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Homeless services revamp increases fears for residents

Wednesday, March 23rd, 2011

Homeless families in South East Birmingham will now face an extra long journey to try and find a roof over their heads after services in the city dedicated to helping the homeless have undergone a massive shake up.

The homeless advice service which has for a long time been first port of call for anyone finding themselves evicted or having their home repossessed in the city has now been squeezed into just 4 locations, Newtown, Small Heath, Northfield and Erdington, a radical change from the 20 offices dotted around the City previously.

Now the council’s housing watchdog committee have expressed fears that residents in areas such as Yardley and Acocks Green will be faced with several bus journeys to process their applications, and the worry is that some may give up or end up sleeping rough. The fear is some will become depressed at losing their home and will not make the long journey for help. Only once an application has been processed and accepted can temporary accommodation be issued and their name entered on the housing waiting list. Only then of course can they think about getting household insurance cover once more.

Lib Dem Committee Member Iain Bowen said “These offices are not very accessible for people from the south-east, in areas like Acocks Green and Yardley. There should be something there so people can see a homeless officer. People from my ward will need two or three buses to get to the nearest office.”

Council bosses insist the new system will be more effective with experts concentrated together rather than spread out in several neighbourhood offices. The council have also pledged to pay the bus fare, and in exceptional cases they will pay a taxi fare to get people to the office where they can be helped. The council are also planning to use homes formerly set aside for asylum seekers to help anyone who becomes homeless.

Tags: Home Insurance, Homeless services, household insurance
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OFGEM bares its teeth

Tuesday, March 22nd, 2011

The one definite plus energy customers can take from the OFGEM report on energy prices in Britain today is that home insurance comparison sites can save consumers considerable amounts of cash.

Too much choice, not enough information

The report roundly condemns the big players in the energy market for making their tariffs so confusing and for the sheer weight in numbers of the different tariffs and offers that are available to consumers. The report reckons that possibly only 10% of homeowners are on the best, most economic rate for their circumstances, with the rest of us having been bamboozled by TV adverts or cold callers knocking at our door. There are plenty of course who just can’t be bothered to change as it all seems so bewildering. And who can blame them. According to the report, OFGEM reckon there are around 300 different tariffs on the market for gas and electricity at the moment, which is over 60% more than there was less than 3 years ago.

Energy firms hit back

However, as always there are two sides to an argument and the energy providers are countering the claims by saying they are simply catering for the diverse needs of a population of more than 60 million souls. They claim that some customers are more interested in green issues than actual cost, whereas others want a fixed rate so that they can plan ahead. Others like to submit their own readings while others want to pay by direct debit. They say they are just giving consumers more choice.

Hard to understand

There is little doubt though that understanding an energy bill is more difficult today than ever before. It is certainly nowhere near as simple as say a home insurance guide. There are usually at least three different tariffs within one scheme with the first tariff commonly being the most expensive and then different tariffs introduced depending on the amount of energy consumed. Because of this low users usually find that they pay a lot more for their energy than those more profligate.

Will the report give me cheaper bills?

It is probably good for consumers that at last a watchdog is bearing its teeth but hopes that the result will be cheaper energy prices are too much to expect. All market observers reckon there is only one way gas and electricity prices are going and it doesn’t rhyme with blower!

Tags: Energy firms, Home Insurance, OFGEM
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Shared ownership still an option

Thursday, March 10th, 2011

With the housing market still in a lethargic state, and mortgages on properties in the Capital seemingly only for those that don’t seriously have to think about getting a job to get by, where does the young professional or the young married couple, trying to make a living in London, turn to for decent accommodation?

Gazumping rears its ugly head

The news that gazumping has now been transferred to the letting sector must be a frightening prospect for the thousands of young people who flock to London to further their fledgling careers. The thrill of landing a job at a prestigious company is now being tempered by the fact that one cannot afford to live anywhere near their place of employment.

Shared ownership better than shared bills?

The rental sector is booming and rents are escalating almost month on month. To find a place of your own in and around London under £1,200.00 a month is becoming nigh on impossible, and for those that hate the thought of flat sharing and working out who owes what and to whom for the monthly home insurance and utility bills, then anything else is worth considering. A young reporter on a national newspaper recently investigated the options available to young professionals ensconced in London and found that shared ownership schemes, once the flagship, future answer to property affordability are still alive but not exactly a cheap option.

The idea of shared ownership has been around for some time and the idea is that people with aspirations of owning their own homes, be they single or couples, but not having the resources to raise a deposit big enough to purchase on their own, buy a percentage of a home with the builder of the property owning the rest. The scheme is designed with the idea that gradually the part owner has the resources to buy the remaining percentage from the builder although this is not compulsory.

