The Insurance Blog

• Landlords Insurance
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Written by Super User

Category: Blog

Created: 25 June 2015

Hits: 1094

When renting out a property you need to be aware that you will require specialist landlord insurance. General home insurance isn’t right for you as it doesn’t cover all third party risks that you may encounter by having tenants.

Here’s a quick look from landlord insurance providers and the different options available to you courtesy of Riverdale Insurance for Properties.

Landlords specialist buildings Insurance

Your mortgage provider will require you to purchase specialist landlord buildings insurance for your rental property.

As standard buildings insurance generally covers your property against loss or damage caused by:

• Fire or smoke
• Theft, vandalism or civil commotion
• Oil or water leakage and burst pipes
• Lightning, storm or earthquake
• Subsidence
• Damage caused by vehicles, falling trees, animals, aircraft, aerials and masts

In the case of complete destruction of your property, buildings insurance also covers full replacement or repair costs as well as the cost of clearing the area.

As well as covering all of the above, a landlord’s building insurance policy differs from a standard home insurance policy when it comes to cover elements that relate to tenants living in the property such as:

If your tenants can’t stay at the property as a result of damage or a buildings claim. In this case specialist landlords insurance will provide temporary accommodation cover for your tenants and in some cases, provide an element of loss of rent cover to protect your rental income

If your tenants or their guests cause malicious damage to your property a specialist landlord policy would cover the damage caused

Probably the most important of them all, if you don’t have specialist landlord buildings insurance policy in place and need to make a claim, your insurance could be invalidated and declined

Landlords contents insurance

Landlords don’t normally need full contents cover for their rental property, unless the property is let fully furnished. However you may want to give yourself some protection for the things you do provide.

You can usually choose the level of cover that suits your rental property to protect your items against fire and theft. Landlord’s contents cover includes furniture, household utensils, kitchen electrical equipment and soft furnishings, including carpets and curtains – basically anything that could be removed from the property. You can often extend the cover to include accidental damage too, a popular addition for landlords.

Rent Guarantee insurance

Economic times have led to more and more landlords needing to protect their rental property investment and their income more than ever before. Even the best tenants can find their circumstances changing, resulting in them being unable to meet their rental commitments.

Having a rent guarantee policy in place can protect you from being out of pocket by helping you recover rent arrears. Legal cover is often provided as standard as well, giving you access to a panel of solicitors to provide help and advice on legal matters, not limited to letting a property.

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Written by Super User

Category: Blog

Created: 17 February 2015

Hits: 1253

Manufacturing

The manufacturing sector covers a wide range of trades, opportunities and challenges and forms a large and important part of the UK economy. Manufacturing remains one of the key industries for the UK. The UK Manufacturing segment employs 2.6 million employees, contributes 11% of GVA (Gross Value Added), provides half of UK exports and has a higher average wage than the rest of the economy*.

In an increasingly competitive market it is vital that manufacturing customers receive more than just transactional premium from their insurer. Recognising the diversity of the manufacturing industry, with over 206,000 businesses in the UK**, we work with the number 1 UK insurer to offer a range of enhanced covers and services to ensure that customers get a flexible, tailored insurance solution to match the needs of their business.

Whether you are looking for Manufacturing Insurance in Rochdale or across the North of England Riverdale are best placed to advise you.

Key trades Riverdale are Specialist in are:

• Machinery and Equipment Insurance
• Textiles Insurance
• Food and Drink Insurance
• Plastics Insurance
• Printers Insurance
• Metals Insurance
• Chemical Insurance
• Wood Insurance
• Minerals Insurance

Dedicated Risk Management

Riverdale in partnership with leading insurers provides dedicated Risk Consultants who will adopt a collaborative approach to risk management. By working with you we will look to reduce risk and better protect people and assets, as well as provide advice and insight regarding specific industry challenges that include: Health & Safety, Regulatory & Legislative changes, Underinsurance, Business Resilience planning and the adequacy of Revenue Protection indemnity periods.

This in turn may help drive costs down and positively affect their premium – providing that all important edge in the manufacturing sector.

Dedicated Claims Service

We recognise it’s not just about servicing claims, but understanding your business. That’s why Riverdale Insurance and our partner insurance companies provide dedicated Claims Relationship Managers who will establish a tri-partite relationship between you, Riverdale and the insurer’s claims services, to act as a focal point for claims. This means we can really get to understand your individual business needs, make sure our insurer claims handlers understand them too and work us to give you an exceptional claims experience.

For Insurance in Rochdale and in the North West contact Riverdale Insurance on 01706 404404

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Written by Super User

Category: Blog

Created: 17 March 2015

Hits: 1346

Riverdale Insurance reviews the Act, which is currently going through parliament, and explains how it will change the (re)insurance landscape.

Following the conclusion of HM Treasury’s consultation on the proposed bill drafted by the Law Commissions of England, Wales and Scotland, an amended bill has now been presented to parliament. The bill will be following the special parliamentary procedure for uncontroversial Law Commission bills and it is therefore possible that it will now be passed before the end of the current parliamentary session (30 March 2015).

