Local News at Coversure Kennington

Norwich Union client's have been victims of properties being used as cannabis farms and in light of this they have issued some information and advise as follows:

"Increasing numbers of residential properties are being illegally used for cannabis production. Besides the damage landlords face to their property – and the hefty repair bills – cannabis farms are a real risk to residents close by.

What's the damage?
It's significant from the claims we've seen for fire, flood and physical damage. Electricity meters are often bypassed with poor and dangerous wiring. Holes are smashed in walls to accommodate cables. Severe water damage is common because of leaking buckets and pipes. The perpetrators even start fires deliberately to cover their tracks before police raids.

Better safe than sorry
From the claims we've received, we've been able to identify some common characteristics worth looking out for. This information might be useful for your residential property clients so feel free to pass it on.

What to watch out for:

• short-term lets of between three and six months
• where a chunk of rent is paid in cash upfront (sometimes in full)
• where tenants continually fail to provide references.

What cannabis growers look for when ‘house hunting’:

• landlords who don't use a managing or letting agent
• landlords who don't vet tenants sufficiently with background checks (just seeing a passport isn't a good-enough check)
• landlords who don't inspect properties internally regularly
• where sub-letting is allowed and there's no control of sub-tenant activities.

Location, location, location…
Cannabis farms crop up everywhere it seems, including at the most highly desirable addresses.

Avoiding the problem
Here are some precautions that you may want to pass on to your residential property clients

• Don't accept payment of rent in cash. Insist on payment through a bank or building society.
• Carry out regular inspections of premises, with internal viewings.
• Be wary of short-term lets without undertaking rigorous vetting of the prospective tenant.
• Don't allow sub-letting, whatsoever.
• Employ a letting or managing agent as they will vet tenants and undertake inspections on your behalf.

Although cannabis farms rarely make the news, they're more common than you might think. We hope this prevents your customers discovering a nasty surprise."

Coversure Kennington attended the annual release of the FBI magazine by Asian Voice at the House of Commons as we were asked to give an editorial on Commercial Insurance for this latest issue.

Chief Guest for the evening was Rt. Hon Yvette Cooper MP (Chief Secretary to the Treasury) and the event was hosted by Rt Hon Keith Vaz MP. Over 250 people from all walks of business attended and were give a short insight into what the coming months regards the economy in the UK holds for us all by Rt. Hon Yvette Cooper MP.

Left to right: CB Patel Editor of Asian Voice, Rt. Hon Yvette Cooper MP and Rt Hon Keith Vaz MP

A super day’s golf was enjoyed by over 30 players (Coversure Kennington clients and guests) at one of UK’s best courses. The weather held out and following an earlier start all the players managed to complete the two 18-hole rounds scheduled for the day. The presentation was held at the very nice Spice N Ice restaurant in South Croydon. Our thanks again to all those who took part!

Malcolm Churchill Club Pro with some of the guests	Atish Patel of Day Lewis Opticians making the presentations

What the players said…

“Just a quick note to thank you all for organising a very eventful day yesterday. Just about recovered now!! Looking forward to the next one” – Creative Property Ventures Limited

“Many thanks for inviting me to your brilliantly organised golf day on Tuesday. Well done once again and I thoroughly enjoyed the evening at spice’N’ice” – Croydon Inkxpress

Rajan did a presentation on Landlords Insurance at the Tower Hamlets Landlords’ Forum on 30 January at their offices which was attended by around 30 landlords/Letting Agents.

The Housing Advice Team Leader had this to say by email:

Rajan and Mike attaneded the North London Sub Region Landlord’s Forum on 13 December 2007at the Arsenal Emirates Stadium. The North Sub Region is a Housing partnership of 6 London Boroughs – Barnet, Camden, Enfield, Haringey, Islington and Westminster. The forum was attended by over 250 landlords.

Winter sports enthusiasts have been warned to check that their insurance policies adequately cover them for all of their likely activities when abroad.

The warning comes from the British Insurance Brokers’ Association (BIBA), who have also published a checklist for holidaymakers to complete before they head for the slopes in 2007.

BIBA is concerned that one in seven holiday makers has no travel insurance at all, and with over a million heading for the slopes this winter, hundreds of thousands could be putting themselves at risk.

