Funeral Service Times August 2017 November 2018 | Page 14
14 ADVERTORIAL
ASTON LARK DISCUSSES: TENANTS IMPROVEMENTS COVER
I
f you don’t own the building your business operates out of and you have made some improvements
to it, it’s important to realise it may not be covered by your landlord’s insurance.
This is what I’ll be discussing this month, as part of our series on insurance for funeral directors. I
hope you found the last article regarding agreed value of benefit to you and that you have begun
conversations with your insurers about insuring your specialist vehicles on this basis.
In this article, I hope to shed light on tenants improvements cover and what you should be insuring
in a leased property.
Many of you do not own the buildings that you trade from, often leasing vacant properties from
landlords as ‘shells’ which need considerable structural and cosmetic improvements before being fit for
use as your funeral home.
In leasing the property from a landlord, the chances are that you will not be responsible for insuring
the building itself, unless your landlord makes you specifically obliged to by contract. So who insures
the improvements you’ve made to the structure itself to make the building fit for purpose? Be it the
installation of partition walls, the installation of a fixed air conditioning system or roller shutter doors,
these fixed improvements to the structure of the building are known as tenants improvements and are
not the responsibility of the landlord to insure - they are yours.
In the event of a claim, the landlord’s insurers would only reinstate the building back to its original
state, not including any improvements you’ve made to the building to make it work for you. This could
therefore leave the improvements made uninsured and your investments in the property at risk. This is
why we’d recommend tenants improvements cover.
It need not be expensive so please have a chat with your insurance providers to ensure that you and
your business assets are covered correctly.
Should you require any further information on the topic discussed above, please do not hesitate to
contact me on 0208 256 4927.
As previously stated, I am really keen to write about topics that matter to you so if you have any ideas
for future articles, please let me know and I’d be more than happy to address these for you.
Colin Powell, account handler, Aston Lark
[email protected]
NOVEMBER 2018
www.funeralservicetimes.co.uk