Britain’s High Street ‘Stabilised’
Yet one in seven retail properties still lie empty
Figures released this week by the LDC (Local Data Company) shone a positive light on the UK’s recession-hit high streets – declaring that the number of empty shops in Britain has ‘stabilised’ after three years of increases.
But with vacant stores still accounting for 14.2% of our high streets and shopping centres, one in every seven UK shops is currently out of use.
Indeed despite the positive spin, all regions apart from London, Yorkshire and the East Midlands now have more empty shops than this time last year – with high profile brands like Jessops, Comet and HMV all calling in administrators in recent months.
The figures remain bad news for the economy and, naturally, for the keen shopper. But the trend also brings problems for the owners of these properties, who must find a specialist insurance policy to cover their vacant building.
Unoccupied retail property insurance
Vacant commercial property insurance, much like a thriving British high street, can be hard to find these days.
Few regular insurers offer unoccupied shop insurance as they deem the properties too high risk – with empty retail units seen as a target for vandals or squatters. The chance of significant damage due to flood or fire is also increased, due to the lack of security on-site.
Of course these increased dangers only serve to make appropriate insurance cover even more important, yet you won’t find cover easy to find in the mainstream market.
So if your commercial property is among the 14.2% of high street stores standing empty, get a vacant business property insurance quote from specialist QuoteRack brokers.
Our brokers will help to secure cover on your empty retail property, and make sure you don’t become the latest victim of a seemingly never-ending recession.