Holiday Home Summer Burglary Reminder
The summer holiday season is in full swing and thousands of second home owners and holidaymakers are relaxing in holiday cottages and villas in Europe. Unfortunately, during the summer months holiday homes filled with electric gadgets and holiday money attract burglars, as people in ‘holiday mode’ leave windows open and doors unlocked.
That’s why I have insurance you say, but home owners could find themselves thousands of pounds out of pocket following a burglary. Why? By invalidating their holiday home insurance due to leaving windows open or having the wrong type of locks.
Security conditions – your claim is being declined because…
It’s important that you are aware of what you have agreed to when taking out your insurance to avoid a claim being declined. Some policies, especially foreign ones, have security requirements in the policy terms that the insured must comply with.
These include:
- Having bars/grills/shutters on the windows
- A specified type of door or window lock being used
More importantly, some insurers invalidate cover if these security measures are not utilised when your holiday home is left empty, even for a few hours. This means that regardless of whether you have the correct locks etc. if you or a holiday rental client leaves a window open whilst at the pool, or at the local shop, it is likely your claim would be declined following a break in.
Also, check if your contents insurance requires there to be violent and forcible entry into your property for a claim to be valid. This can be a problem, especially if you holiday let as past guests and employees will have had free access to your keys. Many absent owners who use key safes or even hide keys under rocks in the garden for guests could also have a claim turned down. A burglar using a key is not forced entry.
We all assume that having insurance will protect us from the unseen, but failure to comply with the insurers security terms could lead to a burglary claim being deemed invalid.
With credit crunch crime expected to increase, check your insurance to ensure you are covered for theft and ask your insurance broker for clarification on any security requirements.
Too many restrictions in your policy? There are no security requirements on a Schofields policy and we cover theft or attempted theft by non-forcible entry.
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