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Is your home at risk?

By Sarah Modlock

For many, it's not easy getting back into the swing of things in January. Apparently we are more likely to look for opportunities to coast at work rather than bounce into the office full of beans. Some people however are on top form this month. Those
in the one of the oldest professions. No, not that one. The other one: stealing.

January is the busiest month for Britain's burglars. Break-ins will increase by more than a quarter during this month compared to the yearly average, at the phenomenal rate of one every 35 seconds. Halifax Home Insurance estimates over 76,000 homes will be broken into during January costing a massive £170 million to homeowners. Halifax the rise in valuables left around the home after Christmas. This, combined with darker nights and the increased lighting inside our homes - which makes it easier to assess whether someone is home - makes it the stealing season.

Official statistics show that two thirds of burglaries over the past five years occurred during the darkest hours of 6pm-6am. According to Halifax data, the worst hit regions for burglary in the UK during 2006 were Nottingham, London, Leeds, Enfield and Barnet, and Bradford, while the UK's safest regions were Colchester, Bath and Shrewsbury.

Face the music

Top of the list for light-fingered visitors are mobile phones, iPods, sat-nav systems, digital cameras and games consoles, according to Norwich Union. Increasingly popular HDTVs and DVD recorders are also targets. Although iPods are featuring on more contents insurance claims through theft and breakage, their contents can also be expensive to replace. Nearly 3.4 million music lovers download music online every year and have collections worth an average £257 each. But with only an estimated 1.8 million people insuring their collections and fewer than one in five backing them up with hard copies, many people are at risk of a total loss.

Until recently, most home contents insurers paid out only to replace CDs, cassettes and vinyl but there are encouraging signs the industry is catching up. Virgin, Direct Line, Nationwide, Halifax, and Norwich Union all include music downloads as standard on their home contents insurance policies and others plan to in the future. 'As long as someone has proof that they bought the music from a reputable source, such as the iTunes website, we will cover it,' says Lucy Cooke of Halifax Home Insurance. 'The proof can be the download 'receipts' some companies issue, or your credit or debit card statement.' But accidentally wiping your computer's hard drive will not be covered by insurers. It is important for policyholders to check with their insurers to find out the extent of their cover and to keep backup copies of downloads and receipts separately, stresses the Association of British Insurers.

Being under-insured can have serious repercussions. If, for example, your home contents are worth pounds 45,000, but you are insured for pounds 30,000, your insurer may consider you to be underinsured by 50% and therefore will only pay half of any subsequent claim, even if it is less than the pounds 30,000 sum insured.

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Weather the cost

The other threat to your home right now is the weather. 'A flood is the perfect burglar,' says Barbara Young, Chief Executive of the Environment Agency. 'It enters your house uninvited and leaves nothing behind except distress and misery. Yet only 31% of homeowners living in flood risk areas have actually taken any steps to find out whether they are at risk from flooding, and only 10% of those people have signed up to the Environment Agency's free Flood Warning service, the only service available of its kind,' she says. 'We all have locks on our doors and many of us install alarms to protect our home and possessions against burglary. However, surprisingly many people take no steps whatsoever to safeguard their home against the increasing risk of flooding.'

It's a sobering thought that if you are flooded you face the risk on average of losing 30 times the amount financially that you would if you were burgled. As we are now entering the season for more unsettled weather, flooding incidents are on the rise. With further adverse weather expected to hit the UK over the next few days and weeks, Halifax Home Insurance is advising the public to take the following simple steps to protect their home and assets:

  • Secure objects in and around your house. During a storm, property around your house including garden furniture, sheds, barbecues, bikes and other loose articles can become hazardous objects. Make sure you secure all loose items and, where possible, lock them away in garages/ secure outhouses.

  • Check your roof. Loose tiles can easily become dislodged during high winds. Apart from the damage caused by falling tiles, the gaps they leave behind could lead to damage to the fabric of the building.

  • Ensure your guttering is in a good state of repair and firmly attached to the building. Water damage resulting from blocked guttering can lead to flooding and damp problems inside a home.

  • Inspect any trees on or bordering your property. Long branches can damage your house, windows or out buildings and greenhouses in high winds. If the trees are not on your property discuss the situation with your neighbours.

  • Utilities. To limit the damage done by storms it may be necessary to turn off the electricity, water or gas in your home. In preparation of a storm ensure you are aware of how these can be turned off and fill your bathtub or other available vessels with water. If a powercut is in effect try to keep your fridge/ freezer closed to lock in the cold. Food can stay frozen for up to 36-48 hours in a closed freezer.

  • In case of flooding. Move valuable items upstairs and ensure that important documents including insurance policy details are kept in a sealed waterproof bag


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