Where the insurance clause sits, and what it binds you to

In a commercial or retail lease the insurance obligations sit in one clause near the middle of the document, headed Insurance or Tenant’s Insurance, with related duties spread through the indemnity, repairs and default clauses. That clause is private contract law. No general statute tells a tenant to carry public liability at a particular limit. The landlord writes the requirement and you accept it at signing. Commercial lease insurance requirements therefore differ from one shopping strip to the next, and the only way to learn yours is to read the document in front of you.

There is time to do that. The Victorian Small Business Commission states that as soon as negotiations start the landlord must give the tenant a copy of the proposed lease and the VSBC information brochure for tenants, and that a disclosure statement must be given at least 14 days before the lease is entered into. Ten minutes on the insurance clause before signature beats a year of argument after it.

The obligations that appear in almost every lease

• Public liability at a stated limit. Commonly 10 million or 20 million dollars for a strip shop, office or small warehouse tenancy. A landlord with a financier behind it may ask for more.
• Your own property. Fit out, fixtures, plant, stock and often plate glass, insured at full replacement value rather than book value.
• Workers compensation where you have staff. business.gov.au lists workers compensation as a cover a business may need by law once it has employees, along with public liability for certain occupations in some states and third party personal injury where the business uses vehicles.
• Proof. A certificate of currency before you take possession, and a fresh one at each policy renewal for the term of the lease.
• A negative obligation. A promise not to do anything at the premises that would void the landlord’s own policy or lift its premium. This clause bites when a fryer, a spray booth or a battery store arrives and nobody tells the insurer.

A strip shop usually meets all five inside one package, as our retail shop insurance page sets out.

Noting the landlord’s interest, and the requests that go further

Most leases ask for the landlord’s interest to be noted on the tenant’s liability policy. In practice the broker asks the insurer for the endorsement and the certificate of currency then shows the landlord’s name against the policy, so the landlord has the benefit of the cover for claims arising out of your occupation of the premises.

Some leases go further. They ask for the landlord to be named as an additional insured, for a cross liability clause, or for the insurer to give up its right of recovery against the landlord. Those are three separate requests, priced differently, and not every insurer agrees to all of them. Send the clause to your broker word for word. A paraphrase is where the mismatch starts, and it surfaces when the agent rejects the certificate two days before handover.

Insurance as an outgoing: you may be paying for the landlord’s policy too

Under the Retail Leases Act 2003, the VSBC states that a tenant is not liable to pay outgoings except where the lease details them. It also states that the landlord must give a written estimate of the outgoings the tenant is expected to pay, before the lease is entered into and at least one month before each of the landlord’s accounting periods, and that the tenant is not required to pay outgoings if that estimate has not been given. The annual statement of the landlord’s expenses, the VSBC adds, need not be audited where the tenant pays only GST, utilities, council rates and insurance with proof of payment attached.

Insurance sits in that list for a reason: a share of the landlord’s building premium is one of the most common outgoings passed to a retail tenant. A shop can pay part of the building policy and hold a full package of its own, and neither replaces the other. Ask which policies sit inside the estimate and ask for the invoice, because a premium that jumps at renewal lands on your monthly figure too.

What the landlord’s policy does not do for you

A commercial property owner policy insures the building, the landlord’s fixtures, the rent the owner loses and the owner’s liability. It stops at the boundary of the tenancy, so your fit out, your stock and the trading you lose sit outside it. After a fire the landlord’s insurer rebuilds and the landlord draws loss of rent, while the tenant has no premises, no income and a fit out to pay for twice. That gap is what business interruption insurance answers, and some leases now require it.

Two more lines to read. Many leases make the tenant responsible for damage caused by the tenant or its customers even where the landlord holds building cover. And where the landlord’s insurer pays for damage you caused, it may look to recover that money from you unless the lease or the policy says otherwise.

The checks worth making before you sign

Commercial lease insurance requirements are cheap to fix at the draft stage and expensive to argue about later. Six lines are worth the time:

1. The liability limit, and whether it matches the worst thing that could happen at your premises rather than the number in the landlord’s template.
2. Who insures the shopfront glass. It is valuable, it breaks, and leases split it both ways.
3. Whether business interruption or loss of rent cover is required, and for how many months.
4. The permitted use, which must match the trade description your insurer holds. A lease that says retail and a policy that says takeaway food is a problem waiting for a claim.
5. When the certificate of currency is due, and which agent or asset manager wants it.
6. Which insurances appear in the outgoings estimate, and at what figure.

What FRS does: we read the insurance clause of the lease you were handed, list every obligation it creates, and place cover that answers each one in the words the lease uses. We issue the certificate the agent asks for, note the landlord’s interest where the lease requires it, and diarise the renewal. Where a clause asks for something an insurer will not grant, we say so before you sign.

If you are reviewing a lease now, start with our public liability insurance page and send us the clause.

Frequently asked questions

Can a landlord dictate my public liability limit?

Yes, within the lease. The limit is a contract term the landlord proposes and you accept at signing, so it is negotiable beforehand and binding afterwards. Limits of 10 million or 20 million dollars are commonly requested for shop, office and small warehouse tenancies. Check the figure against your own exposure, not only against the clause.

What does noting the landlord's interest actually do?

It records the landlord on your liability policy so the landlord has the benefit of that cover for claims arising out of your occupation of the premises. Your broker asks the insurer for the endorsement and the certificate of currency then shows it. Being named as an additional insured, or a cross liability clause, is a separate and larger request.

Do I have to pay for the landlord's building insurance?

Only where the lease says so. The VSBC states that a retail tenant is not liable for outgoings unless they are detailed in the lease, and that the landlord must give a written estimate before the lease starts and before each accounting period. Insurance is one of the most common outgoings passed on, so ask which policies are in the estimate.

What happens if I miss a certificate of currency deadline?

Failing to produce evidence of insurance is usually a breach of the lease, which can trigger a default notice even where the policy is current. Most of these are administrative rather than genuine gaps in cover. Keep the renewal date and the agent’s email in one place, and have your broker send the certificate the day the policy renews.

The post What insurance does a commercial lease require you to hold? appeared first on Fortis Risk Solutions (FRS).

The employee case: what changes and what does not

If you are employed by someone else and spend some or all of the week working from the spare room, the insurer’s main concern is the same as it was before: the house, the people in it and the belongings inside. A desk, a second screen and the laptop you bought yourself sit inside the contents sum insured. A fire or burglary that takes them is claimed like any other contents loss.

