7 June 2011

UK households Keep 11 Wembley Stadiums Worth of Clutter

Households in the UK are hoarding the equivalent of 11 Wembley Stadiums yet many don’t know the true value or have the correct home insurance cover

** Households in the UK are hoarding the equivalent of 11 Wembley Stadiums yet many don't know the true value or have the correct home insurance cover, according to new research. **

Over one million Brits have items kept in storage away from the home, whilst inside they are hoarding up to 47.5 million cubic meters of clutter.

Clothes, books and sports equipment that haven't been used in over a year are the most commonly found items cluttering up homes.Collectively this amounts to almost £50 billion worth of junk filling up homes across the country.

People are spreading their valuables all over the house with some items such as jewellery, power tools and audio equipment being stored in the loft, shed and spare rooms.On in ten home owner reckon they're storing over £1000 worth of goods in their house. However, 35 per cent of people have never totalled the value of the goods in their home.

On top of these figures, 22 per cent people are safe keeping items for friends, family, partners and exes.Over half of the additional load comes from children, as 52 per cent of parents are claiming to run ‘the warehouse of mum and dad'.Despite this only 12 per cent of parents frequently ask their grown up children to remove the items. Collectively storing up to £2.4 billion worth of their adult children's belongings, parents are unaware that most home insurance policies don't provide cover for other people's belongings regardless if they are friends or family.

"Our research shows that we are a nation of hoarders, packing our homes with possessions that we just can't bear to get rid of and even though we rarely use these items, we would miss them if they were damaged or stolen.” John O'Roarke, managing director of LV= home insurance.

"Our advice to householders storing these often valuable belongings is to talk to your insurer and ensure you have adequate insurance in place,” he continued.