Mixed-Use with Medical Tenancy

The owner of a 1910s double-brick building on Sydney's Lower North Shore received a non-renewal notice from their existing insurer. The building had an allied health practice operating on the ground floor with residential tenancies above.

Non-renewals in mixed-use are increasingly common. Insurers tighten their appetite, and buildings that were previously covered suddenly find themselves without options at renewal time.

The owner had limited time before their existing policy lapsed and needed to find replacement cover quickly. Seven insurers declined before they came to us.

Time was the critical factor here. With a non-renewal, there's a hard deadline. We prioritised speed without cutting corners on the submission quality.

• Existing policy review: We reviewed their expiring policy to understand what they'd had in place and identify any gaps
• Targeted submissions: Rather than blanket-marketing the risk, we went directly to underwriters we knew had appetite for medical-tenancy mixed-use buildings
• Building presentation: We highlighted the 1910s double-brick construction as a positive - solid builds with proven track records, not a liability

Allied health practices are actually a relatively low-risk commercial tenancy compared to food or hospitality. The challenge was finding underwriters who would look past the mixed-use classification to assess the actual risk.

The 1910s construction was a factor for several underwriters. Older buildings carry assumptions about wiring, plumbing, and fire separation that may or may not reflect reality. We addressed this by providing updated compliance information where available.

The non-renewal itself was also a challenge. Some underwriters view a non-renewal as a red flag, even when the reason was simply the previous insurer tightening their appetite rather than any issue with the property or claims history.

We placed cover at approximately $12,800, saving the owner around $3,600 compared to what they'd been paying with their previous insurer.

This is a common outcome when we re-market mixed-use properties. The previous insurer's pricing often doesn't reflect what the specialist market can offer.