Inflation, fraud and bad weather 'to lead to higher insurance premiums in 2012'
Posted by Sue Hopson
A combination of factors could mean that it is more important than ever that landlords shop around for the best buildings and contents insurance quotes.
According to John Portwood, personal lines insurance broker at Portwood & Co, property insurance premiums are almost certainly set to rise in 2012, meaning cheap landlord insurance may be harder to come by.
The expert put this rise down to a number of factors,including last winter's bad weather and rising fraud cases brought on by the recession.
"Insurers are no doubt also trying to recover from the bad winter last year," he commented.
"With the recession there are probably more fraudulent insurance applications - especially over the internet - and claims. Insurers have to factor these in."
However, part of the predicted rise in premiums is simply a matter of prices keeping pace with inflation.
"There is always some increase built into the system due to index linking – if the sums insured go up due to inflation the premium will as well," explained Mr Portwood.
However, despite predicting "a steady rise in the price of home insurance policies this year", he stressed the importance of taking out insurance to protect property.
"Homeowners should remember that their home is their largest single investment, the one where they stand to make the greatest loss if they don't insure it correctly and when they need to make a claim they won't care how much the premium was that they paid," he commented.
This could be especially so for landlords more than other types of homeowners, as they depend on the property for their income.
Meanwhile, last week saw AXA predict that 2012 could be"the year of risk", with a number of events, such as the Olympics and Euro 2012, combined with economic pressures and more bad weather increasing the threat of damage to properties and their contents.
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