Self storage building insurance
General advice only. It does not consider your business's objectives, financial situation or needs. Cover depends on the insurer's policy wording, which you will receive before you decide.
Your buildings carry the business
Property insurance is for whoever is responsible for insuring the site: the storage buildings, the rows of units, the office and any shipping containers you rent out.
It is separate from your customers' cover. The goods inside each unit belong to them, and they can insure those goods with their own policy.
What property cover can include
- Buildings and structures
- The storage buildings, office and fixed site improvements, up to the building sum insured you choose. How each is defined depends on the policy wording.
- Shipping containers
- Containers you use as storage units can often be included when you list them. The application asks how many you have.
- Damage from insured events
- Damage from the events the policy lists, which can include fire, storm and malicious damage. The insurer's wording sets out which events are covered and which are excluded.
- Removal of debris
- Clearing the site after an insured loss can cost more than expected. Many property policies offer a separate sum insured for it.
- Glass
- Glass cover is usually an option you choose, rather than something included automatically. The application asks whether you want it.
Business interruption and public liability are separate covers, not features of property insurance. Read about business interruption insurance. Public liability questions are part of the same application.
Insure what it costs to rebuild.
The building sum insured is the most an insurer will pay for your buildings. Many property policies base it on the cost to rebuild today, including demolition and professional fees, rather than what the site would sell for.
If the figure is too low, some policies reduce what they pay on a claim. A professional valuation, reviewed at each renewal, is one way to keep it current.
Before you apply: the property section
- Your facilityHow the site runs from day to day.
- When the facility was established
- Number of storage units
- Shipping containers to insure
- Customer access hours
- Whether the site is attended
- ConstructionWhat the buildings are made of.
- Year of construction
- Walls, floors and roof
- Any insulated sandwich panel (EPS)
- Town (mains) water supply
- Fire and securityHow the site is protected.
- Fire extinguishers and hose reels
- Back-to-base smoke detection
- Sprinklers, if installed
- Your site security
- Sums insured and historyWhat to insure the site for, and its claims record.
- Building and container sums insured
- Removal of debris
- Your proposed excess
- Claims in the last three to five years
General advice only. It does not consider your business's objectives, financial situation or needs. Cover depends on the insurer's policy wording, which you will receive before you decide.
Property insurance questions
Who insures a storage facility's buildings, the owner or the operator?
It depends on your lease or management agreement. Commercial leases often say who must insure the buildings and for how much, so check yours before you apply. If you own and run the site yourself, the cover usually sits with you.
Does property insurance cover my customers' stored goods?
No. Property insurance is for your facility's buildings and structures. The goods inside each unit belong to your customers, who can insure them with their own policy, such as Goods in Storage insurance at an SSIA approved facility.
Is business interruption part of property insurance?
Not on its own. Business interruption is a separate cover for the income you lose after insured damage stops you trading. It is often arranged alongside property cover, and the same application asks about both.
What affects the cost of property cover?
Insurers typically look at how the buildings are constructed, the fire protection and security on site, the sums insured, the excess you choose and your claims history. The application asks about each of these.
Cover beyond your buildings
Property, contents and business interruption share one application. Workers' compensation is arranged separately.
- Business contents insurance For your facility's own equipment, fit-out and office contents.
- Business interruption insurance For income lost when an insured event stops your facility trading.
- Workers' compensation insurance For the people who keep your facility running.
- All facility business insurance Business insurance for self storage facility owners and operators.
Ready to insure
your buildings?
- Apply for business insurance Property, contents, business interruption and public liability.
- Email the SSIA team Questions before you apply.
- Become an approved facility Let your customers insure the goods they store with you.
General advice only. It does not consider your business's objectives, financial situation or needs. Cover depends on the insurer's policy wording, which you will receive before you decide.