Andrew Bourne & Co.  are now one of a limited number of insurance consultants with access to a unique policy that will pay for a Chartered Loss Adjuster to work on your behalf to prepare, negotiate and settle Material Damage, Business Interruption and Contract Works claims exceeding £5,000. It is called Loss Recovery Insurance.

In in brief the policy cover provides:

• Quick response at a time of crisis
• A dedicated Loss Adjuster to prepare and negotiate your claim
• Peace of mind from best advice
• Saves time and minimises disruption to your business
• Negotiation of the best available settlement under the terms of your policy
• Management of meetings and correspondence with your insurer
• Working with your accountants to prepare any business interruption claims
• Arrangement of remedial work and surveyors if required

Of course we would still be there to support you during the loss. However, larger insurance claims can be extremely time consuming and disruptive to a business, and  using a unique loss recovery insurance policy would greatly reduce the impact of a claim.

Premiums start from as low as £32.00 including IPT for a small business.  We  believe that including this policy within all our clients insurance programme would ensure their insurance requirements are more fully met.

For further details, or to ensure this service is included in your insurance programme, please contact your usual Account Manager on 0116 272 0770

With around 20% of UK warehouses and factories currently unoccupied, Insurance group Aviva is warning commercial property owners of the need to secure vacant buildings.

According to the insurer, there are around 9,000 fires in unoccupied buildings each year in the UK, and empty commercial premises, particularly in out-of-town areas, are high risk.

If not fire, other common problems with unoccupied properties include theft of fixtures and fittings fly tipping and occupation by squatters or travellers.

Property owners are therefore advised to inform their insurance company, the fire service and police when premises are empty, having first accounted for all keys and produced a list of key holders.

They should also cut off utilities and redirect mail, but at the same time keep the building looking occupied.

Rubbish and combustible materials should be cleared away leaving nothing that could be used to start a fire, or might appear to be of value.

“It also makes sense to make a note of the building’s condition when it first becomes unoccupied and maintaining a log of weekly inspections to provide evidence, should the need for a claim arise” comment’s Andrew Bourne’s David Crowther.

The Flood and Water Management Bill 2009-10 has received the Royal Assent. The Bill addresses the threat of flooding and of water scarcity, both of which are expected to increase with climate change.

The new legislation requires the Environment Agency to create a National Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management Strategy, which a number of organisations will have to follow.  Leading local flood authorities are now required to create local flood risk management strategies and the Bill also introduces a more risk-based approach to reservoir management.

The legislation should enable the Environment Agency and local authorities to carry out flood risk management works more easily.

In addition, it requires the use of sustainable drainage systems in certain new developments and introduces a mandatory building standard for sewers. The cost of the damage caused by the flooding in Cumbria in November 2009 topped £200 million.

According to the Association of British Insurers, its members handled 36,000 claims totaling around £206 million, with 60% of the sum relating to business damage.

Right insurance essential for empty retail units

The recession has left plenty of empty shops on the UK’s High Streets.  In a new survey Aviva has reminded property owners of the importance of having the right insurance in place such as SME Insurance or property insurance.

According to research by Local Data Company, retail property vacancy rates across Britain have risen to 12%, with some towns seeing as much as 24% of shops lying empty. With the biggest two threats to an empty property fire and malicious damage, Aviva advises “now more than ever it’s imperative that landlords take all necessary steps to ensure that their buildings are adequately protected and insured correctly”.

Landlords should therefore notify their insurer when a property becomes empty, implement risk management measures and check out their policy conditions.

The group’s property risk manager, Allister Smith, comments: “Empty units must be adequately protected – every year, over three million properties are vandalised and 25% of this malicious damage occurs in empty properties with arson costing £2 billion.”

He adds: “Landlords also have a duty of care to anyone visiting the property, so failure to remove hazards or have sufficient warning signs, could mean the landlord is liable for any injury, even if a visitor is trespassing.”

David Crowther from Andrew Bourne, the Leicester Insurance Brokers suggests a number of other ways that property owners can ease their worries over empty units “attend immediately to any minor damage; regularly removing graffiti and fly-posters; ensuring intruder alarms and CCTV systems are in working order and continuing the operation of sprinkler systems and fire alarms” comments the Leicester Insurance Broker.