House sitting insurance

Public liability insurance

In case your business and products cause an injury or property damage.

What’s typically covered by public liability insurance for house sitters?

Claims against your business for:

• damage to someone else’s property, caused by your work
• injuries caused by you at work, or afterwards because of your work
• accidental injury or damage caused by your employees (if you have any)

For example:

• you accidentally knock your client’s car when parking up outside their house, causing damage to the paintwork on one side
• a customer trips on a loose cable while on your premises, falling and breaking their arm in several places
• an employee is mopping the floor, but forgets to put up a safety sign, causing an electrician to fall and injure their back

**If you do employ anyone, you’re usually required by law to have employers’ liability insurance too.**

Read more about public liability insurance

Employers’ liability insurance

In case anyone gets ill or injured while working for your business

What’s typically covered by employers’ liability insurance?

Claims against your business for:

• an injury that happens as a result of working for you (including temps and casual workers)
• an employee, including a contractor or casual labourer, suing you after falling ill because of working for you

**Employers’ liability insurance is usually required by law if you employ anyone – including part-time staff, temporary workers, and in most cases, volunteers. Without it, you could be fined up to £2,500 for every day you don’t have cover in place. A main exemption is unincorporated family businesses where all your employees are family members.**

For example:

• your employee injures their lower back while moving furniture at your premises and holds you responsible
• an employee cuts their hand on a damaged countertop and sues you for operating an unsafe workspace
• a member of staff trips over while unloading business equipment, injuring their knee

Contents insurance

In case something happens to your fixtures, fittings, or operational equipment.

What’s typically covered by business contents insurance?

Claims against your business for:

• accidental damage or destruction caused by flood, fire, theft, or vandalism
• cover for your contents, up to the insurance level you’ve selected

For example:

• your bespoke wooden display units and decorative items are damaged by flooding, and need restoring or replacing
• a fire causes serious damage to your premises, and you need to replace all your office furniture
• someone breaks into your business premises and steals the office printer

Read more about business contents insurance

Business legal insurance

In case you’re hit with legal expenses connected to your business.

What’s typically covered by business legal insurance?

Claims against your business for:

• unpaid invoices
• contracts for the purchase, hire, sale, or provision of goods or services provided to you
• an alleged breach of statutory rights with an employee

For example:

• you need to recover debt after a client refused to pay their invoice, caused by a contractual dispute
• you’re facing legal costs as a client is disputing whether you met your contractual obligations with your hire agreement

Read more about business legal insurance

Personal accident insurance

In case anyone you’ve covered is accidentally injured, at work or off-duty.

What’s typically covered by personal accident insurance?

Claims against your business for:

• if someone named on the policy is accidentally injured or dies while at work or elsewhere
• any hospitalisation benefit or medical costs, plus lost income

For example:

• you fall off a ladder while decorating your home, breaking your elbow
• a member of staff, who’s named on the policy, dislocates their shoulder while playing tennis and can’t work to full capacity
• an insect bite you got on holiday becomes infected and you need to take time off work for hospital treatment

Read more about personal accident insurance

Stock insurance

In case something happens to your products and consumables.

What’s typically covered by stock insurance?

Claims against your business for:

• damage to (and loss of) stock, following fires, floods, or vandalism
• theft of stock following a break-in
• costs involved with replacing the stock you need to operate

For example :

• someone forces entry to your business premises and steals from your stockroom
• an important stock order falls from the back of your van and is never recovered
• you’ve taken a stock delivery, which is stolen while you’re speaking to a neighbour

Read more about stock insurance

Excess insurance

In case you need to make a claim on your insurance policy.

What’s typically covered by excess insurance?

Claims made by you for:

• when you make a claim on a cover included in your business insurance policy, you won’t need to pay excess

For example :

• strong winds cause severe damage to the roof of your property – you don’t have to pay the £250 excess thanks to your excess insurance
• a guest accidentally breaks a television during their stay at your property and thanks to your excess insurance, you don’t need to pay excess on the claim
• a guest’s child trips on a loose carpet and breaks their arm – they claim compensation and you don’t pay excess due to your excess insurance