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Holiday Home Insurance Top Ten Blogs From 2010. Listed below are our top ten holiday home insurance blogs from 2010. Full of informative holiday home insurance tips and hints for furnished holiday let owners in the UK.

Brought to you by specialist Holiday Home Insurance broker Boshers Ltd.  

Holiday Home Insurance | Holiday Home Owners Require Liability Cover – Why? As a responsible holiday home owner you will always ensure that your holiday home is as safe an environment as possible for your guests and employee’s to frequent. However, it is often the unforeseen that will cause accidents leading to compensation claims which can be substantial.

A slippery path, a loose paving slab, weather beaten garden furniture! – Have you inspected yours lately?

A comprehensive Holiday Home Insurance policy, such as that arranged by Boshers will provide cover to indemnify you against your legal liability to pay damages and legal costs arising out of claims for bodily injury, death, disease or illness from a third party such as an employee, (i.e. a cleaner, gardener or key holder) and paying guests in connection with the running of your second home as a furnished holiday let.

How much Employers Liability Insurance should you have? If you have a contract of service with anyone who helps you maintain your holiday let business, whether spoken, written or implied and you provide them with work materials and equipment, then you may be regarded as their employer, irrespective of their tax status. It is a legal requirement, that you have in place Employer’s Liability Insurance of at least £5m, in practice many insurers provide cover of £10m.

How much Public, Products and Personal Liability Insurance should you have? Whilst not a compulsory insurance, we would recommend cover of at least £3m for small properties that sleep up to six guests and £5m for larger properties.

The above cover is generally provided as part of a packaged Holiday Home Insurance policy, also covering the buildings and contents of your holiday home.

For articles on Health & Safety for holiday home owners visit www.boshers.co.uk/blog. Additional guidance and holiday home insurance quotes are available from the Boshers Holiday Home Insurance Team on 01237 429444 or visit www.boshers.co.uk.

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Holiday Home Insurance – Fire Precautions and PAT Testing Q and A’s

Question

Dear Sir or Madam, My house is insured with you as a holiday let for up to 8 people, with 2 bedrooms upstairs and 2 down. I have had a fire risk assessment completed which was favourable and I’m hoping to implement the recommendations on the report. We have a number of portable electrical appliances, most of which are new as we replace them regularly. The inspector commented that they appear to be in good condition. Do you require me to get each of these appliances P.A.T. tested yearly as a condition of my policy, even though they are regularly renewed, or would it be sufficient for me to check them every few months? Would this also apply to larger electrical items such as the washing machine? One of the recommendations included installing fire doors and frames on each of the bedrooms. Would the insurance consider this to be a reasonable precaution on a house holiday let? Thank you very much for your assistance.Yours faithfully,

Ms L.F.

Reply by Boshers Holiday Home Insurance Team

Dear Ms F,

Thank you for your email, copy enclosed. I can confirm that annual P.A.T. testing of electrical appliances is not a condition of the policy, nor is it at the time of writing a legislative requirement that electrical appliances in individual rented holiday lets are tested. However there is a requirement that the appliances provided as part of the holiday let agreement are safe. It would be prudent for visual inspections of your appliances to be made regularly and ideally on each turnover day that new guests arrive. This could be carried out by yourself or your cleaner/caretaker. As for P.A.T. testing you may feel that this is unnecessary if you replace your appliances on a regular basis (every one to two years). Indeed our office is opposite Woolworths who are advertising Irons for £3.97 as I write this email! You should refer to your Letting Agents Terms as they may require you to have your appliances P.A.T. tested and in any event it would seem prudent to have them tested by a qualified person if you choose not to replace them regularly. Click the link belew for more information: Landlords And Portable Appliances

With respect to your Fire Risk Assessment I would personally feel, that in general, installing fire doors and frames on the bedrooms of a two story holiday let property would be admiral but beyond what the current legislation requires. Afterall a Holiday Home is just that, a Home from Home! So long as you have fulfilled all the legislative requirements this will satisfy your holiday home insurers “Ecclesiastical”. Beyond that a common sense test is; are you comfortable that your holiday Home is safe for you and your family to use? I would refer you to The Visit Britain Accomodation Know How Pink Booklet is a useful source of further reading: Fire Risk Assessment

Kind regards

Boshers Holiday Home Insurance Team