Holiday Home Insurance
London homeowners cash in on Olympics
Thousands of homeowners across London are preparing to cash in on the Olympic Games – by renting out their properties to people from the UK and overseas who prefer to live in a more domestic environment instead of an expensive hotel. That’s not to say that many of the properties for rent are low end – far from it. But the undeniable privacy and cosier ‘homestay’ aspect of such rentals appears to be very popular, according to estate agents.
With many families across London leaving the city for the summer, renting out their property seems to be a perfect way to earn some extra cash. And with asking prices reportedly surpassing the £4000 per week mark, it’s little wonder there is so much interest.
Estate agents across the capital say there have been many enquiries regarding these options, with many deciding between either an expensive hotel such as the Dorchester, or a private home.
According to some figures, there are already 140,000 room available across London, and with the increasing capacity coming from private renters, there is a considerable chance that rental prices will be pushed down.
In terms of insurance – whether you have normal domestic home insurance, holiday home insurance or one of the various other property insurance products on the market – you’ll need to read the terms and conditions of your policy thoroughly to find out where you stand, or whether you need to take out additional cover.
UK insurer Aviva fires 1300 staff worldwide
Think the world of insurance doesn’t have its fair share of amusing mis-haps? Think again. Aviva plc, the world’s sixth largest insurer, has had its rivals from New York to Hong Kong grinning quietly to themselves – since the firm accidentally fired 1300 staff.
The grand firing was carried out by email, in a message which asked each recipient to ensure they returned all company property before leaving the building. It also reminded them of confidentiality agreements as regards any information they held about the company. According to the firm, the human resources department was quick to send out apologies to recipients of the email.
The mass email was, according to Aviva, meant to be for a single person in the Investors staff, but the entire Investors team somehow received the bad news. It’s not clear if the intended person’s name was revealed to the 1,300 recipients.
The Daily Telegraph was first to report on the debacle, which was blamed on an administrative error.
Paul Lockstone, spokesman for the London-based insurer, explained: “Unfortunately, as a result of a clerical error, it [the email] was sent to all of the Investors staff worldwide.”
So it seems that the world of insurance – from travel to car to holiday home insurance – can be a little bit more entertaining than some might believe!
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Renovations and your insurance policy
As high season approaches, many holiday home owners will be gearing up for a very busy summer. Summer nearly always offers the biggest earning potential of all the seasons, but this year this is especially the case with the London Olympics and the high profile ‘staycation’ campaign.
The low season represents the ideal time to carry out renovations on holiday homes and other properties; with few or no guests there is little revenue loss. It’s a good idea to time any renovations carefully, so as not to miss out on big getaway times of the year, such as Easter. Directly after the New Year celebrations is a popular time to have such work done, allowing a good three months to complete the work. Impress upon those carrying out the work how important it is to have it completed on time. Building in a couple of ‘delay’ weeks might also be a good idea.
It should be noted however that any alterations to your property may affect the validity of your holiday home insurance policy. Most insurers will probably restrict cover or impose terms on the policy whilst work is undertaken and large-scale will have to be assessed on an individual basis. Remember that if you do not disclose property works it could invalidate cover completely leaving you uninsured. If at all unsure about where you stand, it’s advisable to download (or dig out from your files) the policy terms and conditions. If still unsure, contact your policy provider directly, and they will be able to advise.
Cover for French Property Owners
Having the right insurance policy is essential – be it unoccupied property insurance, buy to let, or one of the various other insurance products available. The issue of having the right policy will be on the minds of many French holiday home owners, returning to France following the winter.
As anyone who has left their property empty for a long period will know, the moment when you enter your flat or house after an absence can be a tense affair. Yet, with temperatures in France having dropped to -17 during the winter, for some property owners, the tension won’t end there. Cracked radiators and boilers – not to mention pipes – can cause a great deal of damage, and witnessing it after a long time away can be an unpleasant experience.
For those who need to make a claim on their insurance, there can sometimes be some nasty surprises – particularly if they don’t pay out. Many repudiations arise because a given property has been left empty for too long a period.
It’s yet another reason to ensure terms and conditions are read thoroughly before a policy is taken out. Pay particular attention to the periods of time that your property can remain vacant for, so you know exactly where you stand as regards your cover.
A Gift from the Tax Inspector: Office & Travel Costs
When it comes to owning a property, there are some costs that cannot be avoided. Basic maintenance costs would of course be counted among these, and among those coming highly recommended would be insurance – such as landlords, unoccupied or holiday home insurance policies, among others. But there is one cost that has often been compared to shuffling off this mortal coil – and that’s tax.
But our friends at Her Majesty’s Customs and Revenue could well be alleviating some pressure from us over the upcoming tax year. There are two notable ones which may well be of interest if you own a property.
1. Home and office costs – From the 6th of April, UK landlords will be able to claim a total of £208 towards costs associated with running a home office for their business. What’s more, this can be achieved without any comment from the tax inspector. The allowance has increased by £150 to £208 a year, equating to £4 per week.
