Insurance warning for gardeners
May 1, 2008 by admin
Filed under News, News-Insurance
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.
