Unoccupied Premises - COVID-19 temporary business closures

Following a number of government imposed restrictions in the UK and around Europe regarding movement of people due to the spreading of Covid-19 there will be an increasing number of temporary business closures and vacant premises.

Such premises are at higher risk of certain damage than when occupied and the discovery time of damage will be longer potentially increasing the extent of damage.

Our standard Business Combined policy contains cover exclusions under the Material Damage and Business Interruption sections where a premises is empty or has not been in use for 30 days.

Considering the current situation and where the premises is empty or unused because of government restrictions relating to Covid-19 we can advise that the period of 30 days shall be extended to 120 days.

Should the premises continue to remain unoccupied for more than these 60 days you must inform us within this time of action you have taken to secure / protect the premises for consideration of how best to manage the continuing unoccupancy and we will be as flexible as possible.

Each premises will likely require individual solutions and we know you are best placed to understand your own premises, below are examples of considerations that should be given and that the Underwriter will assess.

Site security - fences, gates etc. are in a good state of repair and the perimeter of the site is secure. Consider increased security to prevent fly-tipping / malicious damage
Building Physical security - windows, doors and shutters are operational and locked
Non-physical security - such as access systems, intruder alarms, lighting, CCTV are all fully operational
Fire - alarms and sprinklers are operational, fire doors are closed, letterboxes are sealed
Inspections - where possible and subject to government rules in the territory weekly or other relevant periodic inspections should be conducted
Waste - removed from site and usual housekeeping of external storage kept away from the building
Utilities – services that are non-essential should be shut down and drained where possible, maintain minimum temperatures to avoid freezing