Commercial Property Owners Insurance for every building you hold.

It covers the building and the owner's fixtures against damage, the rent or income lost while the property cannot be occupied, and your liability as owner if someone is injured or their property is damaged at the premises. Sections such as glass, theft of owner's contents, machinery and electronic equipment breakdown and commercial rent default are added where they are relevant to the building. The exact scope is set by the wording and schedule your insurer issues.

A package policy responds to the events it names, with limits and sub-limits largely set by the insurer. An Industrial Special Risks policy is written on an all risks basis — loss or damage is covered unless the policy excludes it — across a material damage section and a consequential loss section, with limits and extensions negotiated for the asset. ISR is generally the right conversation where declared values are substantial, where several properties sit under one programme, or where the risk does not fit a packaged product.

There is no useful average. Premium is driven by the sum insured, the construction and fire protection, the location and its exposure to flood, storm and bushfire, the trades operating in the tenancies, the claims history and the excess you are prepared to carry. Two buildings in the same street can rate very differently because of what is happening inside them. Send us the schedule and the building details and we will quote it properly.

Generally the tenant insures their own stock, contents, fit-out and liability, and the owner insures the building, the owner's fixtures and the owner's liability. Where the line falls depends on the lease, and leases are not consistent — a fit-out paid for by the tenant may still become the owner's property. Read the lease against the policy, and ask your tenants for a certificate of currency each year.

Usually yes, but not always in the mainstream market. Takeaway food, mechanical workshops, spray painting, gyms and recycling operations all change the fire or liability profile, and appetite for them differs sharply between insurers. Specialist underwriters and agencies write these risks regularly. What matters is a complete presentation: the trade, the protections in place, the separation between tenancies and the maintenance record.

Vacant buildings can generally be placed, most often through specialist markets, and cover is usually narrower than for an occupied building — sometimes on a shorter policy term, sometimes with inspection or security conditions. The critical point is disclosure: tell us as soon as a building becomes vacant or is about to, because an undisclosed vacancy can affect a claim under an existing policy.

If the sum insured has only been indexed for several years, or was never based on a proper assessment of reinstatement cost, treat it as a live risk. Building costs, compliance requirements and professional fees have all moved. Start with our building cost calculator, read how co-insurance reduces a claim where the sum insured falls short, and consider a professional valuation for a significant asset.

The owners corporation insures the common property and the structure under the strata policy. As a lot owner you are normally left with your own fit-out and improvements, loss of rent, and your liability as a landlord — and there is no guarantee the strata sum insured is adequate. Ask for the current strata certificate of currency and let us read it against what you own.