Take out home insurance directly

Buildings insurance is insurance that covers damage to your home. Build-up means anything that cannot be removed without damage to your own home. A large number of possible causes of damage are insured. For example:

• fire and/or extinguisher damage
• smoke and soot damage
• damage caused by explosion
• Flooding (no dike failure)
• lightning strike
• storm (from wind force 7)
• precipitation and frost
• burglary and theft

Property insurance covers everything attached in and to the house. These include pipes, central heating, the bathroom and toilet. Damage you cause to your house is not insured. For this you need all-risk coverage. In general, damage is only compensated if it is an 'uncertain event'. Damage caused by, for example, an earthquake, atomic nuclear reaction or volcanic eruption are excluded. Now, a volcanic eruption will not occur in the Netherlands, but if you live in a province where earthquakes do sometimes occur, it is wise to take this into account when taking out building insurance. It helps to look carefully at the terms and exclusions. Even if your house has special features, such as stained glass.

Property insurance is always useful, but if you are trying to get a mortgage for a purchase home, property insurance may be required. Fire can completely destroy your home. This can put you in a lot of trouble. In the worst case, you will no longer have a home, but still have a mortgage debt of possibly hundreds of thousands of euros. To prevent problems, the bank providing the mortgage imposes the obligation to take out building insurance.

For buildings, there are four coverages you will often encounter, namely:

• the fire cover
• Comprehensive cover (often abbreviated to UGV)
• the extended risk cover plus (UGV+)
• the all-risk cover (often mentioned most extensively)

Through Alpina (a also most other intermediaries), fire coverage and UGV coverage are no longer available. Simply because we don't want you to face any surprises in case of damage.

With the UGV+ cover, there is coverage for all occurrences, which are mentioned in the policy values. With all-risk cover, all incidents are covered unless they are excluded in the terms and conditions. There can be great differences here.

It is therefore important to carefully examine the policy conditions, as the exact coverage may differ per insurer. The most common damages (such as explosion, fire, lightning strike, falling trees) are insured under both the UGV+ and the all-risk cover.

Often, the costs of preventing further damage are also covered, as well as the costs of cleaning up damage. These are often reimbursed up to a maximum amount. See also our article "What exactly is the coverage of a building insurance".

Through Alpina, you can purchase two coverages for your home insurance: basic coverage and all-risk coverage. To find the best buildings insurance, it is important to look carefully at your personal situation. What type of home do you have? What is the reinstatement value? There is underinsurance when the actual rebuilding value of your home is higher, than the value you have insured. This can cause problems in the event of a claim. With many insurers you can insure yourself against underinsurance. Often you have to fill in the reinstatement value meter at predetermined moments. These moments can differ from one insurer to another.

Through our online comparison tool you can easily calculate the premium for your home insurance. To do so, you need to enter some information about your home, such as the year of construction and the type of home. Then you can compare different insurers. Pay attention not only to the price, but also to the content. Look carefully at all policy conditions and exclusions, so you can be sure that you take out the best home insurance.

You can find cheap building insurance by comparing different insurers. You should also look at the deductible. With every insurance you can have a deductible.
A deductible means that in case of damage, you have to pay for part of the damage yourself. There is a difference between a mandatory and a voluntary deductible. With home insurance there is usually no compulsory excess. If there is a compulsory excess, this is often an amount around €100 or €150. Some insurers allow you to choose your own deductible. With a voluntary excess, you can choose how high your excess is. The higher your deductible, the lower the premium.

If you live in an apartment complex with other residents, you most likely have an Owners' Association (VvE). The VVE ensures that joint maintenance is performed on the apartment complex. As residents, you pay a monthly contribution to the VVE. The VVE also provides property insurance for the entire building. So you don't have to arrange this yourself. In principle, building insurance does not differ much from individual insurance. Both cover the same types of damage. The difference? With the VvE, every resident is covered by the same buildings insurance.

Home insurance for a community association