Theft insurance: a guide for landlords and businesses

Whether you’re a landlord, a business owner, a tradesman or other professional, you’re unfortunately at risk of theft. Our handy guide to theft insurance will take you through what you need to know in order to make sure your assets are protected.

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It’s worth noting that ‘theft insurance’ doesn’t exist on its own, but when you take out a policy with us, items covered under that policy will most often be protected against theft.

For example, if you have stock insurance your policy could pay out should any of your stock be stolen, but it won’t cover stolen business equipment or tools. You’ll need to add in business equipment insurance and tool insurance to cover these items in the case of theft. Luckily, we can combine these covers into a single policy so you don’t have to worry about multiple renewal dates or pieces of paperwork.

Theft insurance for landlords

For landlords, there are a number of different concerns when it comes to theft. You’ve got to think about the contents you provide for your tenants as well as the potential damage caused by a break-in.

If you let your property furnished or part-furnished and want to protect those furnishings from theft – or damage – then you should consider landlord contents insurance. This includes white goods, but will not cover your tenants’ belongings. They’ll need to take out their own contents insurance to keep those protected.

And if your property suffers damage during a break-in then landlord buildings insurance could pay out for repairs. It can also cover fires, floods and a range of other disasters that might befall your property.

Theft insurance for small businesses and shops

For small businesses there are a number of theft concerns, though these vary from business to business. Tools, stock, business equipment, contents and the building itself – if you own it – are all things you might want to protect.

In order to protect these different things, you’ll need to add the covers onto your policy, but which ones you need will depend on the nature of your business.

If you run a business selling items you make yourself, for example, you may need tool cover to protect the tools you use to make your products and stock cover to protect the products themselves, as well as the raw materials.

However, If you run a bricks and mortar shop, your needs might be slightly different – you might not create your products yourself so won’t need tool cover, but perhaps you have contents such as chillers that you might want to protect with business contents insurance.

It’s worth noting that theft insurance does not typically cover shoplifting, as there will need to be signs of a break-in for the policy to pay out.

Theft insurance for tradesmen

It’s an unfortunate reality that many tradesmen worry about theft of their tools or vans.

If you’re a tradesman then tool insurance covers theft of tools, while stock insurance covers theft of stock. And if you have larger plant and machinery then we can cover that too.

Theft insurance for freelancers

If you’re a freelancer or other professional then it’s likely that computer equipment is vital to the running of your business. It’s likely portable equipment insurance you’re after, or contents insurance – the type of insurance that’s applicable to you really depends on the specifics of your business.

For example, if you work from home and have a desktop computer that you use, that could be covered under contents insurance, whereas if you have a laptop that you take with you to different sites then you would need portable equipment insurance to protect it.

Things to consider

No matter your profession, most insurers will only cover for forced entry and will require you to have certain security measures in place in order to provide your insurance.

When taking out a policy, make sure you check the wording carefully so you can be sure it covers you for the eventualities you expect it to. If you’re unsure, just give us a ring on 0333 014 6683.

Have you ever had a problem with theft? Let us know in the comments