How safe are UK homes?

Legal & General's general insurance business annual online survey, ‘Safe as Houses', which asks people for feedback and their views on home security and safety, aims to highlight the safety of UK homes.

The survey, available at legalandgeneral.com/safeashouses, aims to provide an understanding of home owners security and safety concerns and what, if any, precautions they are taking. The survey is running for a month until Friday 10 October 2008. Those people who complete the survey will be entered into a draw to win John Lewis vouchers up to the value of £500.

The survey will enable Legal & General to build a very useful overview of the UK's home safety concerns and so help us to understand whether customers need to do more to protect their homes and possessions. This is particularly important at a time when the public are concerned with the level of crime on our streets. For example, Legal & General's Changing Face of British Homes research identified that vandalism has increased, with over a third of people, 33%, stating that there had been increased incidences of intentional damage to property.

The recent Crime in England and Wales 2007/2008 report also found that households with no home security measures were around ten times more likely to have been victims of burglary than households where there were simple security measures such as deadlocks on doors or window locks in place, (25.0% compared with 2.3%). Home security remains a key defence against being a victim of burglary.

Elaine Parkes, Head of technical services for Legal & General's general insurance business said: "As a household insurer who is concerned that our customers understand their insurance cover, we believe it is important to improve consumer awareness of home safety and security measures. We have produced a special guide, Safeguarding Your Home, which outlines how people may protect and safeguard their home and possessions."

Elaine continued: "Installing an intruder alarm, good quality locks and security lighting or living in a Neighbourhood Watch area can all help to deter a burglar entering a person's home. As well as providing customers with quality insurance cover we also offer customers a possible discount on the costs of their cover, if they do take some security and safety precautions."