Two things do change. The first is who owns what. A laptop, phone or docking station supplied by your employer is the employer’s property, and most home policies either exclude items you do not own or cover them only up to a small limit. Ask your employer how its own policy treats equipment kept at staff homes. The second is value. Home offices fill up with gear over a couple of years, and Moneysmart’s contents insurance guidance is to list belongings room by room at today’s replacement prices. Do the office as its own room.

There is no single home insurance working from home rule

Each insurer draws its own line, and it sits in the product disclosure statement under a heading such as business use, home business or business activities. Moneysmart points to the Key Facts Sheet and the PDS as the documents to compare, and the business definition lives there, not in the brochure. Some policies say that clerical work for an employer is not business use at all. Others allow it but set a separate, lower limit for anything described as business equipment, or for tools of trade. A few ask you to declare any work from home when you take out the policy.

Read for three words: business, trade and profession. Wherever they appear, note whether the clause is an exclusion, a sub-limit or a disclosure condition. The three behave very differently at claim time.

Running a business from home is a different risk

A sole trader making cakes from the kitchen, a consultant seeing clients in the front room, an online seller with a garage full of stock: these are businesses that happen to be at a residential address, and a home policy was not priced for them. The common gaps:

• Stock and materials, which most home wordings either exclude or cap at a modest figure.
• Business equipment above the policy’s business limit, including specialist tools, commercial kitchen gear and anything on lease.
• Liability to people who come to the house for the business, such as clients, students, delivery drivers and contractors.
• Lost income while the house is uninhabitable after a fire or storm. A home policy pays for temporary accommodation, not for the trading you could not do.
• Money, whether cash on hand or electronic funds transfer fraud.
• Claims that arise from the work itself, such as advice that turns out to be wrong or a product that injures someone.

These are the sections a business pack is built from. Home based businesses often need a small one: contents and stock at the home address, a liability section, and sometimes business interruption, written alongside the home policy rather than instead of it.

Laptops, data and the equipment that leaves the house

Contents cover generally applies inside the home. Moneysmart describes portable contents cover as an optional extension for items such as a laptop, tablet or phone taken outside the house, usually with a per-item cap and a list of what qualifies. If you carry work equipment between home, the office and client sites, check whether that extension is on the policy and whether the cap reaches the value of the bag you carry.

Data is a separate question. A home policy replaces the laptop. It does not deal with a compromised email account, a ransom demand or the cost of telling customers their details were exposed. For an employee, that is the employer’s problem and the employer’s cyber insurance. For a home based business holding customer records or taking payments online, it is your problem, and it needs its own cover.

Visitors, couriers and the liability question

The legal liability section of a contents policy is one of its most useful parts. Moneysmart notes that even people with few belongings may want contents insurance for the liability cover alone, because it responds when you are found legally responsible for injury to another person or damage to their property. The catch is that many wordings limit that cover to liability arising from your occupation of the home as a private residence.

A friend who trips on the front step is one thing. A client who trips on the same step on the way to a consultation is a business visitor, and the insurer may say the loss arose from the business, not from occupying the home. If people come to the house for work, or you work at their premises, a public liability policy in the business’s name is the clean answer.

Disclosure, and the tax line the ATO draws

Tell the insurer. Most home insurance working from home enquiries from employees end with a quick note on the file. A business at the address is a change in the risk, and an undisclosed business is the kind of fact an insurer raises when a large claim lands.

On tax, keep insurance and deductions separate in your head. The ATO’s guidance on home based business expenses describes a home based business as one where an area of the home is set aside and used exclusively as a place of business, and it lists house insurance premiums among the occupancy expenses of which a business portion may be claimable in that situation. The same guidance flags capital gains tax consequences when a home used for business is later sold. Those are questions for your accountant. The insurer’s question is simpler: what happens at the address, who comes to it and what is kept there.

What FRS does: we read the business use clause of your current home policy and tell you in plain terms whether the work you do from home sits inside it. Where it does not, we place the smallest business cover that closes the gap, usually contents, stock and liability at the home address, and keep it aligned with the home policy so neither insurer can point at the other.

If you work from home and want the wording checked, start with our home and contents insurance page and send us the PDS you hold.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need to tell my home insurer that I work from home?

Yes. If you are an employee doing office work, most insurers note it and nothing changes. If you run a business from the house, it is a change in the risk and some policies treat non-disclosure as grounds to reduce or decline a claim. A short call before a loss avoids a long argument after one.

Is my employer's laptop covered by my contents insurance?

Often not, or only up to a small limit, because most home policies insure items you own. Equipment issued by an employer is generally insured under the employer’s own business policy. Ask your employer to confirm that before you rely on your home policy, and keep your own equipment listed in your contents sum insured.

Does home insurance cover clients who visit my home office?

Not reliably. The liability section of a home and contents policy is written around occupying the home as a private residence, and many wordings exclude liability that arises from a business run at the address. If clients, students or contractors come to the house for work, a public liability policy in the business name is the safer route.

Can I insure a small home business on my home policy instead?

Sometimes, for very small operations. Some insurers offer a home business extension that lifts the business equipment limit and adds basic liability. Once there is stock, staff, visitors or income that depends on the premises, a small business pack written alongside the home policy usually gives better defined cover and avoids two insurers disputing which one responds.

The post Does home and contents insurance cover working from home? appeared first on Fortis Risk Solutions (FRS).

What contract works insurance actually covers

Contract works, also called construction works or builders risk, insures the physical job while it is being built. The partly finished structure, materials stored on site and materials in transit all sit under it. Fire, storm, impact, malicious damage and theft are the usual causes of loss it responds to. Most policies also pay to clear debris after a loss and to redraw plans that were destroyed with the works.

It is property insurance on an unfinished asset. It does not answer for injury to a member of the public, and it stops at practical completion, when the owner’s own property policy takes over. On a home extension that means the builder’s policy and the existing home and contents policy have to meet cleanly at handover, with no gap in between. business.gov.au treats these as separate types of business insurance for that reason.

Who arranges contract works insurance under a standard contract

The builder does, on most jobs. Standard residential and commercial building contracts oblige the builder to insure the works for full contract value, hold the policy until handover, and produce evidence of it when the owner asks. Consumer Affairs Victoria’s guidance on building contracts makes the same point from the owner’s side: the contract sets out who insures what, and owners should ask for a certificate of currency before paying a deposit.

