Neighbours costing homeowners millions in damages

Homeowners suffer more than £93.4 million of damages to their properties at the hands of their neighbours every year, according to the latest research from Abbey Home Insurance.

The insurance provider found that accident prone neighbours had caused £172 of damage on average to over 543,000 households, with one in twenty homeowners seeing more than £1,000 of damage inflicted on their property.

Regionally, London based homeowners suffered the most (one in ten homeowners), while those in Wales were the least affected.

"Not all damage caused to people's homes by their neighbours is malicious, in many cases this type of damage is accidental," said Prasad Shastri, head of insurance marketing at Abbey. "However there are often misconceptions about whose insurance is to be used to claim for it."

He explained that it is always the policy holder of the damaged home that will need to submit a claim form, despite the fact that the damage was caused by someone else.

"For example, if your neighbour was to cut down a tree that accidentally breaks a window, it is only you that can claim for damage to your property, not your neighbour, highlighting how important it is for you to make sure your insurance covers you against accidental damage caused to your property by other people," he said.

However, cover against accidental damage is often included in home insurance policies only as an optional extra, and as such, many people choose not to pay extra for it.

Accidental damages cover

Abbey provides standard accidental cover as part of its unlimited sum insured (Peace of Mind) and specified sum insured (Essentials) home insurance policies. Customers that take out a building insurance policy with Abbey are covered for accidental damage to windows and other fixed glassware, sanitaryware, drains and underground pipes. Its contents insurance, on the other hand, covers accidental damage to audio, video and computer equipment, as well as accidental breakage of glass and mirrors.

Like most insurers, Abbey offers extended accidental damage cover as an additional option in all of its policies. For buildings cover, this insures against accidental damage to any part of the the customer's property which the insurer "regards as insurable", while contents cover protects customers against accidental damage to any of their home contents that occurs within the home. Accidental damage dealt to contents outside of the home is only covered if optional personal possessions cover is purchased.

It is highly recommended that customers take out both buildings and contents cover for their property, and check the small print of both policy documents to ascertain exactly what is covered. If they decide to purchase optional accidental damages cover on top, they should check with their insurer that it will provide the level of cover that they need.

Choosing a home insurance policy based solely on the price of premiums could leave customers dangerously under-insured and over-exposed as many providers reduce their premiums by including cover for things such as accidental damages and personal possessions as optional extras only.

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