Home insurance firm: Students must be careful

Students should ensure that they are careful and keep thieves at bay, one home insurance specialist has claimed.

According to the home insurance provider Legal and General, students should check that all windows and doors are securely locked and that the previous tenants of rented accommodation do not still possess keys.

Students may be interested to note that leaving a door or window unlocked and openly inviting thieves may invalidate their home insurance policies .

Andy Dellbridge, head of planning and insight for Legal and General's general insurance business, commented: We would recommend that any students, particularly those going to university for the first time, carry out these checks to reduce the risk of them being a victim of robbery or theft .

The firm also cited Home Office figures revealing that 6.4 per cent of students were victims of one or more domestic burglaries in the last 12 months, whereas the national average is 2.5 per cent.

Legal and General currently advertises its home insurance policies with a poster campaign, the slogan of which reads: On rainy days, we shine.