Hello,
I am in the process of starting an online business whereby I will be selling small quantities of organic wine imported from South America via an online website.
I will be storing the wine, no more than 900 bottles in my garage and will have the required licenses to do so. I rent the property and have the landlord’s permission to run the business from the proerty providing it doesn’t affect his buildings insurance and if it does I will pay the extra.
I do not require planning permission (confirmed) for the venture as I will only be using the garage for storage purposes and the rest of the house will remain residential.
My question is will this affect the buildings insurance and is there any other insurance I will need? apart from obviously personal liability insurance.
I just want to make sure the business is completely legal and legitimate, so I would be really grateful for any advice on this specific matter.
Thank you in advance.
Lee
It may not affect the buildings insurance a great deal. Your landlord should speak to his Insurer or Broker and discuss the nature of the stock you will be keeping in your garage.
The value of the stock will impose an increased theft risk, but that will be more your concern when you propose to an Insurer for contents insurance.
The buildings Insurers may impose and additional premium for the increased risk of damage to the building in the event of an attempted theft, that will be about it I would have thought. You will need to discuss with your contents Insurers, they may wish to charge an additional premium, as they will probably not cover business stock, they may also exclude theft cover from the home, unless there is forced entry and/or exit if you have clients visiting from the home. If you hare merely running the admin side and simplying using the garage for storage, you should find a local broker will get you a competitve premium for the cover you require.
Let me get this right. You rent the property. If that is correct then the owner of the home would have a Rental Dwelling Policy (RDP) if the property is a home. Your landlord needs to check with his insurance agent to make sure he has the correct insurance and to make sure they are alright with your business on the property.
You would need a renters insurance policy to cover your personal property. And, you need a business tenant policy to cover the business property (wine) and other business property stuff.
It may not affect the premium of the buildings insurance policy, but the insurer has to be notified – if they aren’t notified then they could use this as an excuse not to pay out in the event of a claim. I work from home, as an Accountant, and it has not incurred any additional premium on my insurance policy, as the only office equipment that I use is standard home computer etc. However, a landlord’s policy may be different, and no insurer liked goods stored in or close to the property as they are a theft risk.
All you can really do is to get the landlord to contact his insurer and find out what additional premium would apply.
Good luck with the new venture.