Building insurance for a "lock-up"?
Discussion
Bit of background:
My dad rented a workshop after retiring to keep himself occupied with his interest in woodworking - c. 1,000sqft.
Little space at home so he needed premises for larger machines & material storage.
Never ran it as a business, just a hobby.
The unit he rented is on a small, privately owned piece of land with 10-12 others.
Mostly commercial use; funeral directors, joiners, plumbers, car repairs...
All buildings ramshackle, built over the years. Some have brick walls, others block, various tin / felt / asbestos roofs, dubious electrics etc.
Basically an old school local industrial estate for small businesses as was common a few decades back.
My dad got to know the owner of the units/land & ended up doing a fair amount of unpaid work for him over a 2-3 year period.
Wasn't conned into it, just snowballed from doing the odd favour into almost the equivalent of a full-time job.
Had to stop spending so much time down there a couple of years ago when my mum got ill.
In recognition of his help, the owner gave my dad the unit he was renting.
All done formally via a solicitor, agreements drawn up including future rights of access over the land should the current owner sell (the unit is at the end of a cul-de-sac), documented and witnessed & my dad has the deeds in his name.
During this process, the unit was valued by a surveyor at £75K if it was put on the market.
To get to the point, I recently discovered that since owning it, my dad hasn't taken out any insurance.
As one of the units on the site burnt to the ground not so long ago, I've suggested to him that he should sort this out.
Can anyone recommend an insurer who would cover what is essentially a mongrel of a building - albeit of low value?
Thoughts appreciated.
My dad rented a workshop after retiring to keep himself occupied with his interest in woodworking - c. 1,000sqft.
Little space at home so he needed premises for larger machines & material storage.
Never ran it as a business, just a hobby.
The unit he rented is on a small, privately owned piece of land with 10-12 others.
Mostly commercial use; funeral directors, joiners, plumbers, car repairs...
All buildings ramshackle, built over the years. Some have brick walls, others block, various tin / felt / asbestos roofs, dubious electrics etc.
Basically an old school local industrial estate for small businesses as was common a few decades back.
My dad got to know the owner of the units/land & ended up doing a fair amount of unpaid work for him over a 2-3 year period.
Wasn't conned into it, just snowballed from doing the odd favour into almost the equivalent of a full-time job.
Had to stop spending so much time down there a couple of years ago when my mum got ill.
In recognition of his help, the owner gave my dad the unit he was renting.
All done formally via a solicitor, agreements drawn up including future rights of access over the land should the current owner sell (the unit is at the end of a cul-de-sac), documented and witnessed & my dad has the deeds in his name.
During this process, the unit was valued by a surveyor at £75K if it was put on the market.
To get to the point, I recently discovered that since owning it, my dad hasn't taken out any insurance.
As one of the units on the site burnt to the ground not so long ago, I've suggested to him that he should sort this out.
Can anyone recommend an insurer who would cover what is essentially a mongrel of a building - albeit of low value?
Thoughts appreciated.
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