There are many circumstances in which you may give your keys to someone providing a service. This could be a cleaner, a babysitter or a builder, plumber or electrician doing work in your home or office.

Most of the time, these people are completely reliable, but it only takes one exception to cause you trouble. Can you imagine coming back to find someone you trusted has made off with your property? Could it get worse?

It could. If you try to make an insurance claim for the loss, you’re likely to find it rejected. This is because the insurance company’s Loss Adjuster will point to it being a “non-forced entry”, which isn’t covered by most domestic or commercial property insurance.

Is There a Way of Getting Covered?

Any company that sends employees into customers’ homes should cover this risk in their insurance policy — but that doesn’t guarantee they’ll have done so. One of the checks you can do when choosing a service provider is to ask to see their policy.

Even so, it can still go wrong, since the policy is only any good if the company is paying the premiums at the time of the incident. The alternative is to discuss the matter with your insurance broker, who should be able to find you a policy that does cover this kind of insurance claim.

Even then, though, you aren’t home and dry. In order to ensure the Loss Adjuster won’t refuse your claim, it’s important to notify the insurer whenever you’re going to give a service provider access to your home. This is a requirement of all policies that cover non-forced entry.

This is a very real issue. In a recent case Allied Claims is aware of, a homeowner ended up out of pocket by £48,000 after being burgled during renovations, because the insurer hadn’t been informed. Be sure you don’t make such an expensive lapse.