The obligation follows the risk. Until the works are handed over, the builder carries the cost of reinstating anything that burns, floods or gets stolen. The policy is how the builder funds that obligation. Where a contract is silent, the builder is still usually the party with an insurable interest in the works, which is another reason the cover lands there by default.

When the owner arranges it instead

Three situations come up often:

• Owner builder projects. There is no head contractor obliged to insure, so the owner takes out contract works in their own name and normally adds site liability with it.
• Principal arranged programs on larger commercial sites. The developer insures the whole project and every trade works under that single policy, which avoids gaps between packages.
• Fit outs and renovations to an occupied building, where the property insurer will not extend to construction work and the owner arranges a separate policy over the job.

Doubling up creates its own problem. If the builder insures and the owner insures the same works, a claim can stall while two insurers argue about contribution and the site sits idle. Decide once, write it into the contract, and let the other party rely on it.

Public liability sits next to contract works, not inside it

Contract works pays for damage to the job. Liability pays when the job damages someone else. A plank dropped on a parked car, water escaping into the unit below, a passer by hurt at the site boundary: those are public liability claims and contract works will not touch them. Building contracts commonly require the builder to hold both, and to note the owner as an interested party on the liability policy so the owner is protected for claims arising out of the builder’s work.

Injury to the builder’s own workers is a third thing again. In Victoria that is WorkCover, and WorkSafe Victoria sets out which employers must register and what the premium is based on. Subcontractors who are deemed workers can pull an unregistered builder into trouble, so it is worth checking early.

Sums insured and the gaps that follow variations

Contract works is normally insured for the full contract value, and that figure has to keep up with the job. Variations are the usual culprit. A contract signed at one value grows through approved changes, the policy is never adjusted, and the works are quietly underinsured for the back half of the build. Ask the insurer how variations are handled at inception, because some policies allow a margin above the declared value and others do not.

The second common gap is existing structure. On a renovation, the part of the building that was already standing is not automatically included in a contract works policy, and the owner’s property insurer may restrict cover once construction starts. Decide who insures the existing structure and write it down.

What to check before work starts

• Read the insurance clause first. It names the insuring party, the sum insured basis and how long the policy has to run.
• Ask for the certificate of currency rather than a verbal assurance, and check the site address printed on it.
• Confirm the sum insured is full contract value including approved variations, plus debris removal and professional fees.
• Check the maintenance or defects liability period. Many contracts need the policy to continue past handover.
• Check who pays the excess, and whether existing structure is included on a renovation. That gap catches owners out more than any other.

What FRS does: we read the insurance clause in the contract before placing the policy, so the cover matches what the contract actually requires rather than a generic template. We arrange contract works and liability together where one job needs both, note interested parties properly, and keep certificates on hand for principals who ask for them mid project. If something goes wrong on site, we run the claim with the insurer instead of leaving the builder and the owner to argue about it.

If you have a job about to start, our contract works and construction insurance page sets out what we can arrange and what we will need from you.

Frequently asked questions

Who arranges contract works insurance on an owner builder job?

The owner does. Without a head contractor there is no other party obliged to insure the works, so the owner takes out contract works in their own name and normally adds public liability for the site. Trades on the job carry their own liability policies, but those do not insure the structure being built.

Should the owner be named on the builder's policy?

Usually yes, as an interested party or joint insured. It gives the owner a direct interest in the payout rather than relying on the builder to pass it on, and it protects the owner where a third party claim arises from the builder’s work. Ask for it in writing before the contract is signed.

When does contract works insurance stop?

At practical completion or handover in most policies, sometimes at the end of the defects liability period if the contract requires it. From that point the finished building belongs on a property or home policy. Leaving the changeover to chance is how buildings end up uninsured for a few weeks.

Is contract works the same as domestic building insurance?

No. Domestic building insurance, sometimes called builders warranty, responds where the builder dies, disappears or becomes insolvent, and it is required in Victoria for domestic building work above a set value. Contract works covers physical damage to the job while it is being built. A project can need both.

The post Who arranges contract works insurance: the builder or owner? appeared first on Fortis Risk Solutions (FRS).

What the document actually shows

Every certificate carries the same core details, whichever insurer issues it. Read them in this order:

• The insured entity, written exactly as it appears on the policy, with the ABN where the insurer includes it.
• The insurer on risk and the policy number.
• The class of cover, for example public and products liability, professional indemnity or contract works.
• The limit of liability or sum insured, and any sub limits the insurer chooses to state.
• The period of insurance, with a start and an expiry date.
• Any interested parties, such as a landlord or principal, noted on the policy.

What it does not carry is the fine print. A certificate of currency is a summary, not the policy. It says nothing about the exclusions, the excess, or whether a particular job falls inside the business description the insurer accepted. Two businesses can hold identical looking certificates and very different cover.

Who asks for one, and why

Requests come from anyone who could end up carrying your loss. Landlords ask before handing over keys and again at each lease anniversary. Head contractors will not let a trade on site without one. Councils want it attached to event and street trading permits. Corporate and government clients collect them for every supplier on the panel, often through an online portal that rejects anything expiring within the next month.

The underlying question is always the same: if this business damages something or injures someone, is there a policy behind it. That is why the requester usually checks the limit against the contract and the name against the entity they are paying.

The traffic runs both ways. If you engage trades, suppliers or cleaners, you should be collecting their certificates on the same terms your clients apply to you. A file of current documents, checked against each contract and diarised for expiry, is the cheapest piece of risk management in a small business. Chasing an uninsured subcontractor after an incident is the most expensive.

How to get one

Ask your broker or, if you deal with the insurer directly, ask the insurer. Tell them which policy you need it for, the date the requester needs it to cover, and any wording the contract demands, for example noting a principal as an interested party. Where the request is for workers compensation in Victoria, the certificate comes through the WorkSafe system rather than from a general insurer, and WorkSafe Victoria explains how the scheme and its documents work.

Give the request as much lead time as you can. Some certificates are generated instantly from an insurer portal, others need an endorsement processed first, and a request that arrives the afternoon before a site induction leaves no room if the wording has to change. Where a portal sets its own format, send us the portal requirements rather than a summary of them.

