Home insurer says dodgy improvements may damage house values

Mon, 10 May 2010

The recession has led to many UK homeowners taking on complex home improvements themselves in order to increase the value of their home .

New research by home insurer LV= found that in the last few years as many as 4.05 million homeowners have undertaken electrical jobs without professional help and 3.3 million have tried their hand at plumbing work. Almost 1 million (900,000) have attempted to carry out major building works, such as loft conversions and 450,000 have tackled potentially dangerous gas repairs .

John O'Roarke, managing director of LV= home insurance, said: "With house prices falling, many homeowners try to bump up the value of their properties through DIY home improvements. But although nine out of ten people in our survey recognised that jobs like gas work should be left to the professionals, nearly 0.5 million Brits are still prepared to give it a go. However, bungling these jobs can be dangerous and costly to put right and if they cause a serious problem with the property it could invalidate the home insurance cover ."
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