There has been a lot made in the press recently about the number of unoccupied shops throughout the UK at the moment.
The owners of these shops are varied. Property funds and investment companies such as Standard Life and Prudential generally own the bigger, more prominent and valuable high street shops and shopping centres. By far the vast majority of shops are privately owned and these are the ones which are most likely to become unoccupied.
So what does this mean for the landlord of such a property? Well apart from the fact that full business rates become payable after the property has remained unoccupied for three months, commercial property insurance can also become a problem, not least because due to the increased risk incurred by most insurers, cover after said three months will normally reduce to ‘FLEE’ cover i.e. ‘Fire, Lightning, Earthquake, Explosion’.
At CompareCrazy.com, we have a panel of insurers who specialise in unoccupied commercial property insurance who could save you money when you most need it i.e. when there is no rental income for the property so take some time now to find a quote at CompareCrazy.com.
But what do you do in the long term? Opening a jewellery shop, a photography shop or a recruitment agency is probably not an option as these trades are mostly on the downturn. However if you can open up as a cafe, coffee shop, charity shop or pawnbrokers you may be in with a chance as these trades are the ones which are on the up. (Quotes available for all business insurance here at CompareCrazy.com!)
My personal opinion? Try to sell a very long lease or the freehold to a bookmaker and get the hell out of Dodge! In the meantime, have complete peace of mind knowing your unoccupied property is insured through CompareCrazy.com.
