A significant share of major commercial fire claims originate from contractors carrying out "hot works" — soldering, welding, or using a blow torch, for example during plumbing or roofing repairs. A single uncontrolled hot works job can destroy a building that took decades to establish.
Before any contractor starts work, ask for evidence of their own current public liability insurance — ideally at a level matching the potential damage they could cause, not just a minimal policy. Keep a copy on file; it's your first line of defence if their work causes a loss.
Many insurers require a formal hot works permit system for any work involving open flames, grinding or welding — a documented sign-off confirming fire extinguishers are on hand, the area is cleared of combustibles, and a fire watch is maintained during and after the work.
For larger refurbishment or construction projects, consider whether contractors should be added as joint insureds, or whether your insurer will waive subrogation rights against them — this avoids disputes over whose policy responds if the contractor's own negligence causes the loss.
Most commercial leases set out clearly who insures the building and who's responsible for repairs — but the two obligations don't always sit with the same party.
Most commercial leases are "full repairing and insuring" (FRI). In practice this usually means the landlord arranges and controls the buildings insurance, then recovers the cost from tenants through the service charge or a direct insurance rent — while tenants take on responsibility for internal repairs and their own contents.
Landlords typically insist on arranging the buildings policy themselves, rather than letting tenants do so, to ensure consistent cover across the whole building, a single insurer to deal with after a claim, and protection of the landlord's own financial interest as owner.
The lease should specify exactly how the insurance cost is recovered — a fixed insurance rent, a proportion of a block premium, or via the service charge. Check whether recoverable costs include excess amounts, terrorism cover or engineering inspections, as this varies between leases.
A tenant can be responsible for internal repairs under the lease while the landlord remains responsible for insuring and repairing the structure — this split needs to be clearly reflected in your policy so there's no gap between what the lease requires and what's actually covered.
A few further points worth checking before you buy — some are formal policy mechanisms, others are simply good practice.
If the property is mortgaged, your lender will usually require its interest to be "noted" on the policy. This means the insurer will notify the lender of cancellation or non-renewal, and protects the lender's financial interest in the payout if a major claim arises.
Where you hold a leasehold interest, or where a superior landlord or management company has a financial stake in the building, their interest should also be noted — this is standard practice and most insurers handle it as a simple, no-cost addition.
Most commercial policies are written on a reinstatement basis with a "Day One" uplift, automatically adjusting your sum insured for inflation through the year. Confirm this is in place, and that the uplift percentage is realistic for current construction cost inflation.
Whether VAT should be included in your rebuild figure depends on your VAT status and the nature of the works — new residential-element construction can sometimes be zero-rated. Get this confirmed as part of any professional rebuild assessment rather than assuming either way.
Our insurers cover a wide range of commercial premises across the UK.
Cover levels vary between insurers. Here's a typical guide to what's included at each tier.
| Cover Element | Standard Policy | Enhanced Policy | Specialist Add-On |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buildings (fire, flood, storm) | ✓ Included | ✓ Included | — |
| Property owners' liability | ✓ Included | ✓ Included | — |
| Loss of rent | Optional | ✓ Included | — |
| Contents & fixtures | Optional | ✓ Included | — |
| Accidental damage | ✗ Not included | ✓ Included | — |
| Unoccupied property (30–60 days) | ✓ Included | ✓ Included | — |
| Unoccupied property (60+ days) | ✗ Not included | ✗ Not included | ✓ Specialist only |
| Engineering & boiler breakdown | ✗ Not included | Optional | ✓ Add-on |
| Legal expenses | ✗ Not included | Optional | ✓ Add-on |
| Portfolio discount | ✗ Single property | Varies | ✓ Multi-property |
A few things worth checking before you buy, whichever UK insurer or broker you compare.
Check the limit matches what your contracts, landlord or clients require — common tiers are £1m, £2m, £5m and £10m depending on trade and risk.
Professional and liability covers are often "claims-made" — cover depends on holding a live policy when a claim is made, not just when the work happened.
Read what's excluded, not just what's covered. Sub-contractor work, specific activities, or work carried out overseas are common gaps.
Before buying, confirm any insurer or broker is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority — check the register at register.fca.org.uk.
🤝 We're finalising partnerships with FCA-authorised UK insurers so you can compare real quotes here soon. Check back shortly, or get in touch if you'd like to be notified when comparisons go live.