House Insurance

[nemltd]

We have been insuring our house as a second residence and have just managed to fill it with furniture, after 6 years!

For buildings and contents we have a quote of 30.50 euros per month (32,000 euros contents cover), how does this sound?

Also we are at the stage where we should really try to rent it out to help with the running costs. Does anyone know if we have to have special insurance? What about breakages and stuff that might happen?

[Mr Wiggy]

I have just approached my bank as a result of the ingress of rain during a very heavy downpour only last week, it possibly came through a gully on the roof between mine and the next door’s house and was running down the interior of my wall. An inspection of this gully will now have to be carried out to determine the cause of the ingress to see what action will be required.

At the time I managed to grab as many towels and sheet as possible to absorb all the water that was running down my wall, fortunately the downpour didn’t last more than 10-15 minutes and I managed to contain most of the water which meant the clean-up didn’t take too long.

 

However when I phoned the bank about the leak from my roof, all they wanted was photographic proof of the damage, at this point wires got a bit crossed, and I explained that at my age I had no intention of climbing onto an extremely high roof to take photos because of the danger aspect.

Her reply was, we don’t want photos of the damage to the roof, as the roof is your responsibility??? We only insure the interior and contents of the house.

I was completely dumbfounded to hear these words. I then asked about the fact that they (Crédit Mutuel) have acknowledged the damage caused to roofs during the storms of last February.

 

This to me implies the possibility of double standards. Be aware!!

[Sunday Driver]

If the roof had been damaged as a result of the storms last February, the bank would have expected you to have lodged a claim at that time.  As there has been no previous ingress of water during all the heavy downpours we've experience since February, the bank would appear to be regarding it as a maintenance issue and therefore your responsibility.

 

[velcorin]

As SD says, you would have been expected to report it at the time, otherwise it would be considered a maintenance issue. Our policy has a maximum of 14 days, OK for us at our main home, but not easy for the residence secondaire, we have neighbours who check for us, as we only visit 1-2 times per month, when I always do a visual inspection of the roof. I'd guess it would catch out most holiday home owners as well.

[nemltd]

Mr Wiggy

Are you saying your buildings insurance doesn't cover your roof? Or do you not have buildings cover?

nemltd

[AnOther]

I'm sure it covers it in case of accidental damage such as a storm or falling object etc. but failure due to poor construction or maintenance will not be covered.

If your car engine was damaged as the result of an accident you would expect the insurance to pay for a repair. If, on the other hand, it blew up through lack of oil or water you wouldn't.