Impact of sheds and external structures on the insurance for your home

Do you have a shed or external building structure at your home?

Many people use a shed or external structure at their home to create additional storage space, however if you have a timber shed or similar external wooden structure on your patio or balcony it could increase the fire risk in your building. We have building insurance that covers damage to the structure of your home, but our insurer could increase the charge for it if there are these wooden structures close to the building. Please get in touch with us if you have an external shed or structure.

The London Fire Brigade has reported multiple incidents of fires in sheds, which then spread to the wall of the house or building and can cause significant damage to the property. The risk is also increased due to the nature of items which may be stored in sheds and external structures such as electrical equipment, petrol and/or gas for lawn mowers, or barbeques, etc. You can read two examples about this from the fire brigade below:

• Fire in Tooting last year where a fire spread from a shed to the external wall
• Fire in Fulham this year where a fire spread from a shed and destroyed part of the ground floor of the house.

The cost of the building insurance for your building could increase if you have external structures such as wooden sheds and structures on your patio or balcony. Any increase we receive from our insurer, could cause an increase in your service charge.

It’s also important to remember that the building insurance will only cover the structure of the building and not the contents in your home. We always recommend you get home contents insurance to protect your possessions in case of damage.  

What to do if you have a shed or external structure?

Please get in touch with our Building Safety Team at customerservice@networkhomes.org.uk and they will be able to work with you to find a solution which is acceptable to insurers. This could result in you having to remove your shed/structure, or depending on the size of your outdoor space, moving it far away from the external wall.

Our building safety and neighbourhood teams will also be looking out for these kinds of sheds/structures when they visit our buildings and will come and speak to you if they see them in your outdoor area. Your tenancy/lease may prevent you from having these sorts of structures as well, so please work with us to keep everyone in your building safe.