Home insurance helps to cover you for everything you hold dear. With, quite literally, your whole life being packed into your home, you need to ensure it is somehow protected. However, there are of course contingencies in which your home insurance can become invalidated. You, as the homeowner, must make it a priority that nothing causes your policy to fall through and become invalid, enabling your home to remain under the coverage you signed up for with your home insurance company.
Over Valuing Possessions
A number of companies that offer home insurance of course honour the covering of payments for items taken in the instance that your home has been burgled. It is the duty of the homeowner to list all items taken (to their knowledge) also jotting down the value of each item as well. Nevertheless, these companies are not stupid. They can easily find out when an item has been given a higher value than it should, as a strategy to extort money out of the insurance company.
Were this the case, even if it was accidental, your policy can be declared as invalid. This due to the fact that it is a form of misrepresentation.
Securing Your Home
The main focus of home insurance is to ensure your home is safe at all times, and if forced entry occurs then the company who you have taken the policy out with will help in covering costs linked to affected parts of your home. Although, for the policy to be valid, your home needs to have been fully secure and forced entry needs to have taken place.
When mentioning “fully secure”, that is meant as windows/doors locked, keys not being left somewhere for anyone to obtain and valuables being locked away (if possible). For example, if assessors find that a stolen key was used, meaning there was no forced entry, and you have not changed the locks of your home, then this can be seen as invalid for you making a claim due to subsequent lack of proof for a burglary taking place.
Working can include
The trend of start-up businesses originating from people’s living rooms is on the rise. More and more people begin renovation insurance from the comfort of their own home every year. Because of this, people have more reason to guarantee their habitat/place of work insurance can insurance. A number of companies are happy to cover homes where businesses whole life, so understandably can be a catch or two.
If you do not declare what your home for in entry occurs sense, your policy may not be valid. Another potential instance covering costs is if you begin to use your home as a place of work mid-policy and do not notify your home insurance company. This is due to a lack of information in how your home circumstances are changing, meaning your policy may not be under the same conditions as before.
Say Nothing on Social Media
Everyone is entitled to time away from their home, whether it is for a much-needed holiday or you are taking the time to visit family/friends who live elsewhere. Nevertheless, social media can actually cause your home insurance to become home insurance it or not. These days, with social media being the forefront of affected everything, some insurance companies pay attention to the goings on securing your media.
If you announce across social media that your home will be locked for a certain amount of time due to you being on holiday, this can actually qualify as grounds for your home insurance being declared invalid. This is because posting information about your home becoming vacant can be seen as negligent, meaning you gave your home grounds to potentially be burgled.
Having a Lodger
Having a lodger is an effective way for people to finance their home. However, you must go through the proper channels to ensure your home insurance is still valid and look into the potential of lodger insurance. If you were to take on a lodger and not inform the company who handles your home insurance, then the policy can in effect become invalid. This is down to the fact that your living circumstances will change and therefore your policy will need to be checked as you ultimately need to ensure there is trust in the lodger you are taking in. It is also worth noting that lodger insurance is possible and can cover you with some companies for up to 5 lodgers.
Not Speaking Up
Even with extremely minor incidents, your home insurance company should usually always be informed of anything that happens. This is the case even if you don’t intendto claim anything. Some insurance companies are like this because a sort of knock-on effect can be started; if a minor incident occurs somehow effects somethingfurther down the line and your home insurance company hasn’t been informed then it could affect how your policy’s future is affected.
The basic crux concerning your home insurance is that there needs to be constant contact betweenthe company holding said home insuranceand yourself, the homeowner. Informing them of anything and everything you think relates to your policy is crucial in making sure your policy does not become declared as invalid whatever the circumstance. If looking for professional guidance on what the best home insurance policy can be for yourself, do not hesitate to contact us at RigbyFinancial. Our team of hands-on experts will be more than happy to assist you in guiding you to the most appropriate policy for yourself. Call us today on 01744 886077.