The typical bill for repairs after a house party gets out of control is £117.13, reaching an estimated £14 million spent nationally.
The most common types of damage are general mess, broken furniture, trampled plants in the garden, and stains and burns to carpets and upholstery.
The poll of 2,000 adults, conducted for the insurance firm, Allianz, follows an increasing trend for teenagers to use social networking websites to organise their festivities.
But sending invitations to house parties on websites such as Facebook can backfire, with reports of hundreds of gatecrashers turning up to some events, damaging property, taking drugs, having sex and stealing money and jewellery.
Parents worry that teenage parties are more likely to get out of control now compared with when they were young, with 65% saying they think it is dangerous for teenagers to advertise their parties on social networking sites.
A third of parents claim they have even monitored their child’s activities on these sites to try to spot if they are planning a party. One in 10 teenagers had used sites such as Bebo and Facebook to organise a party at home.
A third of parents said they would inform another teenager’s parents if they were planning to hold a secret party at their home, while 29% would call the police if a party was getting out of hand on their street.
However, only 31% would stop their son or daughter going to a party at a friend’s house if they thought the friend’s parents did not know about it.
Gareth McChesney, head of home and motor portfolio management at Allianz UK, 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% of adults admitting that they have had to claim for an average of £93 on their insurance after holding a party themselves.
Source : The Telegraph
