Homeowners spend £1.8bn on wet feet
Water leaks within the home are costing British homeowners a total of £1.8 billion a year, according to new figures.Data from Halifax Home Insurance suggested that around 3.3 million households across the country are affected by water leaks each year, including leaking showers, taps left running, burst water tanks and pipes, leaking dishwashers and flooding washing machines.Washing machines are the biggest cause of water damage in the home each year, accounting for 14 per cent of cases, closely followed by showers (ten per cent), burst pipes (seven per cent), leaking baths (seven per cent) and 'human error' (seven per cent).One in three homeowners (36 per cent) in Britain do not have buildings insurance and, as water damage costs an average of £560 per incident to put right, this can lead to costly bills. Around 60,000 people a year are forced to fork out more than £10,000 as a result of water damage each year.Vicky Emmott, Halifax Home Insurance senior underwriter, said: "Changing fashions in the housing market have increased the likelihood of homes being damaged by leaking water. The trend for homes with multiple bathrooms and the current vogue for wet rooms have significantly increased the risk of water leaks and damage in the home."Homeowners are advised to prevent leaks and water damage by regularly checking pipes and appliances, ensuring taps are turned off after use, lag pipes to protect against frost and use reputable tradespeople.
Share this..
Related stories
European Central Bank Facing A Difficult Situation
While the Bank of England has faced the dilemma of how much funding assistance to give to the UK markets without allowing backs to benefit directly, this situation is now being replicated in Europe where the European Central Bank (ECB) is faced with the same situation. So what is going on?
It is a little known fact that the ECB has very different collateral rules to those used in t...
Taxpayer "exposed" by British Energy restructuring
UK taxpayers were left "exposed" by the restructuring of British Energy five years ago, an influential parliamentary committee has said.According to the public accounts committee (PAC) the UK's largest electricity generator "now poses a risk to the taxpayer" after it admitted it could not meet its nuclear liabilities in September 2002.First privatised 11 years ago, the government assumed the utili...
Read MoreUnpaid overtime totals £27.4 billion in 2009
In a reflection of how difficult a year 2009 was for the UK economy, it has been revealed that a massive £27.4 billion was worked in unpaid overtime by UK employees. This equates to a record £5,400 per worker in the UK and is the largest figure since these records began. While many people would expect to "do a little extra" to secure their jobs in these difficult economic times the amount of wor...
Read MoreLand Securities signals upturn in UK commercial property market
Land Securities, one of the UK's leading commercial property companies, has today issued a very interesting and positive note on the state of the UK commercial property market. The company has bounced back from last year's troubles and significant property write-offs and today confirmed profits came in at just over £1 billion against a loss of £4.77 billion last year. The company has cited a...
Read MoreBarclays bank challenges PPI ban
It has been revealed that Barclays bank, along with Lloyds bank, is set to challenge the UK government's controversial decision to ban the sale of payment protection insurance when credit arrangements are agreed. The ban, which will come into force in October 2010, will see a cooling off period of seven days before any credit provider can approach a customer regarding the sale of payment protectio...
Read More