Scheme fraught with danger?

Without doubt the idea is good but participants in the schemes do not find the outlay, especially in the early years, too easy to find. Although it is a shared ownership scheme, such things as repairs to the property and household insurance have to be found by the incumbent. This coupled with the fact that the owner is buying a house on the cusp of affordability means many of the arrangements are financially fragile.

The intrepid reporter found that an income of at least £40,000 a year was required for a quarter share of anything decent in Central London plus of course a sizeable deposit. The schemes though are by no way unpopular because the rental situation is so bad

Tags: Home Insurance, housing market, mortgages
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Stay put, lock up and bring down your costs

Tuesday, March 8th, 2011

As the credit crunch continues to bite, many homeowners have decided to put off moving home and decided to stay put. The ever escalating cost of living has not only put people off moving, it is making them more conscious of where they can make savings in the property they have. It is without doubt that savings can be made on a whole host of things, and one of these is definitely household insurance.

Compare your deal

Anyone spending a couple of hours watching TV will realise that home insurance comparison sites exist. They will also realise that some are spending quite a lot of money in competition with each other via adverts rather than substance. However, it really is a good idea to try and get a better deal than you already have.

Once you have selected an insurance company there are still other ways you can bring that quote down. It is of the utmost importance that you fill in your insurance application form honestly and to the best of your knowledge, but just by looking at the questions you will see how easy it is to bring your quote down.

Ways to bring down your home insurance

If someone is occupying your property day and night; for instance you are retired or work from home, then this reduces the risk of burglary, fire and flood and will bring in a cheaper quote. If you have a burglar alarm that has been fitted and maintained to a professional standard and you can prove it, then once again this should reduce your premium.

Window and door locks are another aspect of security that can bring down your costs. Questions on what sort of locks are on your doors can seem a little tricky and the best way to find out exactly what sort of security is installed in your doors is to ask the firm who fitted them, failing this a quick call to your local crime prevention officer will probably get you the information you need. The better the locks, then the cheaper the quote.

Pay up front and in bulk

You will usually save money by organising your home contents insurance and buildings insurance at the same time and with the same company, you will also save money by paying up front i.e. paying the full cost of the premium in one lump sum as opposed to paying by a monthly direct debit.

Tags: Contents Insurance, Home Insurance, household insurance
Posted in Advice for Tenants, Home Insurance, Home Security, Saving Money | No Comments »

Go up and stay put

Thursday, March 3rd, 2011

With the current state of the housing market being one of stagnation, many families in the UK find themselves in a very difficult situation. There are certainly hundreds of thousands of families currently desperate to move for one reason or another who just cannot sell their home.

Consider your options

For those looking for a larger house then the answer may well be to stay put and consider adding rooms to the property they already have. A bedroom, conservatory, dining room or even a granny flat can be added to many homes without costing anywhere near as much as actually moving into a bigger home. Planning permission, building regulations and of course household insurance all have to be considered when adding to or altering your home but it may well be worth it.

Finding room

First of all you need to identify an area in or around your property that can be utilised. This may be the attic, spare land to the sides or the rear of the house or even above the garage. You perhaps have to look at your property in a way you have not considered before.

Once you have identified the area you can use, then it is best to draw up a rough drawing to see what can be achieved using the space and if it will be sufficient to live comfortably in your present home. Make a plan and get a ball park figure off a builder, if indeed you would need a builder, before you commit yourself to anything concrete. If you are happy with the space and have identified a workable design the next thing to do is check to see if you need planning permission.

Planning permission not so difficult

You may be pleasantly surprised on this score. Town and Country Planning was amended in 1995 with the result that many small extension projects no longer need planning permission. Many local councils now allow residents to put in a rough sketch (not an architect’s drawing) of their proposed project and for a small fee give them a quick answer on whether planning permission is necessary. In many cases residents can go ahead without any official permission being needed, this will almost certainly be the case for a small extension or change of use of a room, if it does not affect a neighbouring property in any way.

Do things right

Building Regulations are quite different to Planning Permissions and usually apply to any building work. There will be a fee for this, because it often requires a building inspector to visit your home to check that the work is done according to regulation and complies with such things as drainage and insulation issues.

Of course it is important to inform your home insurance providers that you are carrying out work in your home and to ensure you get a new home insurance estimate once the work has been done.

Tags: Contents Insurance, Home Insurance
Posted in Advice for Tenants, Home Insurance | No Comments »

Pet damage enough to confuse any insurer

Tuesday, March 1st, 2011

A survey by a leading online home insurance comparison website shows that it is impossible to insure against one of the most potentially dangerous risks affecting many homes in the UK.

