Commercial property insurance

Commercial property insurance protects business buildings you own against fire, flood or storm damage.

This product can insure commercial buildings such as offices, warehouses or shops.

It covers businesses for:

• Accidental damage. Hiscox provides this cover as standard. Including damage from storms, floods and fires
• Rebuilding costs. This includes professional fees and costs associated with rebuilding your workspace
• Trace and access. The cost of locating damage to cables, pipes and drains. Or the source of a gas or water leak.

Your commercial buildings insurance quote does not cover the contents of your office or work equipment. For this, take out business contents insurance.

Commercial property insurance is for those who own the building they work from. This could be a:

• Retail business that owns a chain of stores
• Design and construction business with its own workshop.

You might need commercial property insurance if you use your premises for appointments. You could run an:

• Acupuncture clinic
• Beauty salon
• Estate agency
• Dance school studio.

Organisations that often hold in-person meetings may also benefit. For example, charity centres and consultancy offices.

A self-employed accountant with a city centre office may face costs if fire damages the foundations. Or an IT business could face disruption and damage if flooding isn’t fixed fast.

Many firms also tailor their Hiscox property insurance.

Commercial property insurance is for those who own the buildings they work from. You can also add extra covers, such as:

• Business contents insurance to help protect what’s inside your premises
• Portable equipment insurance to protect electronic items while you’re out and about
• Equipment breakdown insurance to cover mechanical or electrical kit malfunctions.

Hiscox is rated 4.8/5 on Feefo. This comes from real reviews in the past year, with 3650 in total.  

With Hiscox, commercial property (buildings) insurance includes cover for:

• Rebuilding and repair costs. This includes professional fees and costs associated with rebuilding your office or commercial building
• Trace and access. Assistance with the cost of locating damage to cables, underground pipes and drains. Or the source of a gas, oil or water leak
• Emergency services. This includes fire extinguishing expenses
• Loss prevention costs. We will help to pay the reasonable and necessary cost of protecting your building from imminent damage such as installing flood prevention barriers or emergency boarding to doors and windows
• Land decontamination. Support with the cost of decontaminating land on your commercial property after an accidental oil spillage
• Damage to trees and plants. If a fire or explosion at your business’ building causes damage to trees and plants on your land, we’ll help
• Damage to solar panels. Including costs due to lost tariff revenue and higher electricity bills.

We cover a wide range of business types and sizes. We’ll tailor your commercial property insurance to meet your needs.

You can contact us on: 

0808 2736 570

Mon-Fri, 9am-5pm.

• Damage caused by wear and tear
• Damage caused by an inherent defect
• Damage caused by rot, fungus, mould, vermin or infestation, or any gradually operating cause
• Settlement of new structures, or movement of made-up ground
• Demolition, building work or groundwork
• Coastal or river erosion
• Subsidence to walls, gates, fences, car parks, private roads, pavements and paths. Unless the main building is damaged at the same time and by the same cause
• Damage to floors caused by subsidence. Unless the walls are physically damaged at the same time and by the same cause
• A rise in the water table
• Pressure waves caused by aircraft travelling at supersonic speeds
• Storm or flood to gates or fences
• Damage to computers and equipment
• Damage to property resulting from its own breakdown
• Damage to property whilst being cleaned, serviced, maintained or repaired
• The cost of maintenance or routine redecoration
• Indirect losses
• Damage caused solely by pollution or contamination
• Costs relating to the decontamination of land, unless caused by an insured oil spill event
• Damage caused by war, terrorism, civil commotion in Northern Ireland, confiscation, nuclear risk or infectious disease
• The excess.

Please refer to the policy documents for the full details of inclusions and exclusions of this cover. Policy documents are available when purchasing online. You can also contact our customer services team for more information.

How much commercial property insurance you need will depend on various factors. For example, the nature of your business and buildings.

When you create a commercial building insurance quote, we’ll ask you to set a policy limit. This should be equal to the total cost of responding to a worst-case scenario event.

It should include demolishing and rebuilding all insured buildings. Plus, the cost of services such as surveying. This figure might be higher for a listed building, for instance.

A larger company will generally have more to cover, so it’s good to avoid underinsurance.

Need to change your policy? With Hiscox, you can make unlimited changes with no admin fees. Premiums may go up or down.