The right insurance for your home

If you own your home, you should consider taking out the necessary insurance to ensure that you are adequately protected in the event of damage. But which types of insurance are important for property owners and which policies cover storm damage, for example?

You usually only appreciate good insurance when you need to make a claim. But it’s worth taking a close look from the start, especially if you own your home. Damage caused by adverse weather such as storms, floods and lighting strikes can quickly exceed your budget and lead to financial difficulties. To ensure this doesn’t happen, it’s important to know your way around the insurance jungle and take out the most important policies.

Which insurance covers storm damage?

Damage caused by adverse weather and other so-called natural hazards is covered by buildings insurance. This can include, for example, fire caused by blazes or lightning strikes, hail, storms, flooding, avalanches and weight of snow, rockslides, falling rocks and landslides.

Buildings insurance is obligatory in 22 cantons. However, only the building itself is insured, along with any objects that are part of the actual structure and cannot be removed without causing damage. Furniture and moveable objects are counted as furnishings and must be covered by a separate contents insurance policy. Contents insurance also applies to damage caused by natural hazards and covers the costs incurred if your belongings are impaired. If, for example, your garden furniture has been damaged by hail during a severe storm, this will not be covered by your buildings insurance, but by your contents insurance. To correctly insure yourself against storm damage, both obligatory buildings insurance and contents insurance are therefore required. 

But please note: earthquakes do not count as damage caused by natural hazards, except in the canton of Zurich. Separate insurance is required for this.

What other insurance do I need?

Obligatory buildings insurance does not cover general water damage that is not caused by a natural disaster. Therefore, we highly recommend taking out additional water damage insurance. This covers damage caused by the following:

• Rainwater or melted snow that has penetrated the interior via the roof or an open window and damaged the parquet floor, for example.
• A burst pipe that has resulted in water damage in or to the building.
• Water damage caused by the exposure, repair or closure of burst water and gas pipes, even if these pipes are outside the building.
• A blockage that has formed in the sewage system or ground and seepage water that has penetrated the building interior.
  
  

You should also protect your property and therefore yourself with building liability insurance. This is used when personal injury or damage to property have occurred directly on your land and can be attributed to the inadequate maintenance of the building. Examples of such damage are icy driveways or snow falling from the roof.

Do you want to know more about the different types of insurance for your property? Our free Engel & Völkers insurance guide contains the most important information to help you to select the optimum insurance cover.

Our property consultants will also be happy to answer any other property questions. Please feel free to contact us – we look forward to hearing from you!