According to the site whose name could never be confused with that of any other insurance comparison site, the average cost of damage caused by pets let loose in the domiciles of the UK is £690 per household. The astounding figure when added up comes to over £3.3 billion and, as any home insurance broker will tell you, none of it is reclaimable on your home contents insurance. There is not one major insurance company that offers accidental pet damage in its policies although after this report that may well change.

Blaming cats and dogs

Not surprisingly the biggest culprits were cats and dogs, who accounted for 4 out of every 5 incidents, but don’t think the most innocent of pets, are without blame. According to the report the humble goldfish is responsible for 2% of the damage. How exactly a gold fish can cause millions of pounds worth of damage is not entirely clear but apparently they do.

The survey found that 1 in 6 homes in Scotland fell foul of marauding pets, with most of the damage caused by the claws and teeth of dogs with a penchant for carpets and sofas. Cats, however, did their fair share of damage also. They also took a dislike to sofas but were not averse to damaging books, ornaments and table tops. One cat even managed to completely flood not only his owners flat but the one below as well just by turning the kitchen tap on.

Hard to believe you may say, but having had the experience of walking in to a kitchen where one’s cat is stood on the kitchen side helping himself to ones chicken dinner and at the same time knocking scraps off the side to the pet dog waiting slavering below, I for one do.

All our own fault

Pet psychologists of course blame humans, who should know better than to leave their pets home, alone and bored. The upshot being of course, that in future household insurance policies will include a pet accidental damage option, they are just preparing us for the premium in advance.

Tags: Home Insurance, household insurance, Pet damage
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Security scam alert

Tuesday, February 22nd, 2011

With the prospect of fewer policemen patrolling the streets of the UK once the regional police forces make their enforced cuts in job numbers, household insurance and home security are going to be high on the list of homeowner’s priorities.

Despite the number of jobs going, Home Secretary Theresa May says the number of front line police officers should not be affected, but homeowners across the country are already making their own provisions on security upgrades. It also seems that as usual, unscrupulous traders are trying to benefit from the situation.

Beware of geeks offering gifts

The switchboard at Surrey Police headquarters has been lighting up with members of the public reporting a scam and Trading Officers in the County have also been alerted. Apparently members of the public are being plagued by a firm asking them to do a survey, which involves technical information about products they are keen to sell; they then finish the phone call by telling them they have qualified for a free burglar alarm.

The scam is one that has been tried in various areas of the country and homeowners should be wary of anyone cold calling and offering free gifts. In this case the burglar alarm is indeed free, however, installation costs £300 and the sales pitch involves home owners signing a maintenance contract that could well cost them £5,000. The well versed conmen will tell the poor homeowner that he will save that much in reduced home contents insurance due to his improved security.

Ask a friend

Obviously home security is all important and should not be skimped upon, but your local police force will put you in touch with a crime prevention officer who can give you independent advice on security devices and systems. A search on the internet or your local yellow pages will give a list of local companies who provide security services and failing that there is bound to be a neighbour with a security system installed. Ask them about theirs and who installed it, word of mouth usually finds a good tradesman. Security alarms can now be bought from DIY stores such as Homebase and B&Q and you can save a lot of cash if you can install a system yourself.

Tags: Home Insurance, Security scam alert
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Heating the home

Tuesday, February 15th, 2011

With inflation rising and the impact of the austerity cuts imposed by the Government still to fully bear down on the wealth of the nation, the general public can hardly be blamed for getting cold feet about planning any major expenditure. For those moving into a new home, however, there is little choice, necessities such as heating systems, household insurance and council tax must be sorted out quickly.

Fuelling inflation

The aforementioned inflation figures are to a great degree being driven by the spiralling cost of fuel. Most Britons associate the cost of fuel with motoring but in fact expensive fuel prices usually mean expensive heating bills and this affects even more people than does the price of petrol. It is important therefore for homeowners moving into a new home to select the right type of heating.

Which system?

Gas central heating systems are by far the most popular choice of heating for most Britons, but it is not every house that is connected to gas, and for the millions that are not the choice of fuel is definitely more of a complication. Central heating of any kind is welcomed by the majority of homeowners in the UK, as our cold winters mean the entire house needs some sort of heat to make it comfortable. Central heating systems are available in solid fuel, electric and of course oil.