If royal assent is obtained, the Insurance Act 2015 will apply to every insurance policy and reinsurance contract written in England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland and (with certain exceptions set out below) will come into force 18 months after the date it is passed. This will allow time for policy wordings to be amended, where necessary.

The Law Commissions have indicated that they are aiming to produce a third and final report in 2015 on various issues that were not addressed in the bill but that have been the subject of review and proposals in earlier papers. 

These include the proposed abolition of the need for a formal marine policy (section 22 of the Marine Insurance Act 1906) and reform of section 53(1) of the 1906 Act, which makes a broker liable to pay premiums to the insurer and applies only to marine insurance policies. 

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Written by Super User

Category: Blog

Created: 12 February 2015

Hits: 1368

Unoccupied Property Insurance specifically for Rochdale, Oldham and Bury

The recession devastated many UK businesses, causing some to shut up shop for good and leaving a large number of commercial properties standing empty up and down the country. One in three shops on the high street has now been empty for more than three years, according to the Local Data Company, demonstrating the scale of the problem. These empty buildings have caused a huge issue for the insurance industry. Unoccupied buildings are more prone to theft, vandalism and arson and are, therefore, a riskier prospect to an underwriter. As a consequence, many insurers reluctantly offer property owners limited insurance for unoccupied buildings.

Problems can also arise when only part of a building is occupied, leading to a potentially difficult resolution should a claim arise. Brokers have started to strip out unoccupied cases from portfolios but, for some underwriters, insuring the more unusual risks allows them to stand out and deliver a policy that the larger composite insurers cannot or choose not to. A recent debate with insurers that handle this type of business identified many of the issues underwriters face when dealing with unoccupied property, and helped create a checklist that should to be considered by brokers when presenting information to underwriters.

This includes information gathering, planning permission, application processing, innovation and what happens when a loss occurs. Information gathering Insurers agreed that when dealing with complex risks such as unoccupied property it is vital that the broker attempting to secure cover gathers as much information as possible from the client.

These risks are not conventional and every case will have a unique set of circumstances that determine the pricing. Typically, a lack of information at this stage results in unattractive premium prices and it can require additional and unnecessary time and effort to retrospectively source this data. As well as ensuring that a premium is competitive and comprehensive, providing as much information as possible has the additional benefi t of ensuring – should a claim be made – that any discussion around a potential loss can be held from an informed point of view.

Today, most unoccupied property risks are priced with some key elements of information missing. Therefore, the onus is on both the broker and provider to demand as much detail as possible at the outset, even though these conversations can typically be diffi cult, from the insurers’ experience.

Factors that should be noted as part of any initial survey prior to an insurance application include: age of property, number of storeys, type of construction including floors, planning permission, length of time unoccupied, previous occupation, new/planned occupancy renovations, inspection schedule, waste clearance, confirmation of utilities being switched off and whether or not security systems are in place and activated.

If any of the above elements are missing, the risk would likely only receive cover for fi re, lightning, explosion and aircraft. Should all of the above be provided, wider perils can be added to the schedule including riot, civil commotion, malicious damage, earthquake, storm, flood and impact. Only an all-risks policy can provide total peace of mind to all parties, but such a policy is only attainable if the underwriter is provided with a complete picture of the property.

Planning permission

The most common reason a building remains unoccupied is down to the status of planning permission. Often a site will be purchased with the intention of redevelopment, yet securing the necessary approvals can take time and result in the building standing empty for some time. However, property companies that do not receive the appropriate permission will likely move on, leaving a property vacant for an extended period of time and thus increase the likelihood of the premises suffering from malicious damage, flooding or other perils.

The growth of online sales has meant many general insurance policies can be satisfactorily bought online. However, human intervention is still critical to understand the particular nature of the insurance requirement. It may be possible to innovate online application processes for commercial property, but an allowance for easy intervention by an underwriter is critical. To date, this part of the market is one that has not benefitted from a huge deal of innovation – but changes are beginning to be made. For instance, technology now exists which can scan barcodes printed on properties to provide an automatic update to the property Management Company and insurer, showing the property has been checked and any issues identified.

However, there has been little evidence of any other developments. Although security systems are a vital component and have improved over time, more needs to be done. The first step would be for industry and professional bodies to contribute their input to the debate.

When a loss occurs

Across any field of insurance, the intention is to pay out on a policy – to not do so only furthers negative feeling towards the industry as a whole. However, with unoccupied property, the policy itself can have more exemptions and clauses.

Finally, it is a key responsibility of brokers to ensure all terms and conditions are thoroughly read and digested and passed back to the client. in order to avoid any difficult conversations, especially if there has been an exclusion set within the policy that could affect a potential claim. This helps avoid the difficult conversations, which are often missed at the information-gathering stage.

As an industry, it is crucial to underline that the intention is always to pay out on a policy in the event of a claim, in order to build integrity and customer trust. To ensure a strong reputation, insurers need to insist on gathering the facts that affect the decision of the underwriter in setting the premium of an unoccupied property as well as forming the basis for helping expedite the pay-out of any claim that may arise in the future.

With Thanks and credit to Bob Peterson of Thistle London Market Risks