The house of each person is for him a strong reliable rear, a place where he wants to return daily. Well, or at least it should be. The loss or damage of our own home as a result of an unforeseen event is a great test for each of us. In order for frustration and pain to be as small as possible, one should “foresee” this very case and take measures to eliminate the consequences. This is a concept such as apartment insurance from fire and flooding. This phenomenon in our country is not too new, but also not very popular. This is likely to happen because far from every citizen understands all the advantages of such a policy and the features of its design. Let's bridge that annoying gap.
If you believe the official statistics, then among all the possible damage options that are covered by apartment insurance, floods and fires most often occur. Let's look at each of these situations.
How to insure housing from a fire
It must be clearly understood that the insurance of apartments in our country is absolutely voluntary. Therefore, you are given the full right to introduce into the contract such conditions that you consider acceptable. Of course, if this does not contradict the current legislation and the insurance company does not mind. Before signing the documents, it is necessary to clearly realize that in case of flooding or fire, the insured will interpret any disputed points solely in his favor. Therefore, before signing an apartment insurance contract, you need to carefully study all the details.
First you need to understand what exactly your home or property may suffer from a fire. There can be as many as three options:
- from direct fire;
- from interaction with combustion products;
- from the actions of third parties (fire brigade or neighbors) during the elimination of the source of fire.
The wording and reference to all three options are very important in this case. This will determine what kind of compensation you will receive and on what circumstances it will depend. For example, all the walls and things in your apartment were covered with black soot, which was formed as a result of a large-scale fire that occurred at the neighbors. Plus, firefighters arrived and just in case they filled everything with foam (so that the fire did not spread). Is there no such clause in your contract? You can’t count on compensation.
Much also depends on the actions of the owner of the housing. For example, you will not receive money if you do not follow a certain sequence of actions prescribed in the contract. In case of fire, they may be:
- perform all necessary measures to save their property;
- Call the fire department and call a team of specialists;
- get a certificate confirming the fact of such a call;
- call the insurer immediately to notify him of the accident;
- within three days, submit a written application to the UK.
Only after this, the representative of the insurer is obliged to arrive at the scene of the fire to assess the damage, and all this time you must ensure that the picture remains intact. If you do not agree with the assessment of the insurance agent, invite an independent expert evaluator (at your own expense). This can also be done only until the moment when everything remains in its place.
We insure the apartment from flooding
The Civil Code of the Russian Federation obliges citizens to compensate for losses and losses incurred by them to third parties. That is, if neighbors have flooded you, they should pay for the repair of your apartment. However, in practice it often happens that there is no one to demand damages. And sometimes you yourself may find yourself in the guilty position. Apartment insurance avoids many of these troubles. The contract can be drawn up so that compensation to neighbors whose apartment suffered as a result of a pipe break in your apartment will be paid by the UK.
You always close the taps and nothing like this can happen to you? Do not be so self-confident. Flooding can occur, for example, as a result of a breakthrough in the heating system or a sewer pipe will burst in your apartment from old age. A lot of options. Moreover, it is desirable to prescribe all of them in the contract. It is also worth to indicate by all means whose fault may occur insurance case. And also the fact that in case of trouble, compensation will be issued for damaged load-bearing structures, decoration, personal items and valuable property.
Among the most popular risks are:
- damage to pipes as a result of freezing of water in them;
- the presence of a fistula in the heating system;
- leakage of the main and additional pipelines;
- malfunctioning valves;
- roof leakage;
- others.
As in the case of a fire, you need to carefully read the procedure for the occurrence of an insurance situation:
- take all necessary measures to save property;
- notify the Housing Office, REU or the management company of the fact of flooding;
- Receive written confirmation of such an alert;
- notify the insurance agent by phone;
- in the near future, personally contact the UK with a written statement about the occurrence of this fact.
The application must be accompanied by an act of inspection of the apartment, the findings of the examination about the cause of flooding (it is performed by an external organization for your money or emergency service), and the calculation of the estimated cost of compensation.
Underwater rocks
As you understand, insurance of an apartment against fire and flooding is an extremely important matter. But here you just need to show miracles of foresight. After all, there can be a lot of tricks in home insurance.