FRS issues certificates for clients as part of the service. Send the contract clause or the portal request through with your policy details and we will arrange the document in the form the requester wants, including any endorsement the insurer has to make first. Where the contract asks for something the current policy does not provide, we will tell you before it becomes an argument with your client.

Why certificates get rejected

Most rejections come down to small mismatches rather than missing cover:

• The certificate names a trading name or a director, while the contract is with a company or a trust.
• The limit is lower than the contract requires.
• The document expires inside the term of the job, or has already expired.
• The business description does not cover the work being engaged.
• The principal or landlord has not been noted, although the contract requires it.

Fix these before a job starts. Correcting an entity name mid claim is a very different conversation from correcting it at renewal, and it is one of the first things we check when a client hands us a claim that another party is disputing.

What a certificate cannot promise

It confirms that a policy existed on a date. It does not promise the policy will still be in force tomorrow, that the insurer will accept any particular claim, or that the limit will be enough. Policies get cancelled for non payment, altered mid term, or eroded by earlier claims where an aggregate applies. If a trade works for you for twelve months, the certificate you collected in July says nothing about December, which is why regular businesses ask for a fresh document at each renewal.

What FRS does

We hold your policy details, request certificates from the insurer, and check them against the contract that triggered the request before they go out. We also keep a record of what was issued to whom, so that when a client asks for proof of cover from three years ago, the document is findable rather than lost in an inbox.

For the wording behind the certificate, see our public liability insurance page, or send us the clause and we will read it with you.

Frequently asked questions

How long is a certificate of currency valid?

Only until the expiry date of the policy period shown on it. Most run for twelve months, and the document becomes worthless the day the policy renews because the requester cannot tell whether cover continued. Ask for a fresh certificate at each renewal and send it to every client, landlord or portal that holds the old one.

Does a certificate of currency prove a claim will be paid?

No. It confirms a policy was in force on the stated date at the stated limit. Whether a claim is paid depends on the policy wording, the exclusions, the excess and the facts of the incident. Treat it as proof that cover exists, not as any guarantee about a future or current claim.

Can I get one for a past date?

Usually yes. Insurers can confirm cover for an expired period, which matters when a claim arises years after the work was done or a client audits old suppliers. Ask your broker for the certificate covering the specific dates in question rather than the current one, and say why you need it.

Who should be named on the certificate?

The entity that signs the contract and carries the liability, written exactly as it appears on the agreement. If you trade through a company and the contract is in the company name, a certificate in a personal or trading name will be rejected. Interested parties such as landlords are added by endorsement to the policy.

The post What is a certificate of currency and how do I get one? appeared first on Fortis Risk Solutions (FRS).

What underinsurance looks like in practice

Almost nobody underinsures on purpose. It happens quietly, in three ways. A figure was set when the property was bought and rolled forward at renewal for years while building costs moved. A business grew, added plant and stock, and never told the insurer. Or the number was a guess made under time pressure on a renewal form nobody had time to read.

Moneysmart’s guidance on home underinsurance describes the same pattern for households, and the cause is identical for a warehouse or a strip shop. The sum insured stops being a calculation and becomes a habit.

How insurers respond to underinsurance

Sums insured that fall short have two consequences. On a total loss the answer is simple and brutal: the policy pays its limit, and the shortfall is yours. Rebuild a factory that is insured for less than it costs and the gap comes from the business.

The second consequence is less well known. Many property policies carry an average or co-insurance condition. It treats an owner who insured for less than the full value as having chosen to carry part of the risk themselves, so a partial loss is reduced in the same proportion as the shortfall in the sum insured. A fire that damages one section of a building can then be settled well below its repair cost, even though the claim is nowhere near the policy limit. Owners are usually surprised by this, because they assumed a small claim under a large limit would be paid in full.

Average is a condition, not a penalty, and it is disclosed in the product disclosure statement. The point of knowing about it is that it makes accuracy matter on every claim, not just catastrophic ones.

Buildings: rebuild cost, not market value

The price paid for a property and the cost of rebuilding it are different numbers, and they move independently. A building sum insured has to carry the full job:

• Demolition and removal of debris after the loss.
• Rebuilding to current building codes and standards, which are usually stricter than when the place was built.
• Architects, engineers, surveyors and council fees.
• Escalation, because construction cost rises between the day the policy is set and the day the job finishes.
• Anything that is not obviously building: car park, fencing, signage, landscaping, solar, security systems.

For a commercial property, a valuation for insurance purposes is worth the cost on any building of substance and should be refreshed periodically. Our commercial property owner insurance page covers what a landlord needs to hold alongside the building figure. Moneysmart’s guidance on choosing home insurance walks households through the same exercise, and contents should be checked against a home and contents list built room by room.

Business interruption is where the shortfall bites hardest

Property underinsurance is visible. Interruption underinsurance is not, and it is more common. Two numbers decide the outcome.

The first is gross profit as the policy defines it, which is rarely the accountant’s gross profit. Insurers work from turnover less specified variable costs, and the specification is the part businesses get wrong. Uninsured working expenses that were excluded to save premium reappear as a shortfall.

The second is the indemnity period, the length of time the policy will pay for. It has to cover the whole recovery, not the rebuild: demolition, approvals, construction, fit out, refitting plant, then trading back to where the business was. For a manufacturer waiting on imported machinery, or a food business needing council approvals, that is far longer than owners assume. business.gov.au’s guidance on managing business insurance makes the general case for reviewing these figures whenever the business changes. Our business interruption insurance page sets out how the calculation is built.

Stock and plant move faster than anything else

Buildings drift slowly. Stock and plant can be wrong within a single trading year. A business that buys new machinery, takes on a distribution line or holds more inventory than it did last winter has changed its exposure without changing its policy. Declared values on a property policy are a snapshot, and the snapshot ages.

Plant should be insured at what it would cost to buy and install an equivalent item today, including freight, currency movement on imported equipment, and the labour to commission it. Written down book value is an accounting figure and it is almost always lower than replacement cost.

Habits that prevent underinsurance

Sums insured are not a set and forget number. Three habits keep them honest.

1. Review annually against something real: a valuation, a builder’s rate, an asset register, the last set of financials. Rolling last year’s figure forward is how the gap opens.
2. Tell the insurer when the business changes. New plant, a second site, a bigger stock holding before Christmas, a renovation. Mid term adjustments are routine and cheap.
3. Check the seasonal peak, not the average. A retailer or grocer insured for average stock is underinsured for the weeks when a loss would hurt most.

