Home insurance customers warned to be on their guard

Householders should do everything within their power to prevent damage to their property, according to one home insurance firm .

Keith Hester, spokesperson for Stackhouse Poland, explained that the majority of home insurance claims do not relate to major natural disasters, but rather little things.

According to the home insurance expert, a common reason for fires is leaving a mobile phone to charge overnight, something that millions of people do all the time.

He said: Everyday seemingly harmless actions such as this can result in huge financial loss - not to mention physical risk.

Such things will also lead to an increase in home insurance premiums, Mr Hester added.

For this reason, people should mitigate as many risks as they can, thus reducing the chances of an incident and subsequent home insurance claim, he stated.

Yesterday, insurance firm RSA welcomed the government's move to encourage councils to offer flood-hit householders a tax discount of up to 100 per cent.