2. Mileage rates – from the 6th of April, these will increase from 40p per mile to 45p per mile for the initial 10,000 business miles, then 25p per mile for any additional mileage. An extra 5p per mile can also be claimed for any additional passengers who are in the vehicle for the business trip.
Rates remain the same for motorcycles and bicycles: 24p per mile for motorbikes and 20p for bikes.
Together, these two little giveaways from HMRC are not to be sniffed at. If we become aware of any more helpful tax changes along these lines, we’ll highlight them in this blog.
Marketing Your Holiday Home: Part Two
There are a range of unavoidable costs associated with operating a holiday home – maintenance costs and UK holiday home insurance are just two. But one cost some holiday home owners try to minimise is that of marketing, which is particularly understandable if investing in this area doesn’t pay off. While the term ‘marketing’ can turn a great many people off, especially those who have run what they think of as a fairly straight forward business for years, adapting to the latest techniques can pay off big dividends.
Marketing simply means ensuring as many of the right people as possible know that your property is available to rent: in this blog we’ll identify one more key way to do this.
The major search engines – particularly Google, Yahoo! and Bing, all offer the opportunity to advertise on their search engines. The ads tend to appear on the right hand side of the ‘organic’ listings, but also at the top and occasionally at the bottom.
By opening an advertising account with one of these search engines, you’ll be able to start creating adverts for your holiday home. You’ll be able to choose what term an advert shows for – for example, when someone enters “holiday home Cornwall” into a search engine, you can ‘bid’ for your ad to be shown. depending on how much you bid, you may get the top position, or you may not even get onto page 2.
Learning how to make the most of such advertising opportunities can be time consuming and challenging, but if you put in the time to learn about it, it can be an extremely cost effective way of finding customers who really want to stay in holiday home just like yours.
For more information on UK holiday home insurance contact click4quote.
Wales: The Ideal Holiday Home Location?
Before you can settle into a new holiday home, choose new furnishings – and of course take out a good holiday home insurance policy – you first have to choose where that holiday home will be. There are a great many stunning locations in the UK where you might buy a property – to the degree that it can be quite a perplexing task. But for those looking for serene – or even wild – countryside, Wales is hard to beat.
Together with stunning mountains – including Mount Snowdon in Gwynedd – there are also many beautiful beaches to enjoy. But for many, the mountains are one of the biggest reasons for heading to Wales. As well as hiking, there are numerous other activities to enjoy around such a varied landscape; rock climbing and parasailing are just two. But even if you’re not looking for adrenaline sports or strenuous hikes, the simple beauty of the area is enough to engender a deep sense of wellbeing.
And then there’s the coast: while they may not be the hottest in the world, the beaches of Wales are surely among the prettiest. And yet again, a whole host of sports activities can be enjoyed on many of these sandy stretches.
While Wales is only one area you might consider when buying a holiday home, it does offer a very wide range of countryside pursuits, and is still within easy reach of some of the UK’s most important cities.
Big Freeze 2010: A Reminder of How Important Pipe Maintenance Is
While taking care of your holiday home has always been more challenging during winter months, the weather in recent years has meant that good property maintenance is even more important. One way we can see the monetary effect of cold weather is by looking at the payout figures published by the insurance industry.
Between the 24th November and the 31st December 2011, UK insurers paid out GBP 1.4 billion – one of the most expensive ‘big freezes’ on record – a rise of GBP 700 million on the previous winter (2009/10). On that period UK insurers dealt with more than 467,000 claims. 190,000 claims were related to property damage, which cost more around GBP 900 million.
Of those property claims, 103,000 related to burst pipes, costing GBP 680 million. This demonstrates – if it were necessary – how important a factor pipes are when leaving your property vacant for any length of time. While taking out a good standard home insurance or holiday home insurance policy is undoubtedly a prudent thing to do, the risk of flooding caused by a burst pipe can be greatly reduced by turning off the water mains and draining the water system when your property is not in use. You should check your policy to make sure you comply with any such requirements as failure to do so could leave you uninsured.
By taking all reasonable precautions as regards maintenance of your property, you’ll help ensure that if the worst does happen, you’ll be fully covered.
Flood Prevention: Do Auto Valves Make Your Holiday Home Safer?
As well as being very rewarding, owning a holiday home can be a stressful experience at times – especially during the winter. Along with colder weather comes the risk of burst pipes, one of the most costly causes of damage to property a landlord can experience.
As well as having the ultimate back up of a good holiday home insurance policy, there are of course a number of other practical measures that can help reduce the risks of burst pipes.
One of the more innovative measures is the ‘auto flood valve’ or ‘auto shut-off valve’, which has been designed to detect when a burst pipe may have occurred and then shut off the mains water supply in response. This piece of kit will shut off the mains if water has been running continuously for a pre-determined stretch of time – usually between 10 and 40 minutes, depending on what you select.
It will also shut off if the temperature dips below 3 degrees Celsius, or if there is a sudden or unusual demand placed on the water supply. Equally, if no water is used for 24 hours, the water will also be shut off. One of the better known systems is called ‘Floodcheck’.
While such measures can be very convenient, it’s worth remembering that simply shutting off the water manually can be equally effective, so long as you remember to do so at the appropriate times.