What FRS does: we build the numbers with the client rather than accepting the figure carried over from last year. That means working through rebuild cost, plant and stock at replacement value, the gross profit definition the policy actually uses, and an indemnity period matched to how long recovery would really take. We flag mid term changes and we put the calculation in writing, so if a claim is ever argued the basis is on file.

If your sums insured have not been looked at properly in a few years, that review is where we would start.

Frequently asked questions

How do I know if my building is underinsured?

Compare the sum insured against a current rebuild estimate, not the market value or the purchase price. Include demolition, debris removal, professional fees, compliance with current building standards and cost escalation during the rebuild. If the figure has simply rolled forward at renewal for several years, assume it is short until proven otherwise.

What is an average or co-insurance clause?

It is a policy condition that reduces a partial claim when the sum insured is below the true value. The insurer treats you as having carried part of the risk yourself, so the payout is cut in the same proportion as the shortfall. It applies to ordinary claims, not only total losses.

How long should my indemnity period be?

Long enough to demolish, obtain approvals, rebuild, refit and trade back to where you were. Many businesses hold twelve months and need more, particularly where imported plant, planning permits or a rebuilt customer base are involved. Work it out from your own worst case rather than accepting a default.

Does increasing my sum insured cost much more?

Usually less than owners expect, because the correction is a proportion of an existing premium rather than a new policy. Weigh it against funding the shortfall yourself after a loss. Getting the number right also removes the argument about average, which is the part that damages a partial claim.

The post Underinsurance: how to set sums insured so a claim pays appeared first on Fortis Risk Solutions (FRS).

What the owners corporation policy is required to do

In Victoria an owners corporation must insure the buildings on the plan for their reinstatement and replacement value and hold public liability cover for the common property. Consumer Affairs Victoria sets out those duties, along with the requirement to review the insured value and report it to owners. The policy is paid for through levies, so every lot owner is already contributing to it.

What it covers is the structure: external walls, the roof, common corridors, lifts, the car park, the pool, and the original building fabric inside each lot as it was when the plan was registered. What it does not cover is anything an owner has added since, or anything an owner can carry out the door.

Strata insurance vs contents insurance: where the boundary sits

The dividing line is the lot boundary, and it is less obvious than it sounds. A useful way to think about it: if you turned the apartment upside down and shook it, whatever fell out is contents. Most of what stays put is either building, insured by the owners corporation, or improvements you made, which frequently are not.

The grey zone is the fit out. Floor coverings, blinds and curtains, light fittings, built in wardrobes, a replaced kitchen, a new bathroom, an installed air conditioner: these often fall outside the owners corporation policy, either because the wording excludes lot improvements or because the block was insured on its original specification. Renovate an apartment and you can add a lot of value that nobody has told the strata insurer about.

What a lot owner should actually insure

• Household contents: furniture, appliances, clothing, electronics, tools, bicycles and anything stored in the car space or cage.
• Fit out and improvements you paid for, especially a renovated kitchen or bathroom, floor coverings and window furnishings.
• Personal legal liability for something that happens inside the lot, such as a visitor injured in your apartment.
• Temporary accommodation, so you have somewhere to live while a damaged building is repaired.
• The owners corporation excess, where the policy allows it, since a lot related claim can leave you paying that amount.

Moneysmart’s contents insurance guidance recommends working through the property room by room and listing what replacement would cost today. That exercise is what turns a guessed number into a defensible one, and it takes an hour.

The strata excess is a real exposure for lot owners

Owners corporation policies carry excesses that are set for a whole building, not for one apartment, and water damage excesses in particular can be substantial. Where a claim starts inside a lot, the owners corporation is often entitled to recover that excess from the owner responsible. A lot owner who has no contents policy and no cover for the strata excess can end up paying it out of pocket while also replacing their own belongings.

Ask the manager what the excess structure looks like before you assume it is somebody else’s problem. It is one of the few numbers in strata that a lot owner can plan for in advance.

Water damage is where the two policies meet

Most disputes in apartment blocks are water. A pipe fails in the wall between two lots, or a shower membrane leaks into the unit below. The building repair usually sits with the owners corporation policy, the damaged carpet, furniture and electronics sit with the affected owner’s contents policy, and the cause has to be established before either insurer moves. Holding your own policy means your side of that claim proceeds without waiting for the committee to decide anything.

If you have no contents policy, the money for your ruined floor and furniture has to come from somewhere else, usually a liability claim against whoever caused the leak. That is slower and it is not certain.

If you rent the apartment out

An investor’s needs shift. The tenant insures their own belongings, so what the owner is protecting is the fit out, the appliances supplied with the lot, loss of rent and liability inside the lot. That is a landlord insurance policy sized for a strata lot, not a house, and it should be written knowing the owners corporation already carries the building. Owner occupiers looking at how the same items are treated in a freestanding house can compare it with a standard home and contents policy.

What FRS does: we read the owners corporation certificate and the strata policy schedule before quoting, so the lot owner is not paying twice for building cover or leaving a hole where the strata wording stops. We size the fit out sum insured against what has actually been renovated, cover the strata excess where the insurer allows it, and manage the claim when a lot loss and a common property loss overlap.

If you own an apartment or sit on a committee, our strata insurance page explains what we review and how we place it.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need contents insurance if the strata is insured?

Yes. The owners corporation policy insures the building and common property, not your furniture, electronics, clothing or the fit out you installed. Without your own policy, a fire or a burst pipe leaves you with a repaired shell and nothing inside it. Contents cover for a lot is generally inexpensive.

Who insures a renovated kitchen in an apartment?

Usually the lot owner. Many owners corporation policies cover the building as originally constructed and exclude lot improvements, so a kitchen or bathroom you replaced falls to your own policy. Check the strata wording, then set your fit out sum insured to what the renovation would cost to redo today.

Does the owners corporation policy cover my liability?

Only for the common property. It responds when someone is injured in a corridor, lift or car park. An injury inside your lot, or damage you cause to another lot, sits with your own personal liability cover, which usually comes as part of a contents or landlord policy.

Who pays the excess on a strata claim?

It depends on the cause. Where the loss starts inside one lot, an owners corporation can often recover the excess from that lot owner, and the amounts on strata policies are not small. Some contents and landlord policies will pay it, so ask before you assume you are covered for it.