For example, if your contract provides only compensation from flooding by third parties, then you will pay for the repair of the ceiling poured through a leaky roof yourself. If a fire occurred as a result of lightning, but there is no such item in the contract, get ready to open a wallet.
Some UK offer to issue a policy only on the “box”, without taking into account the cost of decoration. In this case, you will receive money only if the ceiling collapses or the walls burst as a result of the fire. But you will do the repair for yours.
Particular care must be taken with the exceptions made to the contract. For example, in the policy it is said that SK does not cover losses associated with worn-out wiring or old pipes. In this case, the insurers will try to shift any emergency to you, accusing them of neglecting their property. It will be very difficult to prove the opposite, and you will most likely not see money.
Insurance policy price
It is difficult to unequivocally answer the question of how much the design of a policy costs. Everything will depend on so many factors. Decisive in the formation of the price of the boot are:
- age of housing;
- the degree of deterioration of the supporting structures and communications;
- type of building materials of which the room is made;
- general condition of housing, prescription and quality of repairs;
- general rough estimation of property;
- the presence in the room of valuable items, antiques;
- floor, location;
- state of electrical wiring and plumbing communications;
- absence / presence of a fire alarm system;
- the same with respect to the burglar alarm;
- other factors.
There are also express policies on the market. They are issued online, without inspection of the premises and have a more or less fixed cost. Such policies have many shortcomings, such as a very short list of insurance situations and low amounts of compensation.
The timing
Most often, a policy is issued for a period from a month to a year. If desired, it can be extended or reissued.
A short-term contract is interesting for those who want to protect the house during their absence (vacation, business trip). Such an agreement can be concluded with auto-renewal. This means that the policy is automatically renewed until you write a statement of termination. You just have to pay your dues on time.
Before signing a contract, pay attention to when it comes into force. Most often (almost always) this is not the day it was signed, but some other date. This may be important.
What can you save on
Probably there is no such person who would not want to save. Therefore, you need to understand how to optimize the insurance contract so that its price becomes lower.
- Firstly, you can purchase express insurance, as mentioned above.
- Secondly, you can save by purchasing a franchise policy. This is such a minimum amount of damage that the client agrees to pay himself, without resorting to the help of IC. The larger the deductible, the cheaper the policy.
- Further, you can get a pretty good amount, paying the entire cost of the policy in its entirety. Non-installment customers are very beloved by managers of insurance companies. Most often they are given a big discount and various privileges.
- To reduce the cost of the policy, it is possible to exclude some risks from it. For example, if you live on the ground floor, you do not need to pay the risk that you will flood someone. It is simply not possible.
- Some insurance companies additionally offer simultaneous apartment title insurance. If you are a tenant of the home, and not its owner, this item can definitely be excluded from the contract.
The main thing here is not to overdo it. And in the pursuit of cheapness, it is impossible to cross out anything really important.
Receipt insurance
For some time now a new service has appeared on the insurance market: a receipt policy. Similarly, you can secure your home in case of flooding. The contract takes the form of a public offer. This means that the EPD, which you receive on a monthly basis, has already made a certain amount for apartment insurance. Rating SK in this case does not need to be studied. You will not be able to choose your own insurer. In order to conclude an agreement, you just need to pay the indicated amount at least once. From the first day of the next month, your home will be automatically insured in the insurance company that is indicated on the receipt. To renew the service, you just need to pay this monthly line of expenses that is included in the EPD.
Many people call such a scheme preferential. After all, the amount of the contribution here is very small, about 2 rubles per square meter of area. So, for a three-room apartment, an area of 120 m2 you need to make an additional monthly deposit of 240 rubles. If you change your mind, you can simply not pay the next installment. The contract will be suspended, and no fines or penalties will be charged. But no one will return the paid amounts to you.
Insurers rating
An important issue is where exactly to arrange insurance of the apartment. Rating of insurance companies published annually on various economic resources, including the Bank of Russia website. The leaders of this market segment are:
- SOGAZ.
- Rosgosstrakh.
- RESO.
- Ingosstrakh.
Also, a large number of positive reviews have "Ugoria", "Hephaestus" and some other UK. If you carefully examine customer reviews, you can notice this pattern: the more documents the insurer requires when drawing up the contract,the more problems (mainly bureaucratic) will be upon the occurrence of an insured event.
