Insurer Highlights Holiday Homes Risk

Around £6.3 billion worth of goods is being kept in UK holiday homes, new research from Zurich Private Clients shows.

According to the home insurance provider, second homeowners each hold an average of £15,200 of goods in these properties - which can be more vulnerable to burglary than homes which are lived in all year round.

Despite this risk, Zurich found that 48 per cent of the holiday homeowners had failed to install such simple security measures as window locks. Worse, just 20 per cent had had a burglar alarm fitted.
Moreover, the most popular location for the second homes was London, where the risk of falling victim to crime is proportionally higher than other areas of the country. The second and third most common destinations were also found to be Yorkshire and Cornwall.

Nick Brabham at the home insurance provider said: "There has been a steady rise in the number of customers with second homes, either in the UK or abroad. While we're using them, we often let our guard down as we relax and unwind, but we need to ensure that we don't compromise on security or cover, leaving our property vulnerable and hundreds of pounds of our possessions at risk."

Zurich interviewed 1,000 second homeowners over the course of its research.