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Which businesses the scheme covers

The obligation follows the Privacy Act. Australian Government agencies and organisations bound by the Act have to comply, and the OAIC explains that most small businesses fall outside it unless they meet the annual turnover threshold it publishes or fall into one of the listed categories. Those categories catch far more small operators than owners expect, including private health service providers, businesses that trade in personal information, credit reporting bodies, tax file number recipients and some contractors delivering services under a Commonwealth contract.

Two points matter here. The threshold and the list change over time, so read the current position on the OAIC site rather than relying on what someone told you in a previous business. And a business outside the Act still faces the commercial consequences of a breach: the customers, the contract terms with clients who are covered, and the cost of getting systems working again.

What counts as an eligible data breach

Three elements have to line up. There must be unauthorised access to, unauthorised disclosure of, or loss of personal information the organisation holds. That incident must be likely to result in serious harm to one or more individuals. And the organisation must not have been able to prevent that harm through remedial action.

The last element gets missed. If you act fast enough that serious harm is no longer likely, for example by recovering a device before anything was opened or forcing a password reset that closes off the access, the breach may not be notifiable. That is one reason the response in the first hours is worth planning before it is needed.

The assessment clock

Where you suspect an eligible breach but are not sure, the OAIC’s guidance on the notifiable data breaches scheme requires a reasonable and expeditious assessment, and it must be completed within 30 days of becoming aware of the grounds for suspicion. Thirty days is the outer limit, not a target. Regulators expect you to move faster where the harm is obvious.

A workable order of business looks like this:

1. Contain the incident and stop further access.
2. Record what happened, when you became aware, and what data is involved.
3. Assess the risk of serious harm to the individuals whose information is affected.
4. Notify the OAIC and the affected individuals if the test is met.
5. Review what allowed it to happen and fix that.

What notification involves

Notification is a statement to the OAIC through its online form, describing the breach, the kinds of information involved, and what those affected should do to protect themselves. You also have to tell the individuals at risk, either directly or, where that is not practicable, by publishing the statement and taking reasonable steps to publicise it. The Australian Cyber Security Centre is a separate reporting channel for the cyber incident itself, and reporting there does not satisfy the privacy obligation.

Keep a record of the decision either way. If you assess a breach and conclude it is not notifiable, write down what you looked at and why you reached that view. The file note is what you produce if the OAIC asks about it later, and it is far easier to write on the day than to reconstruct from memory months afterwards.

Write the notification as if a customer will read it, because they will. Plain language about what happened, what data was involved and what to do next does more for the relationship than a legal statement that explains nothing.

Where insurance fits

A cyber policy is built around this sequence. It generally funds incident response from the first call: a specialist to work out what was accessed, IT forensics, legal advice on whether the breach is notifiable, the cost of notifying individuals, credit monitoring where offered, public relations support, and the business interruption loss while systems are down. Ransom and extortion sections are also common.

Read the response section closely. Many policies give you a hotline and a panel of specialists who take the first call, which is worth more at two in the morning than an extra million on the limit. Some insurers apply a separate sub limit to response costs, and some require you to use their panel rather than your own lawyers, so the practical detail belongs in the decision.

The second policy is management liability, which responds to claims against directors and officers personally, including regulatory investigations into how the business was run. A serious breach can produce both a privacy problem and a management problem, and they are handled by different sections.

What FRS does

We match the cyber wording to how your business actually holds data, check the incident response arrangements attached to the policy, and confirm the response limits sit separately from the main limit where the insurer offers that. We also make sure the notification numbers on the schedule reflect the size of your customer database rather than a generic figure, and we walk clients through the claim process while the incident is still running.

For cover that funds the response as well as the loss, start with our cyber insurance page.

Frequently asked questions

Does the scheme apply to my small business?

It depends on whether the Privacy Act binds you. The OAIC sets an annual turnover threshold and also lists categories that are covered regardless of size, such as private health service providers and businesses trading in personal information. Check your position on the OAIC website, and check it again if your turnover or activities change.

How quickly do I have to report a breach?

Notify as soon as practicable once you have concluded a breach is notifiable. Where you only suspect one, the notifiable data breaches scheme allows an assessment period of up to 30 days from the date you become aware of the grounds for suspicion, and the OAIC expects that assessment to be reasonable and expeditious rather than drawn out.

What if a supplier caused the breach?

You may still hold the obligation for information you are responsible for, including data held on your behalf by a payroll provider, a booking platform or an IT contractor. Check what your agreements say about notification and cost sharing, and ask suppliers whether they carry cyber cover of their own.

Will a cyber policy pay the notification costs?

Most Australian cyber wordings include the cost of legal advice, forensic investigation and notifying affected individuals, often through an incident response panel you call on the first day. Limits and sub limits vary, so read what applies to response costs specifically rather than assuming the full policy limit is available.

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Professional indemnity: the claim comes from a client

Professional indemnity insures the service you sell. An accountant misses a deadline, a designer specifies the wrong material, a consultant gives advice that turns out to be wrong, a broker fails to place a policy. The client suffers a financial loss and comes after the firm for it. The policy pays defence costs and any compensation awarded, within the limit chosen.

It is built around one idea: the loss is financial and it flows from the work. Physical injury or property damage caused on someone’s premises belongs on a public liability policy instead, which is why most professional firms hold both. business.gov.au lists them as separate types of business insurance for that reason.

Management liability: the claim comes from how the business runs

Management liability is a package written for private companies. The sections vary between insurers, but most include:

• Directors and officers liability, for claims that a director or manager breached their duties. ASIC sets out those duties, and a breach can be pursued personally against the individual.
• Employment practices liability, for unfair dismissal, bullying, discrimination and harassment claims brought by staff. The Fair Work Ombudsman explains the workplace protections most of these claims are argued under.
• Company legal liability, for claims made against the entity itself rather than an individual.
• Statutory liability, for legal costs and, where the law allows it, fines and penalties from a regulator’s investigation.
• Crime or employee dishonesty, for theft of company money or property by a staff member.
• Tax audit costs, on many wordings, for the accounting work triggered by an audit.

None of that is about the quality of the service delivered to a customer. All of it is about the internal running of the business, and most of it can land on a director personally.

Management liability vs professional indemnity: sorting real claims

Work through a few examples and the line becomes clear:

The pattern holds in almost every case. Follow the complainant. Clients and their losses point to professional indemnity. Employees, shareholders, regulators and the company itself point to management liability.

