Claiming insurance after a teenage networking party

Since social networking sites became all the rage in the UK a number of parents have had to cope with the horror of cleaning up the mess after their son or daughter throws a party and invites a whole bunch of strangers by advertising the party on one of these social networking websites.

However, many are concerned over whether this sort of party might invalidate their insurance cover in the event that they have to make a claim as a result of damage caused by people at the party, and the opinions on this seem mixed, with some claiming that you can claim if you did not know about the party.

One insurance specialist stated: ‘Friends and family will take due care in your home. People who don’t know you have no reason to be careful or treat your property as if it were their own. House party guests must be known to you - they cannot be random people off the street.’

Another official said: ‘The problem is that there is no hard and fast ruling. It really would depend on the individual insurer.’ A spokesperson from the Financial Ombudsman Service stated it would be decided on a case by case basis: ‘Without seeing individual facts, it would be hard for us to make a judgment on a claim because the wording in policies can differ widely.’