Sainsburys Bank home insurance division has found that just short of 10 million people are thinking of planting trees in their gardens this year and would like to warn them about the threat of subsidence.
The main advice given by Sainsburys Bank is to select a tree that will be of a suitable size for the garden and also to plant it a good distance away from the house. If homeowners do not follow this advice they may find an increased risk of subsidence and the need for an insurance claim. Leylandii and Willow are two of the most troublesome trees it has been found.
A Sainsburys Bank spokesman revealed that home insurance claims for subsidence have cost British insurers over GBP700,000 per day over the last 5 years. It is therefore important to be aware of the risks before going ahead with planting a tree.
According to data collated by the Halifax home insurance division people in the UK have a bicycle stolen at a rate of just over one every minute.
The actual rate is one every sixty-five seconds, worsening from one every seventy-one seconds last year. The data also shows that London is the most dangerous place to own a bicycle, perhaps unsurprising as the bike is a popular form of transport in major cities like this. A Halifax spokesman suggested a simple way to cut the rate of bike theft would be to use a simple U shaped lock when the bike is left unattended.
The Halifax insurance spokesman also suggested looking at garden security, since many bicycles are kept in garden sheds or just in the back garden itself. Simple security is not expensive and could mean a home insurance claim is not needed.
The Halifax is reminding all homeowners that they should ensure lightning cover is part of their home insurance especially as summer sees more claims.
According to data from Halifax home insurance customers the average claim for lightning damage costs over GBP 1,400 and such claims are 14 times more common in the summer than winter. The thing with lightning is that it can travel through things, so as well as causing actual damage to the structure of a building it can also go through wires and affect electrical equipment and so on.
A Halifax spokesman also pointed out that lightning can not be anticipated so no one knows where it will strike. For this reason checking the home insurance policy to make sure lightning cover is included is a sensible step to take.