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7 steps to keep your property safe while living in student digs

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September 9, 2019
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Countless students will be flying the nest in the next few weeks as they head off for their first terms at university or college, but how do you make sure their belongings are safe while living in student digs?

The first days of a new term are a time of great excitement for all students — but statistics from the National Union of Students (NUS) show this period is not without risk. In fact, one in five students fall victim to crime.

student digs

Beware risk of theft in student digs

The risk is there whether you are moving into a university’s halls of residence, cheap shared student digs or even upmarket luxury student accommodation.

With laptops, mobile phones, televisions and other high-tech items, the NUS estimates that a typical student accommodation contains possessions worth in excess of £3,000. 

But research also shows that almost a third of students had no insurance cover for their belongings while studying, equivalent to around 632,000 UK students. That all adds up to gear worth more than £2 billion being left unprotected in student accommodation across the UK.

The home insurance experts at Adrian Flux offer some advice for the newbies who are getting set to go it alone at college or uni and begin living in student digs. 

 

7 point plan to keep your possessions safe in student digs

  1. Check your parents’ home contents insurance policy – it may be possible for an existing home insurance policy to be extended to cover possessions while in student digs at university.
  2. If you are to lodge in a students’ hall of residence check with the university or college to see whether any insurance is in place. If there is, check to see if there are any limits on the value of the insurance of your possessions and if so, consider taking out a separate policy.
  3. Avoid leaving valuables like laptops, tablets and phones unattended when you are out and about, even when you are studying at the library, as this provides an open invitation for opportunist thieves.
  4. Keep your valuables away from view and consider hiding them in your student digs when it is unoccupied. 
  5. Security mark your valuables with your details or register them on www.immobilise.co.uk, a police-supported national property register, to help police identify them if they do go missing.
  6. Lock your windows and doors whenever your student digs is unattended and at night
  7. If you are spending term time in private rented accommodation, check that all access doors have good locks.

student digs

Forget insurance at your peril

Laura Hughes, Manager, General Insurance at the Association of British Insurers, said: “University can be an exciting time for students and taking out insurance may not be top of their ‘to-do’ list. But it should not be forgotten. 

“A theft or a loss of a mobile phone or laptop can be expensive if a student doesn’t have insurance protection.

“Students moving into rented accommodation may be unaware of the risk of burglary which can be greatly reduced by taking a few simple security steps.”

Likewise, if you have a property or rooms to rent during term time, it is vital that you have sufficient insurance cover in place to protect your asset.

For a free no obligation discussion about your term time insurance needs — both as a landlord with property to let or as a tenant wanting to protect your belongings while in student digs — contact the experts at Adrian Flux.

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