Gardens need insurance too
March 15, 2008 by admin
Filed under News, News-Insurance
It is not only gardeners who value what is round the back of their houses. A new survey shows that a substantial minority of people value the contents of their gardens as worth up to £1,000. 
The study by Nationwide found that 35 per cent of those polled put the value of garden furniture, lawnmowers, sprinklers, gnomes and other equipment in their gardens as between £200 and £1,000.
Thefts from gardens have been increasing in recent years, and garden tools left lying around can be used by burglars to gain entry to homes.
Nationwide’s insurance director, Robin Bailey, said: “Spring is in the air and, if the rain holds off, some of us may be planning to spend time in the garden this Bank Holiday weekend. Items such as lawnmowers and garden furniture will be dusted off and may be left out in the open for long periods of time, resulting in easy pickings for opportunistic thieves and vandals.
“It is really important that these items are adequately insured against acts of theft or vandalism.”
ABI calls for increased help with flooding problems
October 5, 2007 by admin
Filed under News, News-Insurance
June and July of this year saw heavy rains and bad weather really take their toll in some areas of the UK, causing billions of pounds worth of damage to home and resulting in rocketing numbers of insurance claims that have cost the insurance companies dearly.
Claims for damage to home have been flooding in since June, and insurance companies have had to pay out millions of pounds each in some cases to cover the cost of the claims.
The Association of British Insurers is now calling on the government to provide increased protection against future flooding, stating that although the government has planned to put aside funding for this problem around £150 million more is needed to minimize the risk of this situation arising again in the future.
Stephen Hadrill, director-general of the ABI, stated: “The scale and impact of the floods has been massive. The cost to the industry of over 60,000 claims is approaching £3bn and more claims continue to come in.”
In a letter to the Environment Secretary, Hillary Benn, the Association of British Insurers stated that some drains and watercourses were blocked as the result of poor maintenance.
The letter stated: “Some defences will have been put under great pressure in recent events and will need to be checked and possibly strengthened.”
The ABI also stated that “an urgent review is needed of how best to maintain urban and rural drainage”.
Mr Hadrill said that this should include “whether expenditure is adequate, and how to co-ordinate better modelling of flood risk and planning of alleviation measures.” A number of areas of England were particularly hard hit in June and July as torrential rain caused major flooding across the country. As a result of the claim levels from the flooding insurance companies have had to hike up rate by up to 10% in some cases.
More info: www.abi.org.uk/floodinfo
Tom Smith
5th September 2007
“Rain drain” takes affect as Brits move abroad
August 21, 2007 by admin
Filed under News, News-Mortgages
The number of Britons keen to buy homes abroad has doubled in the past year, it was claimed today.
According to figures released by Barclays Buying Abroad, the “rain drain” caused by the cold, wet summer has been a major factor in the rise, along with the usual suspects of long work hours, rising UK house prices and the high crime rate.
Enquiries to the service – which helps fed-up Brits to relocate – have risen to 18,000 from 9,000 in the equivalent period last year.
Director of Barclays Buying Abroad Richard Exton said: “Brits are familiar with the idea that we only have two seasons: the winter and July.
“It seems that this year, with the terrible weather we have experienced in July and throughout the summer many people are not prepared to sit through a year-long winter and are looking for a getaway to sunnier climates.”
This summer’s rainfall has been the highest since records began almost 250 years ago.
Widespread flooding hit southern England in June and July and has cost approximately £2.5 billion in claims, according to recent figures from the Association of British Insurers.
