Home Insurance News Articles

The Financial Services Authority has issued one of its biggest ever fines to the director of an insurance company that collected premiums but didn't put the policies in place.

The company, Jeffery Flanders (Consulting) Limited, had forged documentation to scam other insurance companies. The customers, many of whom were elderly or vulnerable, were left without adequate home and motor cover. Director Andre Jeffrey was hit with a £150,000 fine.

In a separate case four people have been banned from holding regulated finance positions, one of whom was fined £50,000, for their role in financial mismanagement at insurers Orion Direct Limited. Around £300,000 of the company's funds was used to set up a new insurance firm, Peppercom Plc.

This Full Story

As many as 1.5 million people could be without adequate home insurance according to a new survey.

A poll of 2,017 homeowners found 2% had contents insurance but no buildings cover, 3% had buildings insurance but no contents cover, and 1% had neither type of insurance.

The survey also found that the problems were more serious among young adults, with 12% of those aged 18-34 missing at least one of the two insurance types. London and the South East was the most underinsured area, with 11% of people across all age groups lacking one or both forms of cover.

Moneysupermarket.com, which commissioned the survey, warned that this was a substantial risk with burst pipes, subsidence and Full Story

Home insurance premiums can vary by almost three times depending on where you live according to new figures. The most expensive postcode, Stanmore in northwest London (HA7) has an average premium of £286.50, compared with just £103.98 in central Bournemouth.

The other most expensive areas were NW11 (Golders Green, £280.59), SE21 (Southwark, £279.07), NW7 (Mill Hill in northwest London, £270.76) and HA6 (Northwood in northwest London, £286.47). Five of the ten most expensive areas where in the Harrow postcode region.

Other areas among the cheapest were YO1 (York, £109.22), G5 (the Gorbals in Glasgow, £110.73), SP9 (Tidworth in Wiltshire, £110.79) and NG1 (Nottingham, £111.87).

The figures come from Full Story

A steep rise in renting rather than buying should serve as a reminder of the importance of getting the correct home insurance for all concerned, experts have warned.

The Residential Landlords Association says there are several reasons for the increase in the number of renters, including:

• the difficulty of obtaining a mortgage as banks become choosier about new customers;
• a rise in the deposit required on mortgaged properties, with a 20% downpayment now common;
• more people struggling to save up to buy a home because of the effects of the economic downturn; and
• a drop in the number of new houses being built meaning people who have to move home may struggle to find a suitable purchase to buy in the new Full Story

A survey from Legal & General has revealed that many UK homes could be at risk due to poor maintenance of security and safety devices designed to protect us.

The annual 'Safe as Houses' report, showed that although we’re good at having home security features in place, we’re not good at checking that they're still working and could even be putting off repairs to broken or faulty home security equipment.

The survey asked people to provide details of the security and safety devices they have in their homes, and has shown an increase in the number of people with home security features fitted. Figures show that nearly 90% of us Full Story

New research released by Sainsbury’s Finance has revealed that UK home insurers continue to lag behind car insurers for rewarding customers with a no-claims discount.

The findings which were commissioned by Sainsburys Home Insurance, reveal that just one in four (26%) of home insurance policies offer a no-claims discount, preventing customers from benefiting from potentially huge savings. What's more, of those home insurers that do offer it, 8% penalise customers for making a claim by removing more than one year of no-claims discount, even if they have built up several years no-claims discounts.

Sainsbury’s Finance, whose home insurance offers up Full Story

It's a year since unprecidented floods hit parts of Gloucestershire and the Midlands bringing devastation to thousands of homes.

In an effort to ensure continued availablity of flood insurance to homes in these and other areas, the Government and the ABI (Association of British Insurers) have reached an agreement on future flood prevention strategies.

Included in a package of measures the Government has commitment to deliver a long-term flooding strategy and stricter controls on new developments in and around flood risk areas. The new agreement comes as ABI research surveying the victims of last year's flood victims revealed:

• 80% believe the flood risk is getting worse.
• 75% think not enough is being done to Full Story

A year on from the devastating floods that hit many parts of the UK in 2007, research from Moneysupermarket.com has shown that it is still possible for homeowners in affected areas to secure home insurance cover despite being classed as a high risk.

Moneysupermarket analysed premiums for the twelve months to June 2008 for Tewkesbury which is now classified as a high risk flood area. From this two different  stories emerge. The first shows that despite the increased risk for flooding in this area, homeowners who haven’t made a flood claim are still able to get competitive insurance from a wide range of insurers.

Unfortunately, it's not so easy if a flood claim has been made as only three insurers; Full Story

On the back of recent claims figures for garden thefts, Sainsburys Home Insurance is urging us to pay more attention to our garden security and to be on the look-out for green-fingered thieves this summer. The claims figures confirm an average garden theft home insurance for the year to January 2008 of just over £291.

Research from Sainsbury’s indicates that around 34% of items stolen are worth under £50, 23% are worth £50-£100, 26% are worth £101-£400 and 11% of valued at £401-£1,000.  It's estimated that around 3% of stolen garden items are worth more than Full Story

Findings from a recent survey carried out by Legal and General home insurance confirmed that Brits are not very good at valuing the contents of their home.

The survey questioned over 4,000 people and revealed that 15% have no idea how much it would cost to replace the contents of their home. Although the average home contents value calculated by L&G is estimated to be over £40,000, the survey showed that 59% estimate that the cost of replacing their entire home contents would be less than £40,000. What's more, over a quarter, 27% valued their contents at less than £20,000, so potentially underinsuring their contents Full Story