Holidaymakers return to find home hell

One million UK holidaymakers return from their holidays only to find a disaster has struck, according to one insurer.

Research by Halifax revealed that between burglars, children and water leaks, holidaymakers returning to their homes face repair bills which add up to £2.3 million.

Criminals accounted for most of the disasters, with 2.5 million Brits over the past ten years suffering at the hands of burglars and 600,000 returning to vandalised homes. Over £820 million per year was spent on replacing stolen items and repairing deliberate damage.

But ill-intentioned visitors were not the only ones responsible for damage; the study found that one million holidaymakers returned to find their children had caused damage amounting to £40 million a year while house sitters were also responsible.

People were not the only source of anguish for holiday returnees; faults with water pipes cost 1.7 million UK residents almost £1 billion a year to fix.

Storm damage has also welcomed 700,000 travellers back from holiday.

Some insurance policies have a limit on how many days a property can be unoccupied and remain covered and Vicky Emmott, senior manager of underwriting at Halifax Home Insurance, warned Britons to check these details before going abroad.

Homeowners have previously been warned to make sure that they are not the cause of damage to their own home, with DIY disasters, many made during bank holidays, costing £500,000 to repair.