Every person that owns their own home will be familiar with the amount of maintenance that it takes to maintain their home in a reasonable condition in order to prevent any future problems from occurring. In order to make their home a comfortable one, it is necessary for the homeowner to keep their property in a good condition and also have frequent preventative care. Poor maintenance will have side effects that are alongside a small damp situation and dry rot. In the occurrence of a claim on their home and contents insurance policy, the insurers would look at the property’s maintenance very thoroughly. If the maintenance care is thought to be at fault, then the claim could suffer. By having a poor maintenance record, the insurers could actually decrease their payment amount to the homeowner or worse they could refuse to pay out any money altogether.

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In order to ensure the maintenance carried out on the homeowners’ property is sufficient enough for the insurers to pay out, they should follow these guidelines:

Commence their care plan after the winter season has finished – winter is the main time when the majority of problems occur, This is because of damage caused by the wind, the rain, the snow and of course the frost. It will be better to assess the problems in the spring months as they can be checked properly and corrective measures can be taken more appropriately and easily.

Check and clear all gutters – all the guttering on the property needs to be checked and cleared, including any buildings such as a garage. During the autumn and winter months, as well as the summer showers, the gutters will be in constant use. Gutters that overflow will leak down walls, which could cause the occurrence of dampness inside and out of the property.

Examine the roof of the property – the owner should check the roof for tiles that are loose, cracked or that have slipped. If there are problems with the tiles, it could cause leaks into the house or they could be caused to fall by high winds, risking damaging other property or even passersby.

Ensure that exterior paintwork is kept up to date – Exterior walls are constantly exposed to all aspects of weather. If the walls somehow gain cracks, it could let in moisture which if still left untreated could cause more damage.

If the property owner has an old-fashioned fire, they need to ensure that the chimney is annually swept – a build up of soot can easily cause a fire as well as absorbing the damp and affecting the brickwork.

Always inspect the damp proof course – the property owner should ensure that this is always intact, and make sure there is not anything bridging it. It cannot work sufficiently if it is covered by yard debris or garden rubbish and will therefore not be able to protect the property from any damp or dry rot.

The property owner must ensure that any trees that have rotten trunks are removed or made safe – if a fallen tree falls onto a person’s property and causes damage, they will only be covered if the tree is from a neighbour’s house, not if it is from their own property.

A Rambling ivy plant or a Virginia Creeper plant may well add a nice touch to the look of the property, but these types of plants can also cause a huge amount of damage to the property’s brickwork. These plants are hard to remove, as their roots will penetrate the mortar and plasterwork. The cracks that are caused would be made worse by bad weather.

Regularly check the gas using a qualified professional – the homeowner must ensure that they use a Corgi-registered engineer to check their boiler, radiators and also their gas appliances including any carbon monoxide level checking.

Finally the homeowner must check their loft – Birds, squirrels and wasps constantly choose to nest in a loft. Squirrels have a nasty habit which may have dangerous consequences as well as a possible fatal outcome. They have a tendency to chew the insulation around wires. The homeowner should make sure that they block up the access to their roof to ensure that no unwelcome inhabitants take up residence.

If the property owner follows these steps, they will be protected by the insurance if they need to make a claim because the insurance company can see that the property maintenance has been kept to the required standard.

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