Cannabis farm claims hit £9.4m as fire callouts jump 218%

Cannabis farm claims have reached £9.4 million since January 2022, according to Zurich UK data reported by PropertyWire on 16 September 2026. That total comes from 17 analysed claims. The insurer says the damage usually leaves a building unsafe, with six-figure repair costs to settle before anyone can move back in.

What does one cannabis farm claim actually cost?

Zurich UK published the total and the case count, not the average. Here is the division. £9,400,000 spread over 17 claims is £552,941, or roughly £553,000 each. That average is my own calculation from the two published figures (Zurich UK via PropertyWire, 16 September 2026), not a number the insurer stated.

Put it against rent and the size of it lands. Take a commercial unit on £25,000 a year, a round figure chosen here to show the scale and not drawn from the Zurich data. A £553,000 claim is about 22 years of that gross rent. Even a repair at the bottom of the insurer's six-figure range, say £100,000, swallows four years of it.

Then add the void period (the months a building sits empty with no rent coming in) while the work is done. Zurich UK's claims typically involve dangerous electrical alterations, extensive water damage from irrigation systems, damp and mould, and structural changes made to hide the growing operation. By the time a property is recovered, owners can face months of disruption on top of repair bills running into hundreds of thousands of pounds (PropertyWire, 16 September 2026). Our free rental stress test calculator shows what a gap in rental coverage does to the numbers on a leveraged property.

How fast is the problem growing?

Fire and rescue service callouts to suspected or identified cannabis farms rose 218% between 2015 and 2024, climbing from 17 incidents to a record 54 (PropertyWire, 16 September 2026). Those 17 incidents are callouts in 2015, unrelated to the 17 insurance claims above. PropertyWire reports 50 attendances in the most recent year covered, near the peak rather than a retreat.

Freedom of Information (FOI) data, released under the rules that force public bodies to hand over information they hold, was obtained from 21 fire and rescue services. Those figures show incidents up 59% between 2019 and the 2024 peak. Home Office analysis puts the national count at 640 cannabis farm fires between 2019 and 2024.

South Wales is the worst affected region in the data, with crews attending 90 suspected cannabis farms over seven years and a peak of 25 in 2020. Essex recorded 56 attendances over the past decade and Hereford and Worcester 55. These are fire service attendance counts by region, not differences in law. For the wider picture on how operating risk feeds into returns, our property investment strategies hub is the deeper read.

What are the warning signs at the commercial letting stage?

Every premises type the insurer names is commercial, not buy-to-let (renting a residential property to tenants). Scott Clayton, Head of Claims Fraud at Zurich UK, said the profile has shifted. "Many landlords still picture cannabis farms operating in remote industrial estates or hidden warehouses. What we're increasingly seeing is organised criminal groups targeting empty shops, offices and retail premises, often hiding in plain sight on high streets across the UK."

Zurich UK identified several warning signs at the letting stage, four of them before the lease is signed. Two concern the money: a tenant who pays the asking rent without negotiating, and a newly incorporated company with little financial history. Two concern the paperwork: reluctance to involve solicitors on a high-value lease, and a request to remove inspection clauses (the terms that let you inspect the property). Once the tenancy runs, the signals change. The list includes a business that never appears to trade, repeated dodging of inspections and blacked-out windows. Zurich UK also names external ducting fitted without permission, strong unusual odours and unexplained electrical work.

"These operations can involve sophisticated attempts to present a legitimate business front," Clayton added. Landlords, he said, find it difficult "to spot the warning signs until significant damage has already been done." Lease drafting and inspection routines are an operations question, and our business and systems hub covers that ground. On cover itself, an insurance broker is the qualified professional to ask: the insurer notes the fallout can reach beyond repair costs into extended void periods and potential insurance complications. Newer landlords may find the free property resources hub a useful starting point.

Key takeaways

• Zurich UK recorded £9.4 million in cannabis farm claims since January 2022, from 17 analysed claims (PropertyWire, 16 September 2026).

• That is roughly £553,000 a claim, calculated here by dividing the two published figures rather than quoted by the insurer.

• Fire and rescue service callouts to suspected or identified cannabis farms rose 218% between 2015 and 2024, from 17 incidents to a record 54.

• Home Office analysis counts 640 cannabis farm fires between 2019 and 2024. Separately, South Wales was the most affected region, with crews attending 90 suspected farms over seven years.

• Every premises type the insurer names is commercial, so landlords may wish to review inspection clauses and tenant checks with a broker before the next lease is signed.