Teenage parties take toll on insurance

About 17 per cent of parents have had to make a claim on their home insurance policies for accidents and damage caused by teenagers' parties, with the average claim being 117.

The most common problems caused by teenage parties are general rubbish and mess, followed by broken furniture, trampled gardens and plants, stains on the carpets and burns on sofas and chairs, according to insurance group

Allianz.

Parents worry that teenage parties are more likely to get out of control now compared with when they were young – with 65 per cent saying they think it is dangerous for teenagers to advertise their parties on social networking sites such as Facebook and Bebo, something 11 per cent of teenagers have done.

A third of parents claim they have even monitored their children's activities on these sites to try to spot if they are planning parties.

About 36 per cent of parents said they would inform other teenagers' parents if they were planning to hold parties at their homes and they thought they did not know, while 29 per cent would call the police if parties were getting out of hand on their street.

But only 31 per cent would stop their sons or daughters going to a party at friends' houses if they thought the friends' parents did not know about the event.

An Allianz UK spokesman said: "Parents face tough decisions when allowing their children to host a party and it is natural to worry about the celebrations getting out of hand.

"However, if things do go wrong, it is important to have financial protection in place to pick up any bills for damage caused."

But it is not just teenagers who cause damage to property when they hold parties, with 11 per cent of adults admitting that they have made claims for an average of 93 on their insurance after holding parties themselves.