House Insurance -working from home

doningtonphil

Hello

I am an employee of a company however I live some miles away and actual work out of an office in the back garden, or from the breakfast bar if I can't stand the commute!

Anyway, I am renewing my house insurance and many say you can't have a policy if you use home for business use. It is mainly computer use and phone calls but I do keep some stock.

Lots of guides found on Google talk about getting ADDITIONAL cover as your home insurance may not cover you. I have insurance for the stock and all other insurances are taken care of by the business.

So can I get ANY home insurance and just ensure stock etc covered by work policies or am I not allow to get standard home insurance? If not, where can I get insurance?

Thanks

Phil

Savvy_Sue

I'd talk to a broker about this: DH works from home and it hasn't been a problem, but he doesn't keep stock and that would make a difference.

Mind you, when I renewed last year and said he was now WFH the premium did go up! Apparently he's more likely to have an accident at home because he's here now, you'd think that would be offset by the decreased risk of theft because there's more often than not someone at home, but apparently not!

Mistral001

If the stock went up in flames, the business insurance would probably cover the stock, but would your home insurance cover the damage to the house?

doningtonphil

Thanks for your replies

The stock is stored in a plastic shed separate from the house. If someone stole the stock they would be breaking into a separate building, so I wouldn't claim on the house insurance. There is no risk that the stock could cause any consequential loss in our house.

So the question remains. I do conduct business from my home (more than just paperwork). Does that mean that most regular house/contents policies are not available to me (even if any of the additional business stuff is insured by a separate policy).

Who would I need to go to to provide insurance for me?

Savvy_Sue

As I said, use a broker.

FutureGirl

It depends what you need the insurance to cover, business wise.

Some insurers include business equipment as standard, but will only usually include office equipment so computers etc. It wouldn't cover the stock, but as you already have insurance for that, then there should be no issue.

I think the only issue could be if you have a lot of customers coming to the property, or if you held a lot of business money on the premises.

Percy1983

My home insurance is fine, stock isn't covered (but I don't have much in value) and they are happy as I am only running computer work from home (photo/video editing) I am not running a studio and don't have customers visiting.

Aquamania

doningtonphil wrote: »

Hello

I am an employee of a company however I live some miles away and actual work out of an office in the back garden, or from the breakfast bar if I can't stand the commute!

Anyway, I am renewing my house insurance and many say you can't have a policy if you use home for business use. It is mainly computer use and phone calls but I do keep some stock.

Lots of guides found on Google talk about getting ADDITIONAL cover as your home insurance may not cover you. I have insurance for the stock and all other insurances are taken care of by the business.

So can I get ANY home insurance and just ensure stock etc covered by work policies or am I not allow to get standard home insurance? If not, where can I get insurance?

Thanks

Phil

You must disclose the material fact to your insurer that you are using your own home for business purposes, albeit of your employer.

Were it not for the fact that you are storing stock at your home, then most insurers would allow this (having been informed) usually at no additional cost.

But the fact you hold stock will complicate matters. As others say, find a good broker.

Or otherwise tell your employer you will no longer warehouse their stock at your expense ... and that they need to provide suitable household cover at least.

I hope you own the property as using it for business incl. storing stock is usually forbidden by most tenancy agreements (not least because of insurance issues)

If you own the home under mortgage, you might need to check with your mortgage provider that they are ok with you using the property for business including stock storage

(if there's no stock stored, then most mortgage providers wouldn't care)

doningtonphil

Thanks for the replies.

I have gone via a broker and ensured it is all fully disclosed and includes stock cover. As we have a mortgage I will do as aquamanua suggests and give the bank a call tomorrow.

Thanks for the advice all