If you love your garden check your home insurance

As consumers in the UK gear up for a summer filled with lazy days in the garden, the chance to do a little landscaping and gardening, and fun filled barbeques, insurance experts are warning that they should check and make sure that their garden is actually covered on their home insurance. A surprising number of people become victims of garden theft during the summer months, when opportunistic thieves know that there will be everything from expensive plants and shrubs to costly garden equipment and barbeques ready for the taking.

According to experts thieves can get away with thousands of pounds worth of items from some gardens, such as furniture, lawnmowers, gardening tools, ornaments, barbeque equipment, plants, and more. And in many cases not all of the items that can be stolen from a garden are automatically covered under general home insurance cover. This is why consumers with gardens – namely those with expensive items and plants in the garden – need to check and ensure that they have adequate cover.

Claims for garden equipment theft were at their highest between March and August last year according to the Halifax, and the bank stated that the average claim for garden theft was around £400. There were around a million pounds worth of insurance claims from consumers that became the victim of garden based theft last year.

Although some of the items that may be stolen from the garden might be covered already by standard home insurance cover, other more expensive equipment and plants may not be protected under this cover. Consumers should therefore contact their provider to see what is and isn't covered, and if necessary to extend their insurance cover to make sure that their garden plants and equipment is also covered against theft.