Insurance warning for gardeners

Homeowners have been advised to do their homework before planting trees in their garden to reduce the risk of subsidence.

Research from Sainsbury’s has shown that around 9.7 million intend to plant at least one tree in their garden but has warned that such good intentions can lead to subsidence and home insurance claims in the long term.

Around 12 per cent of money that Sainsbury’s hands out to its customers is for subsidence caused by trees and vegetation.

Neil Laird, home insurance manager for Sainsbury’s, said: “It’s great news that so many of us are good-intentioned when it comes to planting trees but it’s important that we don’t put our properties at unnecessary risk of subsidence. Our advice is to do your homework before putting spade to soil.”

The warning comes as Bupa has advised homeowners that doing the garden can help people keep fit.

An hour of lawn-mowing burns as many calories as an hour’s bike ride at ten miles per hour while planting seeds for an hour uses as much energy as two games of badminton.

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Nearly 2m pet insurance claims made by consumers

Up to 1.8 million pet insurance claims are made per year by owners according to research from Sainsbury’s Bank.

A further 18,000 claims are made for reasons including when a pet is lost or stolen.

Sainsbury’s warns that as many as 75 per cent of cats and dogs are not insured and as a result estimates that 5.5 million treatments are paid for by owners.

Claire Moyles, pet insurance manager at Sainsbury’s said: “The pet insurance industry not only deals with a huge volume of cat and dog claims every year, it deals with a staggering breadth of ailments and problems.”

She added that insurance can be more useful than expected as events when you need to claim could be “more common than you wish to consider”.

The estimated cost of owning a cat and a dog is £7,200 and £9,000 respectively while vet fees make up 19 per cent of the annual spend on dogs and 21 per cent for cats.

Meanwhile, Sainsbury’s Bank has also reported that the UK has seen an upsurge in the number of property damage claims in the wake of the recent bad weather.

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Cost of running home increases

The average UK homeowner has to fork out around £11,035 each year just to maintain their property.

According to Sainsbury’s Bank Home Insurance, that is how much it costs to run a home in 2006.

It signals a big increase in costs when compared to the same figure for 2004/2005 which was £1,199 less – that is 12 per cent lower than today.

The biggest financial increases have been seen in utilities, with gas having risen in cost by 27 per cent, electricity by 19 per cent and water and sewage by 14 per cent.

Council tax is also on the rise, with the average homeowner in 2006 paying 14 per cent more than they were in 2004/2005, while mortgage costs have also increased by an average of 12 per cent.

“It’s becoming more expensive to run a home, which makes it all the more important for homeowners to shop around to make sure they are getting the very best deals available,” commented Robert O’May, home insurance manager at Sainsbury’s Bank.

“This is not only for their mortgages and utility supplies but also their home insurance.”

In response to the figures, Sainsbury’s Bank has produced a free guide for homeowners which aims to help them reduce their costs.

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