People who have splashed out on garden furniture throughout the pandemic might only get a sixth of the cost of it back from their insurer should the set be stolen – or nothing at all if the furniture is damaged in a storm or accident. Those who have built patios, pergolas or other outdoor structures in their garden could find they have no insurance cover at all for those items if damaged by fire – even if they have home insurance.
These are some of the findings of an analysis by The Sunday Independent of the cover provided by home insurers for those who have embraced the outdoors.
Many people have spent thousands, perhaps tens of thousands, kitting out their gardens over lockdown – without checking if they can fall back on their home insurance should the worst happen.
Here are 10 things the outdoor you should know about insurance.
Some eight-seaters cost as much as €2,000 or €3,000 – yet your home insurance might only cover €500 of that cost if your garden furniture is stolen. In some cases, the furniture might not be covered at all – particularly if damaged in a storm or accident.
“If you’ve spent a lot of money on garden furniture, check your policy as a lot of insurers have limits on the cover they give – and accidental damage or frost damage may not be covered,” said Jonathan Hehir, managing director of insuremyhouse.ie. “Some insurers give up to €500 cover for outdoor furniture – but others give up to €1,000.”
Aviva, FBD and Liberty Insurance offer up to €650 of cover for garden furniture if it’s stolen from your garden – while Zurich offers maximum cover of between €500 and €750, depending on the policy. Bank of Ireland’s home insurance offers up to €1,000 cover.
Some of the insurers that don’t cover garden furniture for accidental damage in their standard policies include Aviva and Liberty.
You may be able to upgrade your insurance so that you’re covered for the full value of an expensive garden furniture set.
With Aviva, for example, you can pay extra to get garden cover of up to €1,000, €2,000 or €3,000 for damage or theft to a range of items out in the open in your garden such as garden furniture, outdoor ovens or statues. Zurich allows you to pay more to get higher cover for valuable items (such as garden furniture), but this higher cover only applies if the item is kept securely in the house or in a locked garage – rather than in the garden.
You may also be able to buy cover for accidental damage to garden furniture – Liberty, for example, offers such optional insurance. As is the case with any insurance, read the small print and know exactly what you’re covered for.
While most home insurers cover damage caused by a storm or fallen trees, that cover may be restricted to sheds and outbuildings – and may not extend to furniture and other contents left in the garden.
Aviva and Liberty, for example, cover garden furniture or other contents left in your garden for damage caused by storms, fallen trees or floods. However, FBD and Zurich don’t – though they do cover damage to outbuildings (such as sheds).
“Cover for contents in the open, such as garden furniture, is restricted to stealing – or damage caused by attempted stealing,” said the FBD spokesman. “Damage to a domestic outbuilding as a result of storm, fallen tree or flood is covered under the policy.”
Remember any cover provided for storm damage or fallen trees will be up to the limits – and depend on the conditions – of your policy. Insurers will generally expect you to take steps to secure your garden furniture and other outdoor contents should a storm be approaching. Damage caused by fallen trees during felling or lopping won’t usually be covered.
Even if your garden furniture or accessories are covered for most eventualities, it may not be worthwhile making a small claim.
“A lot of insurers won’t cover furniture as a set – if you have a four-seater furniture set and one of the chairs gets destroyed, you can only claim for the item destroyed,” said Hehir. “So it may not be worth claiming for the damage – by the time the excess [the first part of a claim you must pay yourself] and loss of your no-claims bonus [the discount you receive if you haven’t made a claim for some time] kicks in.” The same is true of most small claims you might be making on your home insurance.
Ride-on lawnmowers, push lawnmowers, golf clubs and bicycles are the most likely items to be targeted by thieves if left in your garden – or in a garden shed, according to insurers. As a ride-on lawnmower could cost €4,000 or more, it is likely to be one of the most valuable things you could get stolen from your garden shed – yet your home insurance may not cover the full cost of replacing the mower.
Some insurers have much better cover for items stolen from a garden shed than others do – so check the cover before you choose your insurer. Liberty, for example, offers up to €5,000 cover while Aviva offers up to €3,000.
Keep your garden shed locked if storing anything of value there. Otherwise your insurer will likely refuse to cover you if your shed is broken into and those items are stolen. You may also have to provide evidence of forced entry to be covered, depending on the insurer.
Work tools are often stolen from sheds and can be very expensive to replace – so check that your insurance covers them.
“You may not be covered for [the theft of] work tools on your home insurance if you’re a trade person and your business bought the tools – and the tools were for business use – but kept in the home,” said Hehir. “Make sure you have cover on your business policy for business equipment or tools that are kept in your home. For DIY enthusiasts whose tools are stolen, there’s a limit on the cover for tools stolen from outbuildings – and this limit is usually lower than if the tools were stolen from your home.”
Check your cover for any laptops or office equipment kept in a garden office or shed.
“Zurich covers up to €4,000 for home office equipment that is in the home, and this would extend to outbuildings such as sheds or garden offices,” said a spokeswoman for Zurich.
With more people hosting barbecues in their gardens, a visitor to your home could become injured and then seek compensation. Most home insurance policies include public liability cover which protects you in such an event.
“The injured person would have to sue you through the insurer – and proof would have to be provided that you were negligent [for the injury],” said Hehir. “It’s not just a case of the injured person giving you the bill [for the injury] to be passed onto the insurer.”
Remote workers should be aware that home insurance is unlikely to cover someone visiting for business purposes – so any injury which a client incurs when visiting your home to attend a business meeting for example may not be covered.
Some of the most common claims made following an injury on a homeowner’s premises arise from dog bites, according to Hehir. Home insurance will generally cover you – though if your dog is listed as a restricted breed under the dog control regulations, you may not be covered.
Many people have built patios, decking, garden summer houses, outdoor studios, pergolas and roof terraces throughout the various lockdowns – if you have spent a lot of money, tell your insurer and check if it is covered. Typically, structures like this are protected by your buildings cover (the part of your home insurance which covers the physical structure of your home against damage).
Your buildings cover should reflect the cost of rebuilding your home in the event of damage – so failure to adjust this cover in line with any outdoor structures you have recently built could cost you. “If there’s a fire in the home and your patio, decking or terrace is destroyed, you may not be covered if you have not included it in your rebuilding costs,” said Hehir. Don’t assume your outdoor structure is covered – it may not be. Zurich, for example, generally doesn’t cover pergolas.
You may not be covered for any loss in, or damage to, your property if you return home from an extended holiday of a month or two, or more. There is a limit in place in most home insurance policies on the amount of time you can leave your home unoccupied for before cover expires. This limit is typically between 30 and 60 days in a row, depending on the insurer. Both Liberty and Zurich have an ‘unoccupancy’ limit of 30 consecutive days, FBD’s is 45, and Aviva’s is 60. As always, buyer beware.