The BIBA checklist includes:

1. Have you ensured that your travel insurance policy covers winter sports?
2. Are you putting yourself at risk by relying on credit card insurance policies or similar travel insurance products?
3. Are you just relying on your free European Health Insurance Card (EHIC)? As many clinics on the slopes are private.
4. Have you checked with your insurance broker that your insurance adequately covers any potential activity while on the slopes? E.g. If you ski off piste should you be accompanied by a guide?
5. Make sure that you obtain a travel insurance quote from a broker as many insurance policies from tour operators and travel agents are tied to one insurer, are expensive, often exclude terrorism cover and have high or multiple excesses.

Many people come home injured from winter sports holidays each year. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has listed ski-slopes amongst its top five locations where injuries are most likely to occur.

The basic cost of treatment for a broken wrist in Europe is £3,000 and contrary to popular belief the EHIC card does not ensure free medical attention in all cases. If you need to be airlifted from a mountain or flown home in an air ambulance you can be looking at a bill of tens of thousands of pounds. The vast majority of ski slopes in EEC countries have no public healthcare available. In France, even for a broken arm or leg you will normally be treated in the resort where the piste rescue, doctor, ambulance and pharmacy are all separate organisations and all privately owned, so you cannot use your EHIC card.

Graeme Trudgill, Technical Services Manager at BIBA, has warned:

“We estimate that millions will be heading to the slopes this season and too many of these will be putting themselves at risk by travelling without adequate travel insurance cover or no cover at all. We want everyone to be able to enjoy their holidays with peace of mind, and we want to ensure that if anything should go wrong they have the appropriate level of care, and won’t be left out of pocket.

“Winter sports are renowned to be some of the most dangerous, and we believe that many skiers and snowboarders are leaving the UK without adequate cover or no cover at all.

“Our advice is clear – don’t put yourself or your family at risk. Check you are properly covered by speaking to your insurance broker before you set off.”

The Foreign Office estimates that if you aren’t adequately prepared for your holiday it could end up costing you:

• £600 for two days in a general ward – Mediterranean
• £400–600 for Gastro-enteritis – Mediterranean
• £10,000 for a broken leg – USA
• £20,000–30,000 for a heart attack – USA
• £15,000 for bronchitis requiring seven days inpatient treatment, Far East
• £20,000 for bronchitis requiring seven days in-patient treatment, USA

And the cost of repatriation to the UK if you don’t have the correct travel insurance:

• £30–35,000 Air ambulance (Jet) – East coast of USA
• £12–16,000 Air ambulance (Jet) – Canaries
• £10–12,000 Air ambulance (turbo-prop) – Balearics
• £1,200–3,000 Air taxi (propeller driven light aircraft) – Northern France
• £15–20,000 Scheduled flight, stretcher and Doctor escort – Australia
• £9–12,000 Scheduled flight, seated club, with a nurse escort – West coast of USA
• £1,800–4,000 Scheduled flight, seated economy with a Doctor escort – Mediterranean
• £100-£800 Scheduled flight, seated economy without an escort – Mediterranean
• £3,000-£6,000 Scheduled flight, stretcher and Doctor escort – Mediterranean

Further travel insurance advice from the Foreign Office can be accessed online here.

Coversure Insurance Services are members of the British Insurance Brokers Association – www.biba.org.uk; this article is reproduced here with their kind permission.

Two landlords, Philip Preece and Elisabeth Struthers, have been fined £2,500 each, with an additional £1,800 costs, for contravening The Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998 / 2451 (http://tinyurl.com/23kg4d), after a mother and two children living at their flat in North Cheam were hospitalised by carbon monoxide poisoning from a gas-powered warm air heater.

The heater had not been inspected or maintained since 1996 and the Health and Safety Executive has cited the case as a real deterrent for landlords who fail in their duties to maintain gas fittings and any flues serving them. (HSE Infoline Telephone; 0845 345 0055)

The health and Safety Executive has reminded companies that they must ensure employees are properly trained precautions are taken when working at height, following the death of a worker who fell through a fragile roof at a farm in West Wales.

Following prosecution by HSE, the worker's employer, Enidvale Limited trading as B K Grain Handling Engineers of Marlborough, Wilts, pleaded guilty to breaching regulations 3 (1) and 7 (1) of The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 / 3242 (http://tinyurl.com/yueuhu-pdf). It was fined £20,000 and ordered to pay costs in excess of £8,000.

The farmer, Mansel Raymond trading as Raymond Bros of Letterston, Pembrokeshire, was found guilty of breaching section 2 (1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 in relation to risks to the safety of employees and was fined £10,000 and ordered to pay costs of £15,000.

