With many people choosing to undertake jobs in the home themselves, due to a combination of more time at home and less disposable income due to the covid-19 pandemic, a survey conducted by Gas Safe has revealed that 90% of people in the UK are not aware that their DIY endeavours could not only make their home unsafe; they could leave them without home insurance cover.
These jobs could include anything from having a go at fixing, or even moving, a boiler to putting up shelves in the wrong place and drilling through a gas pipe. 45% of people surveyed admitted to having a go at doing jobs themselves during the pandemic to save money, rather than getting a properly qualified tradesperson in.
While there is nothing to stop you undertaking decorating or even some simple plumbing jobs yourself, there are some tasks that should only ever be done by a legally registered professional. This includes electrical work and gas appliance work.
Only Gas Safe Registered engineers are legally allowed to work on gas appliances, such as boilers and cookers. The main danger here is that sub-standard work can leave your appliances unsafe. The other consequences are that this would invalidate your general home insurance and any boiler cover insurance or home emergency insurance policies. Some policies don’t even allow you to remove covers yourself. With 51% admitting they have never read the terms of their policies, often people only become aware of this when they need to make a claim, leaving them with significant costs to fund themselves. See our previous post about knowing what your boiler policy covers.
The advice, therefore, is never to have a go yourself and make sure that anyone you do use is on the Gas Safe Register. That means checking out Dave from down the pub who reckons he can do it for half the price of a local plumbing and heating firm. If it sounds too good to be true, it almost definitely is.
You can read more about the findings of the survey here, as well as DIY safety tips
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