Work from home? Your home insurance may be invalid..

Most of us that have a home, have some form of home insurance. But like all insurance products, home insurance come’s with terms and conditions attached, with the onus on you to disclose all relevant information to the insurer. One of the area’s that need to be disclosed to your insurer is if you work from home. Whilst some insurers will accept if you are an occasional teleworker (but this still needs to disclosed), practically all will refuse to cover you if you run any sort of business from your home. If you are running any sort of business from home, here’s what  you need to do:

• Contact us first. If you are running a business from home, contact us first. If you go to your existing insurer and tell them you are operating a business, chances are they will cancel your policy immediately (which will cause a further disclosure issue). We deal with a number of non standard insurers that will cover home workers and will do our best to source cover on the non standard market first and you can then cancel your existing policy.
• Decide what business you are doing from home. Work out how much work you are doing from home. Do visitors call to your house as part of your business? If so, how many a year? This will impact on who will cover you.
• Decide what cover you need: As well as your standard home insurance cover (water damage, theft, fire etc.) what cover will you need for your business? Do you need your business equipment covered? Do you require accidental damage cover? Do you require business stock cover?
• Do you have any employees? If employees work with you from your home then it is important that this is disclosed to your insurer, if an employee gets injured in your premises, you will be responsible.
• What type of occupations does this apply to?
  • Music Teachers
  • Physiotherapists
  • Chiropractors
  • Holistic Practitioners
  • Dentists and Doctors
  • Tax advisors
  • Accountants
  • Solicitors
  • Cake and Confectionery Makers
  • Pottery Makers
  • Speech Therapists
  • Marketing Consultants – including Digital Marketers
  • E-commerce Consultants

These are all common occupations of home workers, the above list is not exhaustive – but it shows some of the occupations that are in danger of having invalid insurance.

If you are worried that your existing cover maybe invalid, talk to one of our property experts today on 0818919699 or click here and we will help you source the correct cover.