Effect on home insurance policy of business activity.

desthemoaner

I’ve recently changed my home insurer after finding a cheaper deal on a comparison site. I set up the insurance, received the documents and all seemed well. Then it occurred to me that I may have answered the “is any part of your home used for business” question incorrectly, because my wife teaches Reiki occasionally. And I mean “occasionally”--one student this year,  the first  since 2014, and she doesn’t advertise nor take any cash income.

Mindful of the maxim "when in doubt, disclose", I rang the insurance company, told them about the situation including the irregularity of the activity and explained that she does this teaching in the garden under an awning which is temporarily set up for the purpose. The upshot was that the premium remained the same, but they have now endorsed the policy to remove cover for outbuildings ( in my case one single shed) and theft from the main building which does not involve forced entry.

 I can cope with the outbuilding cover exclusion because the shed contents are cheap and replaceable, but  adding the "forced entry only" theft endorsement when the business activity is so irregular seems a tad harsh to me.

Two questions: First, if my wife has no plans to teach any more students , which is very likely, could I apply for removal of the endorsements or would the insurance company insist in maintaining them because potential for continuation of the "business" remains?

 Second, when I apply for insurance quotations in future I would need to declare the endorsements. Would that be likely to affect the price, even if the activity that generated those  endorsements had ceased?

I realise that the answers to these questions may vary depending on the insurer, but any constructive observations welcome, thanks in advance. 

dunstonh

 I can cope with the outbuilding cover exclusion because the shed contents are cheap and replaceable, but  adding the "forced entry only" theft endorsement when the business activity is so irregular seems a tad harsh to me.

It is not irregular.  it is quite normal when you have visitors to your property by means of trade.

Two questions: First, if my wife has no plans to teach any more students , which is very likely, could I apply for removal of the endorsements or would the insurance company insist in maintaining them because potential for continuation of the "business" remains?

Yes you can.

 Second, when I apply for insurance quotations in future I would need to declare the endorsements.

The endorsements are not required to be declared.

Sandtree

On the second/final point I wouldn't give as a blanket an answer as Dunstonh… you always need to read the specific question asked, any help notes associated with it and if in doubt its always worth checking BEFORE buying. Most insurers won't be interested as its a standard endorsement (which you'd also get on forced entry if you had a non-family member living with you) but there is always the occasional exception where an insurer/broker goes against the norm (as an illustration, Admiral are almost the only car insurer that wants to know about factory fitted optional extras where as all other insurers only want to know about post manufacture changes only)

desthemoaner

Thanks for the responses.

On further reflection I would almost certainly disclose the endorsements if and when I changed my insurer, purely for peace of mind. If they still apply at the time of renewal, that is. 
 
I disclosed the same information to my current insurer today because I still have two weeks till cancellation. I thought I'd better do this,  just in case have to make a claim before the policy lapses. Their response was to make a note about the business use on the policy, bump up the now-hypothetical renewal price slightly ( by about £30) but they didn't add any endorsements. So its clearly not blanket industry policy to apply those conditions in the circumstances I described.