Information on preventing falls from height is available at http://www.hse.gov.uk/falls (HSE Infoline Telephone: 0845 345 0055).

Remember; remember… to check your insurance ahead of Bonfire Night
With Bonfire Night only a month away, the British Insurance Brokers' Association (BIBA) is warning homeowners to double check their insurance cover before lighting a bonfire near their property or setting off any fireworks.

The warning comes because every bonfire night sees thousands of pounds worth of property damage occurring across the UK as a direct result of the misuse of fireworks or a failure to properly supervise or control bonfires.

Government figures show that in 2005 fireworks injured nearly one thousand people in the four-week period in October and November that covers Bonfire Night. The figures, found at http://www.dti.gov.uk/…ile30136.pdf, show that the North West, the South East and the North and Yorkshire regions are the UK’s danger spots for firework injuries.

The figures show the following regional breakdown for the number of firework injuries in 2005 (during the same four week period):

North Western – 179
North & Yorkshire – 131
South East – 131
Trent – 121
Scotland – 93
West Midlands – 89
Wales – 69
Greater London – 65
Eastern – 64
South & West – 49
Total – 991

The figures also show that the majority of accidents involving fireworks occur at home or in the immediate vicinity of houses – highlighting that insurance cover is a necessity. Without insurance, even a seemingly minor mishap could become a financial nightmare.

Every year sees a raft of insurance claims in the days following Bonfire Night. Claims, related to the 5th November celebrations, include:

• Shattered windows
• Garden damage
• Fire spreading to outbuildings or homes
• Personal Liability for injury to other parties e.g. guest or neighbours

Every homeowner or Bonfire Night party host should be checking their insurance to ensure they are covered.

Commenting, Graeme Trudgill, Technical Services Manager at BIBA, said:

"Too many people are putting themselves and their property at risk on Bonfire Night. We want everyone to enjoy themselves, but only after they have taken the necessary measures to insure against mishaps, and to cover themselves should anything go wrong.

“We strongly urge homeowners to check their property insurance cover with their local brokers to ensure they are covered, and to follow the Firework Safety Code. After all, 36% of UK homeowners don’t have building insurance. By taking these simple steps everyone will enjoy the night with peace of mind and without finding themselves in harms way.”

Coversure Insurance Services are members of the British Insurance Brokers Association – www.biba.org.uk; this article is reproduced here with their kind permission.

During April and May 2007 over 1,800 customers were invited to respond to a number of questions in relation to their dealings with and the service offered by Coversure Insurance Services. The survey was sent out to a wide range of customers, both male and female and aged 17 years old and upward. The survey asked customers to provide feedback on the service, advice and products purchased from Coversure, as well as an indication as to whether they would purchase another product through Coversure or recommend Coversure to their family and friends.

The results of the survey were very pleasing and encouraging, showing 96% of respondents were satisfied with the service/advice received from Coversure. Of this 96%, 72% were very satisfied indicating nearly three quarters of our customers are very satisfied with the service/advice received from Coversure.

In addition to this, 95% were satisfied with the policy that was recommended by Coversure, of which 58% were very satisfied. These figures indicate that the insurance needs of our customers are being assessed accurately and our sales staff are recommending the correct policy to meet their needs. Further to this, 99% of respondents said the product was explained properly and that they understood the product fully.

With the positive results seen above, it was no surprise to see that 98% of respondents would purchase another product through Coversure and 97% would recommend Coversure to their family and friends. This demonstrates that our customers are happy with both their policy and the service received. These are excellent findings as it indicates that customers must have a lot of faith in the products and service Coversure offer in order to put their reputation on the line and recommend Coversure to their family and friends. When asking the customers if they felt they had been treated fairly in their dealings with Coversure, 97% of respondents said they had been treated fairly.

The final question asked the customers to rate their overall dealings with Coversure, 96% of respondents rated their dealings with Coversure as good and 77% of these felt their dealings were very good. This is very impressive and expected in a way, given the results in the previous questions.

To conclude, the April/May 2007 Customer Satisfaction Survey results were very impressive and an improvement on the good results from last year’s survey. The survey shows how important it is to use customer feedback to continuously improve the products and service we offer customers. Over the last twenty years, we have worked exceptionally hard to ensure we have the right products and to give exceptional service to our customers and it’s always very pleasing and gratifying to receive such positive responses from our customers.