Ten Tips for buying Home and Contents Insurance

Most claims on home and contents insurance proceed smoothly, except perhaps for the occasional argument about how much something was worth. But another re-occurring problem is where the damage is due to poor maintenance of the building itself. The insurers take a very dim view of this and may scale down or even reject your claim, as a result.

Snow, frost, rain and wind put the biggest day-to-day strains on the structure and heating in your home. Most homes develop a few problems in the winter months, so a check in spring can save considerable ( insurance ) time and expense further down the line. Its not as if youll be paying out money that you could claim later on your insurance. Indeed, any costs included in a claim that were really a maintenance issue, will automatically be rejected by your insurer. (secured loans)

Heres our ten point MOT for your home:

•  Get a pair of binoculars and check out your roof. Search for slipped, cracked or loose tiles. A leaking roof can result in major damage and allow rot to take hold in the roof. Theres also a safety issue. If a tile ( loans ) falls off, someone could be badly injured. Even your car could be damaged! (secured loans)

•  Check out the exterior paintwork. Any peeling, cracked or blistered ( best mortgages ) paintwork needs attention. Then touch it up to preserve the wood from further cracking. Summer time can be especially hard on paintwork with expansion and contraction cracks resulting from high temperatures and big temperature changes.

•  Clean the gutters out. Autumn especially creates a lot of debris that needs to be ( cheap car insurance ) removed. Blocked gutters and down spouts can cause immense damage if water is left to overflow and penetrate. Just be careful with this job. Working with ladders is dangerous so maybe you can get your window cleaner on the job! (mortgage quotations)

•  If youve used your chimney heavily during the winter, get it swept. The danger is that any heavy build up of soot could catch fire.

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