Does Working From Home Affect House Insurance?

Whether you’re on a work-from-home set-up for the foreseeable future, or you’ve branched out into temporary freelance work, one question that you may have is whether working from home affects home insurance? We’re revealing all in this short guide.

Back in July 2020, an article published in the Independent warned that homeowners continuing to work from home after lockdown restrictions eased were at risk of having their home insurance invalidated if they didn’t update their circumstances with their provider.

Do I need to inform my insurance company if I am working from home?

Depending on your employment set-up you may or may not need to inform your insurance company. You should notify your insurer if you are able to return to work, but are choosing to work from home more often.

In many cases, your insurance will be valid for work from home that’s clerical in nature. So, if you predominantly use a laptop or phone to complete your work, you should be fine. But it’s still best to check with your provider to be on the safe side. However, if your work from home involves having visitors to the house or the work isn’t a simple matter of working at a desk, then you should definitely notify your provider of your change in circumstances.

There are also instances where you might want to add other policies on top of your home insurance. For instance, if you run your own business and keep stock or product samples at home, you should consider acquiring a separate business insurance policy on top of your existing home contents insurance.

Some policies exclude all items used for “business or professional purposes”.

To summarise:

• Work from home that’s clerical in nature is normally covered.
• Many policies will include devices used for general administrative purposes, including laptops. However, if you have specialist equipment that’s exclusively used for business purposes, you should make sure it’s covered in your policy or that your employer has a suitable policy in place.
• If you’re receiving visitors at home as part of your work, you should inform your insurance provider.
• If you’re running a business and storing stock at home you should consider buying separate business insurance.
• The best policy is to check with your provider whenever you have a significant change in circumstances – this is just to keep on the safe side and to make sure that you’re covered.

We hope this guide has cleared up how working from home might affect house insurance and when to notify your provider.

As expert home insurance brokers, Agentis keeps up to date with the latest changes so we can not only help you find a suitable home insurance provider but also give the best advice on what type of insurance is right for your circumstances. Speak to Agentis today to book your free initial consultation.