Home insurance claims drop

Nothing looks better than an old fashioned fire place or wood burner and of course an open flame still evokes in many of us warm memories of a childhood where we sat in front of a fire to get warm and even toasted bread there. This no longer happens because open fires are few and far between. It is no coincidence either that home insurance claims have dropped as the number of open fires has diminished in the UK. For all their homely beauty, open fires were the cause of numerous disasters in homes and the cause of many deaths.

Oil central heating is the preferred choice of many but the escalating price of oil at the moment will be enough to put off most people from installing such a system at this time. The cost of benzene, the fuel used in oil central heating, has risen so much this winter that it is actually being investigated by a Government committee this week.

Electric heating has for many years been frowned upon by the general public in the UK because of its expense and the lack of any real aesthetic quality of electric heaters. Both of these problems have now been addressed and systems from countries such as Germany and Sweden which use tiles instead of bricks to store heat, inside radiators which look very much like those used in Gas Central Heating systems, have made them attractive to consumers. These systems make temperature control easier, energy output more controlled and they look much better than the old bulky storage heaters that put many people off choosing electric heating.

Tags: heating, Home Insurance, household insurance, wealth of the nation
Posted in Advice for Tenants, Contents Insurance, Home Insurance | No Comments »

Am I covered against that?

Thursday, February 3rd, 2011

The problems in Egypt at the moment may seem light years away to those of us living in the UK but it does once more illustrate the value of home insurance. In fact the situation brings into question just how you would manage without insurance of any kind?

The newspapers and TV pictures are reporting daily on the throngs of people parading up and down Tahrir Square in the middle of Cairo, whilst behind the scenes families try to maintain normal life. After all, bills still have to paid, mouths have to be fed and work has to be done.

All of this is not so easy when parents have to stand guard outside their properties all night to prevent looters making away with their household goods. It becomes difficult to take children to school and therefore almost impossible for adults to go to work. No-one can consider leaving their children at such a time.

One or two ex-pats have been on TV describing the worrying scenes and at the same time telling how difficult it is to get back to the safety of the UK.

It couldn’t happen in the UK, could it?

Oh yes it could! We may think that events we watch from a corner of our living rooms can’t happen here, but you can never be sure, just look at the damage caused by the recent student protests in London. One thing you can be sure about though is that even the most basic of home contents insurance policies will cover the owner’s goods against theft.

All the events that you watch on TV and think “It couldn’t happen here” are routinely built into insurance policies. For instance, earthquakes, riots, explosions, tsunami’s, looting, in fact anything that would appear to be a disaster that just could not happen in the green fields of England, you have actually covered yourself from the financial implications of, when you bought your home owner insurance.

How much of my home insurance is spent on this type of cover?

Although the majority of policies offer such cover, policy providers, just like you and I, consider the risk small, however, any risk is significant. So the fact is it does not cost you much at all. Perhaps a better question would be, can I afford not to have such cover?

Tags: Egypt Protest, Home Insurance, Looting, Protests, Rioting, Student Protest
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Cheap insurance tipped to be at a premium in 2011

Tuesday, February 1st, 2011

Just a couple of weeks after upsetting the country’s motorists by reporting the biggest increases in car insurance for a decade, the AA have now decided to equal things up a little by telling those who take out household insurance that they are the next in line for a big shock. Of course for most of us it is a double whammy, the great majority of people in the UK have both car and home insurance.

It’s not fair either to blame the AA. They are just reporting the collated facts from their insurance index. According to them insurers are paying out nearly 25% more than they take in at the moment and though there is no reason to believe that fraudulent claims on home contents insurance is accelerating at the same rate as those in motor insurance, it obviously does have some bearing on the price of premiums today. No industry can sit back and take such high losses.

Do other countries pay so much for home insurance?

The UK insurance market is not alone in this. A report in the Republic of Ireland recently said that insurance brokers over there plan to increase home premiums by 15%, raise excess charges to as much as 1,000 Euros and offer less cover in the average policy. This at a time when the Republic’s finances are in melt down. The new budget measures imposed to bring the country away from the abyss of bankruptcy has reduced the income of virtually every home in the country and must leave many citizens wondering if they can go to the expense of purchasing cheap home insurance even if they can get it.

Switching back to the UK it is easy to see the predicament of insurance companies when the insurer’s national body estimates that at the moment insurance companies as a whole are paying out £7 million a day in claims for burst pipes relating back to the period before Christmas. Of course on top of that there have been floods and the usual surge in claims associated with the Christmas season.

Anything we can do?

It seems certain that price hikes in premiums are set to stay with us in the short term and consumers are well advised to look round and investigate what they can achieve in the way of discounts by checking home insurance comparison websites.

Tags: Cheap insurance, Home Insurance
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