If you’re a commercial real estate owner, you don’t need to be reminded to expect the unexpected. Any day can be the day your property is threatened by devastating weather or litigation resulting from injuries occurring on your premises. While these forces are out of your control, you can still be prepared with the right insurance coverage.
Let’s break down the basic coverages that any lessor of commercial real estate should have in place.
General Liability
The central piece of any lessors risk insurance program is General Liability coverage. General Liability protects against liability claims for bodily injury and third party property damage/loss.
So, let’s say you own a commercial retail center. A tenant’s employee slips on ice in the parking lot while coming into work. The employee sustains serious injuries and must go to the hospital. The medical bills and any lost wages resulting from the injury may be covered by their employer’s workers compensation policy. Even so, the tenant and the employee may still litigate against you, as the property owner, for failing to properly maintain the property.
You may be on the hook for the hospital bills as well as defense/settlement costs with the tenant. With the correct General Liability policy in place, you could be covered for such losses.
Now let’s say you own an office building. A tenant’s business property is stolen from their office space and the tenant blames the building owner for not providing adequate security of the building. A lessors risk General Liability policy can provide coverage to reimburse the tenant for their stolen property.
The unpredictable nature of having multiple tenants spells risk for commercial real estate owners. That’s why having the right General Liability coverage in place is a must.
Commercial Property
While it’s important to be covered for your liability as a lessor, it’s also vital to cover your physical property as the owner. That’s where property insurance comes in.
A commercial property policy insures against damage to the building(s) as well as loss of income or increase in expenses resulting from the damage.
The most uncontrollable force in the world is the weather. Think hail damage to the roof or flood damage to a basement unit. Property insurance can help pay for the cost to fix and replace the damaged portion of the building(s) affected.
Let’s say a tenant operates a kitchen and starts a fire that causes damage to multiple units. A commercial property policy could pay for the cost to repair the units as well as the loss of rental income resulting from the time it takes to repair the units.
Property coverage can also include flood, earthquake, debris removal, and coverage for repairing vandalism among other perils.
There are a lot of risks that simply cannot be predicted for owners of commercial real estate. These risks can lead to doomsday for an otherwise worthwhile investment. That is why having the proper lessors risk insurance program in place is an absolute must. For a quote, feel free to call us or submit an application here.
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