If you own a garage, you’ll need a policy that insures the entire property, including all garages, your own garage (freehold), and those you rent to neighbors. They are typically rented on a 999 year Peppercorn lease.
You must include the Civil Liability coverage you need to protect your responsibilities as an owner against those of the tenant, while insuring the entire building, including the rental garages.
Coach House insurance must include, but is not limited to:
• All hazards: These are things like fire, flood, etc., including water leaks.
• Impact and Collision – Covers property in case someone hits the building with a car, like a minor mistake driving into a garage!
• Property Owners Legal Liability of £2 million, which is the part of the policy that protects your legal liabilities to the renter.
• Accidental Damage – This is optional and covers things like a spill on the couch and DIY disasters.
• Personal Possession Coverage: This is also optional and includes your daily valuables when you take them out of the house: cell phones, bags, cameras, etc.
• Specified Items – You can specify any particular value that you have above £1500, for example.
More much more!
You can expect all the regular features and benefits Home Insurance offers while tailoring a policy to meet the specific needs of your property.
Why is so difficult? More and more of these types of properties are being built so it’s a shame the insurance industry hasn’t kept up, this makes things more difficult for carport owners and the market is much more limited. The liability aspect of the property agreement is something most insurers don’t understand, so they simply decline coverage or impose high premium ratings to cover the risk. The fact is that there is no more risk of insuring a carport than any other type of property. It boils down to lack of knowledge.
There are insurers out there who are very adept at writing good quality bespoke insurance for these types of properties, so you need to search hard enough.
What not to do Never insure your garage as a single-family home because it is not a single-family home, never insure your garage as an apartment because it is not an apartment. This seems obvious, but some people just change the property description to fit the checkbox. All claims made on a policy with incorrect information submitted by the policy owner will be denied. You can’t insure a BMW like a Ford and the same logic applies.
What should you do. Always insure a garage as a carport and look for an insurer that covers carports. While this will take more time and require more research on her part, you must secure her property precisely to protect both you and her.