Both are claims made, and that matters more than the difference

Professional indemnity and management liability are written on a claims made basis. The policy that responds is the one in force on the day the claim is made against you, not the one that was in force when the work was done. Two practical consequences follow.

First, the retroactive date. A policy will exclude anything arising from work done before that date, so continuous renewal history is worth protecting. Changing insurers is fine, but the retroactive date has to carry over.

Second, notification. Both policies require you to tell the insurer as soon as you become aware of a circumstance that might give rise to a claim, even if nobody has claimed yet. Sitting on an angry email until it becomes a legal letter can cost you the cover. That single habit does more for a claim outcome than an extra layer of limit.

The cost sits in the defence, not the payout

Owners tend to picture a large award against them. In practice the money goes on lawyers. An employment claim that settles for a modest sum can still take months of legal work, and a regulator’s investigation can absorb legal costs before anyone is accused of anything. Both policies pay defence costs, and on many wordings those costs come out of the limit, so the limit has to be set with the legal bill in mind rather than the likely award.

The same applies to professional indemnity. Defending an allegation you eventually beat is still expensive, and a firm without a policy pays for that win itself.

Which does a business need

A firm selling advice, design, or any professional service needs professional indemnity, and many contracts and licence conditions require it. Any company with a board, employees or a regulator interested in it has a management liability exposure, whether or not it sells advice. In practice most professional firms hold both, because a client dispute and an employment dispute are two different problems that arrive in the same year.

What FRS does: we work out which claims a business can realistically face, then place limits that reflect the contracts it signs and the size of its payroll rather than a default figure. We check retroactive dates when moving insurers, review the notification wording, and make the notification call with the client when something uncertain lands. Both policies sit inside a wider business insurance program we review annually.

If you want a plain read of your own exposures, start with our professional indemnity insurance page.

Frequently asked questions

Does professional indemnity cover an unfair dismissal claim?

No. Professional indemnity answers claims from clients about the service delivered to them. An unfair dismissal, bullying or discrimination claim from a current or former employee sits under the employment practices section of a management liability policy. A firm without management liability funds those defence costs itself.

Does management liability cover client complaints about our work?

No. Management liability is written for the internal running of the company: director conduct, employment disputes, regulator investigations, employee theft. A client alleging the work was negligent or the advice was wrong needs professional indemnity. Businesses that sell advice usually hold both policies side by side.

What does claims made mean for these policies?

The policy that responds is the one in force when the claim is made against you, not when the work was done. So cover has to be kept current after a job finishes, and the retroactive date must carry across when you change insurers. Let the policy lapse and past work is left unprotected.

Do sole traders need management liability?

Often less of it, but not none. A sole trader with no employees and no company structure has little directors exposure. Add staff, incorporate, or fall under a regulator, and the picture changes quickly. Statutory liability and employee dishonesty sections start to matter well before a business feels large.

The post Management liability vs professional indemnity: which pays? appeared first on Fortis Risk Solutions (FRS).

What a home policy is built to do

A standard home and contents policy assumes the owner lives there. It insures the building against fire, storm, water damage, impact and theft, insures the household contents, and covers the owner’s legal liability to visitors. The pricing and the wording both rest on that occupancy. When you tell an insurer the property is owner occupied, that is a statement the policy relies on.

Change the occupancy and the policy does not follow you. Renting out a house that is still on a home policy is the most common version of this problem, and it usually surfaces at claim time rather than at renewal. Moneysmart’s guidance on home insurance is direct about telling your insurer when circumstances change, and occupancy is one of the changes that matters most.

Landlord insurance vs home insurance: what actually differs

The building section looks similar. The difference sits in the sections a home policy has no reason to include:

• Loss of rent where the property becomes unliveable after an insured event, so the mortgage keeps being paid while repairs run.
• Rent default or tenant absconding, where the tenant stops paying and leaves money owing at the end of the tenancy.
• Malicious or intentional damage by a tenant or their guests, which sits outside the vandalism cover on most home policies.
• Theft by a tenant, again excluded on ordinary home wordings.
• Liability to the tenant, who is an occupier rather than a visitor, and to anyone the tenant invites in.
• Legal expenses connected with a tenancy dispute or an eviction, on many landlord wordings.

Those extras are the reason the two products exist separately. Take a home policy and add a tenant, and you have removed the assumption the wording was priced on.

Contents in a rental means something narrower

Landlords often assume contents means the tenant’s furniture. It does not. The tenant insures their own belongings, and that is their choice to make. Landlord contents means what the owner supplied: carpets, blinds, light fittings, appliances, and any furniture in a furnished let. Consumer Affairs Victoria’s renting information sets out the condition report process, which is also the practical record of what the owner owns in the property.

Set that sum insured against what it would cost to replace those items today, not what they were bought for. Compare it with how a standard home and contents policy treats the same items in an owner occupied house and the difference is mostly scope, not method.

The building sum insured is the same job either way

Whether the house is lived in by the owner or rented out, the building has to be insured for what it would cost to rebuild it: demolition, site clearing, current building standards, professional fees and the time the job would take. Market value and the price paid are both the wrong number, because neither reflects construction cost. Moneysmart’s contents insurance guidance makes a similar point about listing items room by room rather than guessing a round figure.

Rebuilding costs in Melbourne have moved a long way in recent years, so a figure set when the property was bought is rarely still right. Review it at renewal, and again after any renovation.

Apartments change the picture again

If the investment property is a unit in an owners corporation, the building is already insured by the body corporate. Insuring it a second time under a landlord policy wastes money and complicates a claim. What the owner still needs is the internal fit out, the landlord contents, loss of rent and liability inside the lot. That is a different sum insured and often a much smaller one. Our strata insurance page covers where the owners corporation policy stops and the lot owner’s own cover starts.

The situations that catch owners out

Moving overseas and letting the family home is the classic one. The policy stays on autopilot, the occupancy has changed, and nobody told the insurer. Short stay letting is the second: many landlord wordings are written for a residential tenancy agreement and treat holiday letting as a separate risk that has to be declared. Long vacancies are the third, because most property policies restrict cover once a place has been unoccupied beyond a set period.

None of these are trick exclusions. They are all disclosure questions, and all of them are cheap to fix before a claim and expensive after one.

