Owner-Occupied Heritage Office/Residence

An owner-occupier in regional Victoria came to us without any insurance in place. Their property was an 1880s double-brick heritage building that they used as both a professional office and their residence.

Three insurers had declined. The combination of heritage construction, mixed commercial/residential use, and the regional location had put it outside standard insurer appetite. Home insurers wouldn't cover it because of the office use, and commercial insurers weren't interested in the residential component.

The owner needed building cover, public liability for clients visiting the office, and contents cover for both business equipment and personal belongings.

Owner-occupied mixed-use buildings are a specific niche. They don't fit cleanly into either a home insurance or a commercial property policy. We needed to find a solution that covered both uses under one programme.

• Dual-use presentation: We structured the submission to clearly show the office and residential components, including the percentage split and how the spaces were used
• Heritage documentation: We provided details on the 1880s double-brick construction, including any heritage listing details and the building's structural condition
• Combined programme: Rather than trying to split the risk across multiple policies, we sought a single programme covering building, liability, and contents

The 1880s construction is the oldest building we placed in this batch of mixed-use cases. Heritage double-brick is actually a robust construction type, but the age alone triggers automatic declines from many insurers' systems.

Regional Victoria adds distance from emergency services and fire response, which some underwriters factor into their risk assessment. The professional office use, while low-risk, was enough to push the property outside standard home insurance criteria.

We placed a complete programme at around $3,000 annual premium, covering building, public liability, and contents for both the office and residential portions.

At around $3,000 for a full programme on an 1880s heritage building, this represents excellent value. The key was finding an underwriter who could look at the actual risk - a well-maintained double-brick building with a low-risk professional office - rather than just the age and mixed-use classification.