Seasons greetings tend to equal an increase in seasons thieving. Additionally, Christmas mishaps are common in homes, so homeowners should check their home and car insurance policies to be sure they're insured. Here are 10 home safety tips to consider for the holidays.
1. Accidental Damage: During the festive season, precious presents or items may be damaged due to excitement and visitors. Your house insurance may cover unintentional damage to your belongings, but check your coverage. Insurance may cost more for accidental coverage.
2. Visitor Liability: During the holidays, hosting more guests might increase the risk of injuries to guests. If a guest is hurt in your house and seeks compensation, most home insurance policies cover public liability.
House insurance usually excludes accidents involving family or domestic members. Personal accident or family personal accident insurance is usually required for coverage. However, some insurers offer it as an optional extra on home insurance.
3. Car Theft: Avoid keeping Christmas items in your car boot to prevent theft. Not all automobile insurers cover gifts or other stuff stolen from the boot. In the event of a claim, automobile insurers normally only reimburse a portion of the cost of boot gifts.
4. Home Security: Activate your home alarm before departing during the holidays, as several policies demand it when the house is vacant. Keep hall, stairway, and landing lights on when you leave the house to make it look like you're home.
5. Unoccupancy Limits: Before taking a month-long holiday over Christmas and New Year, check your home insurance policy for unoccupancy clauses. Most insurers won't cover break-ins after 30 days of unoccupied occupancy. Some insurers allow 60 days of unoccupancy.
6. Excess Contents Cover: Home insurers generally enhance coverage for house contents during the holiday season to cover gifts. Check how long this extra cover, usually 10–20%, is in place.
Some insurers offer Christmas coverage for December and January, others simply December. Let your insurer know if you have a precious gift under the tree, such as an expensive ring or picture, as you may need to insure it individually.
7. Safety Checks: Ensure smoke and carbon monoxide alarms are functional, as gas boilers and Christmas candles are frequently used throughout the winter season. It's crucial to inspect the tree and outdoor lighting for loose connections and frayed wiring. Only buy CE-marked Christmas lights that meet European safety regulations.
8. Heating Maintenance: Annually service your boiler and install fuel-burning equipment by a trained technician. Annually sweep/clean chimneys and flues and check the room and outside wall air vents for clear, open, and functional.
9. Fire Damage: Even malfunctioning Christmas tree lights, insurers will cover fire damage to your tree and property. However, insurers don't cover damage or loss caused by faulty workmanship, design, or wear and tear, so if faulty Christmas tree lights set your house on fire, you may have trouble getting a payout, depending on how strict your insurer is.
10. Outdoor Light Safety: Check your outdoor lights for defects before putting them up, and get help if you need to climb a ladder. These are vulnerable to weather damage. Most home insurance policies won't cover injuries you incur while putting up Christmas lights or decorations since they don't cover family or household mishaps.