Home Home Insurance and Classes in the home

Hi

My wife is considering holding classes for up to 5 children at a time, 3 days a week, in our home.

Do we need to obtain additional insurance to cover this activity or would we be covered under our standard home insurance?

If so, where is the best place to get this kind of insurance?

Thanks in advance for any help.

Jester

Is she running a school from home

Hi - yes it is a Speech & Drama school, each class would be about an hour long each with 5 in each. Maybe 1-1 at some stage in the future.

You will almost certainly need to submit a planning application to your local authority for a change in use for the premises to run a commercial (fee-paying? revenue-generating?) enterprise from a property that presumably had planning permission granted and was built as residential only.

As you will be running a commercial enterprise in the property, the local authority will want to levy commercial rates on it and you will be subject to inspections by the fire officer and to health and safety audits, to name just three agencies you will need to interface with.

If you have a mortgage and are claiming TRS, your lender will also have an interest in the change in use as the property is no longer exclusively residential, which presumably was the basis for gaining mortgage approval and being granted TRS, if applicable.

You will absolutely not be covered on your basic house insurance to run the enterprise you describe in your home and to do so would leave you, your family and potential clients seriously exposed. Unfortunately, I believe that insurance is the least and possibly the last of the difficulties facing you.

Thanks for the reply. To be honest, that all seems a bit excessive and bureaucratic for what will be a very small business, generating income of approx €5K per annum. If I was to become a home worker - i.e. do work for my employer at home, would the same apply?

The only solution seems to be to rent a room in an established premises designed for these purposes. Either way, this seems to make the whole enterprise not worthwhile.