Here at Cover4 we have been working with Mark Solomons to develop our Managers and Leaders. Mark has been working with me and I have found his coaching and courses to be life changing.

Whether you and your business are looking for Coaching, Leadership development, organisatinal development or personal development then Developing Potential really could be the right partner for you.

Our Managers attended a tailor-made course on Tuesday and already the difference is clear to see – as with all training the importance is in us as a Company encouraging our team to put into practice what they have learned and that is a development we are working on!

Have a look at their webiste – www.developingpotential.co.uk.

Richard

This particular subject matter is very contentious, in fact we deal wih over 10 insurers for let property and some of our panel will honour the claim and some will not.

Why?

The reasons vary based upon the individual insurers contract and their own experiences, but cannabis factories is a relatively new problem and these cases are still being tested in the courts, if your property was damaged by fire from the heating used to cultivate your tenants cannabis farm how would you feel?

What I would like to know from you is: -

Did you have any idea this eventuality may not be covered?

Would you expect this eventuality to be covered?

Should the property not have been visited by you or your manageing agent?

Subject to your feedback we will get on and do something about it.

Richard

Our prices are very competitive and if we could offer quotations on the aggregation sites then consumers would be treated more fairly as they would see the best price and cover which was available rather than having to click through a whole list of providers and then get individual quotations off of each of their sites – a total waste of time.

So the answer is simple – please can the aggregators wake up or can the public stop using them for these niche products where they are simply not adding any value.

Rant over.

Richard

I am going to write about arson today. In a recession, we always see an increase in fire claims. These are truly a nightmare for all parties as they are never simple, and the loss is always large. Since November last year I have seen 4 £250,000 plus fire claims so believe me when I say the risk is real. All of these have been on properties that are unoccupied and unfortunately we are seeing longer periods of vacancy between lets.

So, is there anything you can do?

Here are my suggestions:

1 ASSESS THE RISK

Identify how susceptible the property is to arson.  Is it on a corner plot?  Is there an alleyway beside it?  Are there any existing security measures?
Look for potential hazards for example is there any combustible waste next to the property?
Is the property empty?  Are there other empty properties nearby?

Record your findings and consider them.

2. MAKE SURE PHYSICAL SECURITY IS ADEQUATE

The more difficult or awkward it is for an intruder to cause damage to your property the better.  You want your property to be less of a target than another property in the same neighbourhood.  So what can you do?

Fences should be in a good condition and difficult to climb.  Simple things like trellis at the top will put people off climbing over as it will not withstand someones weight.

Any doors should have mortice locks or equivalent and when the property is empty these should be in use.  You need to record where the keys are and who has them.  When a tenant leaves make sure you get them back.  Your property is of greater value than your car and you would not let anyone have those!  If you cannot account for a set of keys, change the locks.  It may be costly but nowhere near as costly as a fire.

If the property is on a corner plot, next to an alley, or otherwise exposed,  put motion sensor lights in to make it as obvious as possible if someone is trying to break in.

If the property is empty make sure that you or someone you trust checks it weekly and records the fact.  If the worst does happen, any evidence you can provide to insurers of good practice will help make the process quick and painless.

3. COMBUSTIBLES

It may seem obvious but make sure that there are not piles of waste or rubbish next to the property.  Where possible these should be kept away from the property or removed.  Skips should be as far from the property as possible but also away from fences and walls.  Vegetation which acts as cover should be cut short and the cuttings removed.

KEY ACTION STEPS:

1 Take responsibility and be vigilant

2 Carry out a risk assessment and record the findings.  Update this regularly

3 Review the fire precautions you have

4 Control visitors, customer and contractors.

If you need more help or advice, visit the arson prevention bureau for help and guidance.  This is an increasing risk in recession.  Whilst we will help you with the problem if it happens, it is better to try and avoid it.

I sound a bit like a crusader here, but I have too much first hand experience of the real issues caused to sound anything less.

All the best

Nick

Todays house price news showed the continued downward trend in value with a 1.9 percent fall in November due to the weak market bringing the average value of a home to £161,883 which is similar to February 2006 levels.

With these continued falls, it is important to remember that most insurance policies are based on the rebuilding cost of your property and not the sale value.  It is important that you get this right as insurers may apply what is termed ‘average’ in the event of underinsurance which would mean a reduction in any claim payment you may receive.

The rebuild value can be estimated if you know the square footage of your property and the Association of British Insurers have a house rebuilding cost calculator to assist with this.  The following link will take you there:

REBUILDING CALCULATOR

A number of the major insurers have increased their monthly index-linking amounts from 4 to 7% which indicates that they believe that the cost of rebuilding a property is increasing.

If you need any further guidance, call us on 0800 0747477.