What FRS does: we look at how the property is actually used, then place cover that matches it, including the awkward cases like a part let house, a property between tenants or a unit where the owners corporation policy already carries the building. We check the sums insured against current rebuilding and replacement costs rather than rolling last year’s figure forward, and we handle the claim when one comes.

If you own or are about to buy a rental, our landlord insurance page sets out what a policy should include before you sign a lease.

Frequently asked questions

Can I keep my home policy if I rent the house out?

No, not safely. Once a tenant moves in the occupancy the policy was written on has changed, and tenant related claims such as malicious damage, theft by a tenant or loss of rent sit outside a standard home wording. Tell the insurer before the tenancy starts and move to a landlord policy.

Does landlord insurance cover the tenant's belongings?

No. The tenant is responsible for insuring their own furniture, clothing and electronics under a contents policy in their name. Landlord contents means the items the owner supplied, such as carpets, blinds, light fittings, appliances and any furniture in a furnished property.

Is landlord insurance worth it for a unit in a block?

Usually yes, in a reduced form. The owners corporation insures the building, so the lot owner insures the internal fit out, landlord contents, loss of rent and liability within the lot. It costs less than insuring a freestanding house and it fills the gap the owners corporation policy leaves.

Does loss of rent apply when a tenant simply leaves?

Only if the wording includes rent default, and cover for that varies a lot between insurers. Loss of rent after an insured event, such as a fire that makes the property unliveable, is standard. Rent default because a tenant stops paying is a separate benefit with its own conditions and limits.

The post Landlord insurance vs home insurance: which does a rental need? appeared first on Fortis Risk Solutions (FRS).

The general rule the ATO applies

The ATO’s guidance on deductions for operating expenses works from a simple test: you can claim expenses you incur in carrying on a business to earn assessable income, provided the expense is not private, domestic or capital in nature. Insurance premiums for the business fall squarely inside that test. The policy exists because the business exists, and it protects the income or the assets used to produce that income.

On that basis, premiums for public liability, professional indemnity, property, business interruption, commercial motor, cyber and management liability are generally deductible as a business expense. The ATO also expects the usual record keeping: an invoice or renewal notice showing what was paid, when, and for which policy.

When is business insurance tax deductible and when is it not

The line usually falls in one of three places. The first is purpose. A policy taken out to protect the business is deductible in general terms, while a policy taken out to protect you personally is not, even if you pay for it from a business account. Home and contents, private health and personal life cover sit on the private side of that line.

The second is apportionment. Where a policy serves both purposes, such as a vehicle used for work and family, the ATO expects the claim to reflect the business use rather than the whole premium. Keep the records that support whatever split you use.

The third is who is insured and who benefits. Some covers arranged through a business are written on the life or health of an individual, and the treatment turns on the details rather than on where the premium was paid from. That is accountant territory, not broker territory.

The covers that need a closer look

Ordinary commercial policies rarely cause an argument. These do:

• Life, trauma and total and permanent disability policies arranged through the business, including buy sell and key person arrangements, where treatment depends on the purpose and the beneficiary.
• Income protection, where the ATO draws a distinction based on what the benefit replaces and who is insured.
• Personal accident and sickness policies for working directors of a small company.
• Policies covering an asset held partly for private use.

Ask the question before renewal rather than after. The way a policy is owned and structured is easier to change at renewal than at tax time.

Workers compensation premiums sit outside this discussion. They are a compulsory state scheme cost rather than a policy you shop for, and they are handled through the relevant authority in each state. Your accountant treats them as an employment cost like superannuation and payroll tax.

Payouts, GST and timing

Deductibility is only half the picture. A claim payment can be assessable income where it replaces something that would have been taxed, which is why a business interruption settlement for lost turnover is treated differently from a payment for a destroyed building. Your accountant needs the claim documents, not just the premium invoice.

GST matters too. A registered business generally claims the GST credit on the premium and deducts the balance, and the insurer normally asks about your registration and input tax credit entitlement when a claim is paid, because it affects the settlement figure. Stamp duty on the policy forms part of the premium you pay.

On timing, the deduction usually belongs in the year the expense is incurred, and premium funding arrangements add an interest component that is treated separately. Where a policy period straddles two financial years, the treatment depends on your accounting method.

What this means for how you buy cover

Tax should not drive the decision, but it does affect the true cost. If a professional indemnity premium is deductible as a business expense, the after tax cost of holding a higher limit is lower than the invoice suggests. That is worth knowing when you weigh up a limit under a client contract, or when you look at the whole business insurance program rather than one policy at a time.

It also argues for clean separation. Business policies in the business entity, private policies in your own name, and a note on file explaining anything that serves both. That structure makes the return simpler and makes any later query straightforward to answer.

Keep the paperwork in one place while you are at it. Renewal notices, tax invoices, endorsements and claim settlements for each policy, filed by financial year. If the ATO ever asks what an amount was for, the answer should take a minute to find rather than an afternoon.

What FRS does

We arrange the cover, issue clear invoices showing premium, duty and GST for each policy, and keep the renewal history so your accountant can see exactly what was paid and when. We do not give tax advice. When a question comes up about how a policy should be owned or how a payout will be treated, we put it to your accountant with the policy documents attached rather than guessing at the answer.

For the covers most often in question, see our professional indemnity insurance page, then take the numbers to your accountant.

Frequently asked questions

Is business insurance tax deductible for a sole trader?

Generally yes for policies held to protect the business, on the same principle the ATO applies to any operating expense. The complication for sole traders is apportionment, since vehicles, premises and equipment are often used privately as well. Keep records supporting the business use percentage you claim and confirm the split with your accountant.

Can I claim my home and contents premium if I work from home?

Home and contents cover is generally treated as private, so the premium is not deductible simply because you work at the kitchen table. Where part of the home is used for business, the ATO sets out specific rules for working from home expenses, and any claim needs to follow those rather than a broad percentage.

Is a business insurance payout taxable?

It depends on what the payment replaces. Amounts that stand in for lost income or trading profit are generally assessable, while payments for a capital asset are treated under different rules. Give your accountant the settlement letter and the schedule of what was paid for so the treatment matches the facts.

Does premium funding change the deduction?

The premium itself is treated the same way, and the funding arrangement adds an interest cost that is accounted for separately. Keep the funding contract with the policy documents. If cash flow is the reason you are funding, ask your broker whether the insurer offers monthly instalments before you commit.

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