Work and home have merged: a company laptop in the living room, a small business in the garage, home office from Monday to Thursday. When this happens, two insurance worlds meet – and it's easy to end up without cover in the grey zone between them.
- Home insurance protects the household's contents – it typically doesn't extend to business assets.
- A company asset at home: a question for the company's property insurance's off-premises cover.
- For a business run from a flat, it's worth setting up the two policies with each other in mind.
What does home insurance protect – and what not?
Home insurance protects the private household's assets. Policy wording typically excludes assets used for business purposes, or covers them only narrowly, with a low limit. In other words, goods stored in the garage or a company machine sitting in the home office can easily fall outside a home policy – lakas.biz covers the residential side in detail.
The company asset taken home
A company laptop, instrument, or tool remains company property even when it's sitting at a colleague's home. The company's property insurance by default applies at the place of risk – the premises; off-premises cover provides the solution for equipment at home or on the move, typically with limits. Details: equipment away from the premises and home office and company equipment.
A business run from home
Anyone working from their home – a hair salon on the ground floor, a sewing workshop in the garage, storage in the cellar – needs two policies: home insurance for the household's assets, and business cover for the business's equipment and stock. The boundaries of the two policies need to be drawn with each other in mind, so there's neither a gap nor needless overlap. It's also worth notifying the home insurer of the activity – a change in the risk profile can be something that needs reporting.
Setting this up correctly isn't complicated – it just needs sorting out once. It's worth reviewing both sides during the survey.
What should you do now? Three steps
First: list what company assets are regularly away from the premises – machines at home, equipment held by colleagues, tools kept in a car. Second: check whether your existing policy has off-premises cover, and with what limit. Third: if the two don't match up, the fix is typically a simple policy amendment – not a new policy.
If you suspect a borderline case, the quickest route is a 20-minute consultation: the line between the home and business side needs drawing properly just once, and then it serves you for years.
Have a question specific to your premises? Book a free 20-minute site survey consultation →
