The choice of your housing contract depends on many criteria: the nature and size of the accommodation, your personal needs in relation to your lifestyle, the value of the movable property that must be covered, the additional options to deal with the specific risks of your region…
Why should you take out home insurance?
For many individuals, taking out home insurance is simply mandatory! Indeed, as far as tenants and co-owners are concerned, taking out insurance is not an option: the regulations in force require them to subscribe (at least) to the basic contract covering civil liability, i.e. damage caused to third parties in the event of a claim in the occupied accommodation, and likely to affect other property. Owners of individual dwellings (houses) are not affected, however.
Nevertheless, even for individuals who still have the choice of whether or not to take out insurance, having such protection against the various risks incurred is strongly recommended. In the event of fire, water damage, or theft with degradation, the cost of renovating the property and replacing missing possessions can be extremely high. Very often inaccessible for modest households! The possibility of obtaining a refund, even if only partial, is already in itself an appreciable progress…
For the occupants of a dwelling, it has thus become customary to subscribe to a so-called multi-risk contract, which allows them to benefit from standard cover against the most frequent risks. This contract contains several integrated guarantees, and provides for the possibility of opting for additional optional guarantees, on a case-by-case basis.
Guarantees generally included in basic contracts
With all insurers, the basic guarantees of a multi-risk contract contain on the one hand the compulsory civil liability, plus the guarantees against the main risks (water damagetheft, vandalism, fire, bad weather).
- Public liability: its role is to compensate neighbors or other third parties suffering damage due to a disaster started in your home, this compulsory guarantee is particularly useful if ever a fire spreads to the floor or if a major water leak floods the apartments below.
- Water damage: given that the rupture of a tap or pipe is the most frequently occurring claim, this is an essential guarantee, which is always integrated into the basic contracts. Insurers offer extensions to include facade infiltration and rising damp.
- Fire: this guarantee covers damage caused by fires in your home, and can be extended to include electrical damage caused by faulty equipment. Be careful though, as some contracts only cover damage caused by flames. Check this point to incorporate smoke damage as well, for better protection!
- Burglary: essential in large cities and tourist resorts, this guarantee compensates you in the event of theft in the accommodation, but also vandalism. Several formulas are proposed to determine the maximum amount reimbursed. In high-end housing, insurers require security measures (alarms, complex locks, bars) to trigger the guarantee.
- Broken glass: this guarantee concerns windows broken by projectile jets. It also concerns the possibility of a broken window during an attempted theft, but only if nothing was stolen. Otherwise, the previous warranty is activated.
- inclement weather: this is protection in the event of housing flooding, roofs or windows damaged by hail and falling trees, or a building destroyed due to a landslide or an avalanche. If the property is in a “risk area”, a specific option must be taken out.
Additional guarantees for a tailor-made contract
Through your insurance contract, you can also select special guarantees to cover your specific needs. One can imagine for example: a guarantee for garden furniture or swimming pool equipmenta guarantee for certain particularly valuable movable property (jewellery, paintings), a guarantee for all your electronic devices and your home automation solutions, a guarantee for a garden shed or DIY workshop separate from the house, but located on the same land …
By adding these optional guarantees, you have the possibility of benefiting from a personalized contract, truly tailor-made, which corresponds 100% to your situation. It is up to you to decide which guarantees are important for you, in order to benefit from the optimal coverage, when signing the contract.
(By the editorial staff of the hREF agency)
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