Granny Annexe Insurance

Does your home have an extension or is there an annexe in the garden which might be used as a separate, self-contained unit that may be used by a member of your family, tenants, or as a holiday let?

If you are planning to use it as such, you might want to give careful thought to the kind of property insurance you need to protect the structure itself and your responsibilities as the owner of the property.

What is annexe insurance and what does it cover?

Annexe insurance is a specialist form of insurance that does just what it says – provides the protection you need for the extension or annexe in question.

It is a specialist form of insurance largely because of the unique position you are likely to occupy as the owner of such a unit of accommodation. On occasion, those occupying the accommodation might be classed as lodgers – in that they are sharing the home in which you also live. But on other occasions, they might be occupying the accommodation on a completely self-contained basis as tenants for whom you are the landlord.

In either event, the structure and fabric of the building itself needs to be covered by adequate building insurance.

If the occupants are lodgers, you may need specialist annexe insurance to fill many of the gaps likely to be left in your existing home insurance cover, especially with respect to the theft, loss or damage of any of the contents you own.

If they are tenants, on the other hand, specialist annexe insurance also covers your more formal responsibilities and obligations as a landlord – specifically, with regard to landlord liability insurance – whether tenancy agreements are of the temporary kind needed for holiday lets or those on a longer-term basis.

Why may you need self-contained annexe insurance?

There are a number of situations in which you might choose to use an extension or self-contained annexe in these circumstances. The principal scenarios, for example, might include the option to:

• accommodate a member of your own family in the converted or extended part of your own home or in a self-contained annexe – the so-called “granny annexe” or one for your independently-minded teenage siblings;
• use an extension or conversion in your own home to let to lodgers or a self-contained annexe let to tenants, so that you may enjoy the additional income stream likely to be generated; or
• turn the extension or self-contained annexe into an apartment suitable for short-term holiday lets – especially if your property is in one of the major cities, opportunities may exist for sharing part of your home with lodgers who are “guests” of the increasingly popular Airbnb arrangements.

Why choose us at UKinsuranceNET?

At UKinsuranceNET, we have made it our business to tailor bespoke forms of insurance for all types of non-standard property use – and self-contained annexe insurance falls precisely into just such a category.

Through our attention to detail and a commitment to providing first-class customer service, we have become one of the country’s leading online insurance websites.

Finally, if you would like to read a little more about the opportunities for creating a holiday let or granny annexe in your own property, why not take a look at our detailed Guide to Building the Perfect Extension.