Snow Bulletin! From our resident insurance broker

Ahead of the freezing and snowy conditions forecast next week, it’s important to consider how heavy snowfall, freezing temperatures and strong wind chills might affect your rental premises.

For example, a 1cm-thick, 10m-square area of freshly fallen snow at 4˚C weighs around 100kg – which could potentially cause a lot of damage to your buildings.

And as it compresses and freezes, it can weigh even more.

Here are some other risks to look out for:

snow and ice on a roof can create vertical and horizontal forces through the structure, causing the roof, walls, conservatories and canopies to deflect, bow or collapse
snow and ice can impair louvered ventilation systems and roof lights
ice can seal shut venting systems, and the weight of snow can stop explosion relief vents from opening
fluid-filled services or equipment, and sprinkler piping, can freeze if left exposed
unheated buildings are vulnerable to freezing
roof drainage systems can become blocked or plugged by ice and snow
melting snow combined with rainfall can easily overwhelm building drainage systems and those in the surrounding area, which can result in localised flooding.

Make sure your portfolio is adequately insured. Being under insured (particularly in this weather) is not a good place to be!

We recently interviewed, Jon Mason from Aon Insurance. Jon is our expert insurance broker.

Please pop over to our property deals group on facebook and watch the interview. It’s only 15 minutes and Jon gives a lot of valuable information for landlords.

Join the group by clicking the link below and then head over to the Guides section.