http://www.contentsinsurancecover.co.uk

March 16th 2008

Two of the biggest home insurers in the UK have recently been trying to highlight the growing concern of burglary as we approach the summer months. Tesco and Nationwide have both been outspoken in highlighting a few of the most important factors in reducing the likelyhood of you becoming a victim of theft.

Tesco did their research by approaching Mick Kelly, manager of neighbourhood watch.net who gave this time of year the unfortunate title of British Summer Crime. He made a revelation that over half of all break-ins occur from the back of the house. Thus he urged homeowners to "get out into the garden and make sure your fencing has stood up to the winter gales". And this is doubly important if the property will be left unoccupied for long periods at a time due to holidays or other engagements.

Tesco came up with some easy but effective way of preventing your home becoming a target of the burglars and thus reducing the chance of you having to make a claim on your contents insurance. They include:

• planting prickly plants such as roses under the window sills to deter entry through this means
• adding loose trellises to fences or walls to make them far harder to scale

Nationwide pitched in with this campaign to raise awareness by highlighting the general lack of protection for items in the garden. It found that 35 per cent of households value their garden contents at between £250 and £1,000 much of which is not covered by standard contents insurance policies.