Burglary, water leaks and fire damage are Brits’ biggest fears when it comes to safety at home - but millions are turning to smart tech to try and ward off disaster.<br /><br />A study of 2,000 homeowners found adults blame themselves as the biggest cause of home disasters, followed by mischievous pets and children's misadventures. <br /><br />But 15 per cent believe issues in their home - such as accidental damage or chaos caused by pets - could be prevented with some additional tech.<br /><br />And 27 per cent claim they'd feel less anxious if they had smart tech such as a doorbell system, inside and outside CCTV and water leak detectors.<br /><br />It also emerged homeowners have typically spent £255 in the past five years on repairing or replacing things due to damage, which could have been saved by technology.<br /><br />Matt Poll, managing director at Sky Protect, a smart home protection service offering comprehensive home insurance and smart home tech that work together in one app, which commissioned the research, said: “Our research underlines the concerns that many people have about keeping their home and belongings safe.<br /><br />“There’s plenty that can go wrong, from pipes bursting to pets chewing up the sofa - and the sooner you can get a handle on it, the better.<br /><br />“The results also highlight how millions of people across the country are totally disillusioned with their current home insurance. <br /><br />“We want to get people reengaged, so we’ve used innovative tech to develop a service that customers can benefit from every single day.”<br /><br />The study also found 21 per cent of adults admitted they didn’t read any of the T&Cs from their home insurance provider when signing on the dotted line.<br /><br />And 27 per cent don’t know how to make a claim on their current home insurance policy.<br /><br />But 48 per cent rank their home and belongings among their top priorities in life - above wealth and career, according to the OnePoll.com figures.<br /><br />However, homeowners admit to spending more time researching a mobile phone upgrade (three hours) or new furniture (five hours) than their home insurance (two hours). <br /><br />Of those who have had damage to the home but didn’t end up claiming on their home insurance, 42 per cent didn’t think it was worth their time or effort.<br /><br />While 20 per cent weren’t sure what they were actually covered for.<br /><br />Home insurance also topped a list of the most boring things to talk about with other people - ahead of diets, traffic and the weather.<br /><br />Ellie Taylor, comedian, actor and best-selling author, has been working with Sky to modernise classic fairy tales with a smart tech twist for the launch of Sky Protect. <br /><br />She said: “Let’s be honest, insurance is traditionally pretty dull. <br /><br />"So, it’s been nice injecting a bit of fun into the topic of home insurance. <br /><br />“When you think about the things that are most important in your life, you start to realise how important it is to have effective home protection in place.”
