DIY Disasters - The Real Story

Instead of moving house, many people are now doing up their existing home in an attempt to beat the credit crunch. As an additional saving DIY has become more popular, yet there are problems with this DIY revival. DIY may not be the saving it seems as it is claimed more than half a million people in the UK have their homes damaged by their neighbours' botched renovation project.

According to figures from banking experts the 594,960 people involved in DIY have accumulated costs of £173 million per year.

A good form of protection against over enthusiastic DIYing neighbours may be to check home insurance policies to ensure this sort of third party damage is covered. If not the existing policy could be enhanced.

Some homes are not covered by any sort of policy and in the light of these statistics it may be an idea for those who do not already have cover to take out home insurance.

The figures added that one in three cases resulted in the victim having to foot the bill themselves, while 27 per cent of incidents ended with the cost split. This shows that these types of cases are rarely clear cut. Communication between neighbours may be able to help this situation and ameliorate any bad feeling arising from damage caused.

"A number of errant DIYers are not just damaging their properties, but their neighbours' homes too," remarked an underwriter from a large insurance company.

Helpful hints in dealing with the situation:

•    Take pictures in good light – as soon as you find out about any damage take lots of pictures and date them. This may be useful to the insurance company especially if your neighbour subsequently tries to ‘fix’ the problem.

•    When talking to your neighbour try to stay calm – also it may be constructive to have a second person with you to take notes.

•    Make sure you know exactly what damage they have done – it will not be helpful if you accuse your neighbour of something that has been damaged for some time.

If you have any questions about DIY why not ask in The AnswerBank Home & Garden.

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