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Thatched property owners insurance premiums go up

Thursday, June 25, 2009
Heritage property owners’ champion, The Listed Property Owners Club, has facilitated the launch of a cracking new insurance arrangement, which combines an affordable fire-detection system with a guaranteed insurance discount.

Nationwide monitoring of thatched fires reveals that there are between 60 and 70 serious thatch-roof fires recorded annually, and the figure is rising. Which is why non-specialist insurers tend to hit owners with punitive insurance premiums.

The Listed Property Owners’ Club had long been aware of this problem; it’s one of the regular issues raised by callers to their hotline.

Peter Anslow, Director of The Listed Property Owners Club says: ‘We realised that a high percentage of phone calls to our listed property hotline over the last five years were from owners shocked by the rising costs of insuring their beautiful thatched homes. It occurred to us that we could bring the right people to the table to build a unique solution. I’m delighted that our position in the sector has allowed us to come up with a product that will reduce the chance of a major thatch fire and substantially reduce our members’ premiums.’

The new Thatch Fire Detection Insurance product is available through Lark Insurance Broking Group, the specialist listed building brokers, and Prestige Fire Detection, a well-respected national provider of fire alarm systems for listed properties (the same method of detection is employed in Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre - London’s first thatched roof building since the Great Fire).

It is guaranteed to reduce your Lark insurance premium by as much as 40% if you have a detached property with a wood-burning stove – EACH YEAR.

The system costs less than £600 to install (with an annual maintenance and 24 hour remote monitoring charge of £150). With an insurance discount of up to 40% the cost is almost recovered in the first couple of years, with substantial savings beyond.

Peter Anslow is celebrating this new development on behalf of the owners’ of Britain’s much-loved country cottages: ‘It’s rare to get an insurance good news story and particularly welcome in a recession. We’re extremely pleased to have found a way to protect our built heritage and our members’ interests’.

For further press information please contact:
Kelly Smith, The Listed Property Owners Club on 01795 844 939 or email info@lpoc.co.uk.