UK Insurance News

home insurance

Many homeowners spend several years and thousands of pounds gradually improving their property and with summer only around the corner, now is the perfect time of year to get your home looking spic and span. It is important not to let all this hard work go to waste.

Like most things, your home is at risk and depending on where you live, these risks can be numerous. This is why home insurance is so important – should something untoward or unexpected happen to your house, you will be protected financially from the cost of any repairs.

Most property owners will understand that they cannot prevent all risk, but thankfully they can be afforded the peace of mind that home insurance offers. What kind of risks can you expect? Well, if you’re thinking of purchasing a new property, it is important to check if the house likely to experience flooding. According to the government, five million people in the UK are at risk from streams and rivers overflowing. Homeowners should ask their estate agent or check the Environment Agency’s online flood map, where a risk breakdown will be provided after you enter your postcode.

You only need to cast your mind back to the summer of 2007 to understand the damage that flooding can do. Tewkesbury, a small town in Gloucestershire, was effectively turned into an island after the nearby Severn and Avon rivers burst their banks, and those without home contents insurance lost all their possessions. Without savings, many were left homeless and unable to recoup their belongings. A similar situation was seen in Toll Bar in South Yorkshire, where homeowners had to be rescued from their homes in rigid inflatable boats.

Another common environmental risk is subsidence. This is characterised by a series of small cracks appearing in a property’s walls, and if nothing is done the problem can quickly escalate to the point where tens of thousands of pounds of remedial work is required. Homes most at risk are those in the south of England built on clay soil. Subsidence occurs after a spell of hot, dry weather, which causes all the water in the soil to be sucked out by plants, trees and bushes, forcing the clay to contract.

In the property business, this phenomenon is known as ‘differential leave’. It’s serious because it can lead to structural damage, although fortunately instances of subsidence have been rare over the past couple of years thanks to the unusually wet summers. Properties suffering from subsidence rarely collapse, but their foundations normally need to be strengthened – a procedure than can cost anywhere between £5,000 and £50,000.

Property owners with home insurance should check to see whether their policy covers subsidence, and if it doesn’t, you may wish to consider seeking the advice of a chartered surveyor. In addition to cracks, some of the warning signs include doors and windows becoming stuck for no obvious reason and rippling wallpaper when there is no obvious damp problem.

Worryingly, large numbers of people put off investing in home insurance, confident that their property is somehow immune from risk. What many don’t realise is that home insurance policies include three fundamental factors that, unless you’re a multi-millionaire, are crucial if something should go wrong, as the cost of repairs without the help of insurance are financially crippling at best and completely unaffordable at worst – which could mean that the home you spent so many years working on can no longer be yours. These factors are structural damage, liability and uninhabitable living expenses.

Structural damage, which can be caused by both flooding and subsidence, is a key part of a home insurance policy. An insurer can cover the cost of repairs that need to be undertaken in addition to any replacements such as doors, windows or floorboards. Fewer people are aware of liability insurance, which guarantees that anyone entering your property is covered should something unexpected happen. It sounds highly unlikely, but it is not unknown for homes to be damaged by aircraft, trains or vehicles, while many more are struck by lightning. Liability insurance also covers the costs of any lawsuits filed against a homeowner by a guest who may have suffered a personal injury as a result of one of these calamitous events.

Policies that include uninhabitable expenses are particularly important for homeowners living on a flood plain or close to a river. A home insurance policy can guarantee that any expenses incurred while not being able to reside at your property can be claimed back until the insured property is safe enough to move back in to.

Homeowners should also consider a few other factors related to their home insurance. Is the property located adjacent to a busy road or an accident-prone area? What material is the home constructed from? What type of area is the property located in – for example, is there lots of crime? Brick or concrete homes tend to benefit from cheaper home insurance compared to wood floors thanks to the greatly reduced fire risk.

Crime and burglaries are of particular concern to homeowners. While burglars are unlikely to damage your home structurally, apart from maybe forcing their way through a window or door, they will be intent on removing its most valuable contents. For this reason, it is vital to invest in home contents insurance. With the cost of technology having lowered over the last few years, more homes contain high-definition televisions, laptops, desktop computers and other expensive electrical equipment. It takes only a matter of minutes for a seasoned burglar to get their hands on your possessions, and once they’ve been taken, you can be sure of never seeing them again.

During 2005-06, the British Crime Survey recorded 733,000 offences relating to domestic burglary, which represented seven per cent of all crime reported in the poll. While 293,000 of these were attempts only, in 440,000 instances an offender managed to gain entry to a person’s home.

Don’t be caught out by the risks your home faces and invest in an appropriate home insurance policy. Not only will you have peace of mind, but you can alleviate the possibility of financial difficulty should something untoward happen to your home.