Home insurance warning over DIY damage

Bungling Britons who cause damage to their homes with botched DIY jobs are likely to find that it is not covered by their home insurance policies, they have been warned.

Andrew Leech, a technical consultant to the National Home Improvement Council, said that incompetent housework would be viewed by a home insurance provider as the perpetrator's own fault and therefore not liable for a claim .

He described the possibility of getting one's home insurance company to pay up for damage done as highly unlikely. An example cited of this would be knocking through a wall without putting in beams to support the floor above.

However, he said that bringing in an expert would have home insurance advantages, as that individual or team should have cover in place.

So if there was any disaster it wouldn't touch your household insurance, it would be on his professional insurance, he explained.

Figures from Halifax recently found that 750,000 Britons have caused an average of £484 in damage carrying out dodgy DIY jobs, amounting to a total of £350 million.