I wish you all a happy and prosperous new year

Nick Blunden

We can offer insurance cover on 3 different levels for both residential and commercial vacant property.  Our top level of cover includes full perils with a number of subjectivities, and will help ensure that your investment is protected during these unfortunate times.

Call our cover4 team on 0800 0747477 and they will provide you with full details of your options.

Nick Blunden

For what it is worth, here are the headlines:

1. Towergate, the largest UK broker with commissions of £268.9 million have made a loss for the 2007 year post tax of £14.7m compared with £4m profit the year before.
2. Leading industry analysts have stated this week that the contagion of the credit crisis will draw in the insurance sector.
3. Willis Group one of the largest brokers in the UK saw their third quarter profits sink bu 46%

However, there was some good news in that Aviva Group (which until recently included the trading name of Norwich Union which is now being subjected to a change in corporate branding but that is another story), showed their financial strength to the World by unveiling it’s £1.3 billion surplus.  This saw shares recover by 15% and hopefully will send a message to the markets that there is still strength and resilience in our sector.  At cover4letproperty, we work closely with Aviva on our commercial let property offering and benefit from an underwriter in our office.

Our let property rates are also going to be benefitting from a new no claims discount in January to reward clients who have not made a claim.  This should help to keep prices down!

Nick Blunden

A number of insurers were the most recent to suffer large decreases in their value as investors have started to worry that they will be the next to run into financial difficulties.  The news from the insurers themselves is that they are stable and have not needed to ask for any change in the amount of capital that they are required to hold so all is well.  We shall see.  The problem is that insurers with a large amount of invested capital will no doubt have suffered and I am certain that this will cause them to increase their insurance rates sooner rather than later.

To put insurance simply, it is based upon the premiums of many paying for the claims of a few.  These premiums are invested in all sorts of places including deposit accounts and the interest or investment income earned helps to keep the individual premium low as it adds to the insurers premium pot which is used to pay claims.  The news that interest rates may reach as low as 1% will doubtless mean that insurers will be forced to put up costs as they will need to ‘top up’ the premium pot to counter this loss of investment income.

The other worrying sign for insurance consumers is that during recession the number of claims increases dramatically both due to fraudulent claims (usually big claims such as fires) and people claiming for events that they would normally just pay themselves (small claims).  In addition, as less money is spent within an economy there is less for insurers to cover so they need to maximise their funds.  These factors will combine to give an upwards pressure on insurance rates.

I cannot see into the future but I would not be surprised to see that in 2009 premiums increase by as much as 15 to 20%.  Lets hope not.

Enough of the doom mongering, I am going to do my bit for the credit crunch and wash the cars with my kids.  Fourteen pounds saved!

Have a good week.

Nick Blunden

Director

Our energies are now focussed on our new holiday home product which will be released in the beginning of next year and provide instant quotes and buy online for holiday homes in most of Europe.

We have also negotiated some new specific discounts for landlords insurance with one of our panel and these are scheduled to go live at the beginning of November making our product even more competitive for certain risks.

It has been a long week because of all the change in our systems and workplace.  Although working Saturday, I will be able to have Sunday with the family and for the first time in a long time we have no children’s parties to attend so I will spend the day cutting back the trees in the garden…. as an insurance broker I worry about subsidence more than most!

Have a good week!

Nick Blunden

We have been redesigning our cover4letproperty website for a couple of months and after successfully passing the testing phase, it goes live today!  This is very exciting for me as the look and feel of the old site, whilst good for it’s time, has been grating with me for the past year.  I hope that you will find the new site and quotation forms easier to use, clearer, and more consistent with the professional service expected of us.

The site offers quote and buy for landlords insurance, unoccupied property insurance and holiday homes from a panel of insurers.  As part of this ‘revamp’, we have added two new insurers; Equity Red Star and a Lloyd’s secured market, Protector.  Our quote engine provides terms for 93% of enquiries.  This means that we ask a few more questions than some but you get the correct premium and terms first time.

If you have any comments about this new site, please either post a reply to this thread or email me at nickb@alanblunden.co.uk.

In addition to this development, we have also been improving our back office infrastructure with an upgrade of our paperless office system.  At the time of writing, the new server is not working but, as is usually the case with IT, each party involved thinks it is something to do with the other.  Hopefully by next week I will be able to write something positive here, time will tell.

My day yesterday was very interesting on a number of levels.  I went to Ad tech to see if there was anything we were missing with our online campaign.  We go every year to try and keep on top of developments.  This year there was a real push for online video ads.  Watch this space as I will be appearing in my first online video next month.  It was interesting to note that the event did not seem as big as last year and there seemed to be many more American firms represented.  Still worthwhile though.

Have a good week!

Nick Blunden