House Insurance ItalyHouse Insurance Italy House Insurance in Italy is often forgotten but before you buy it is well worth deciding how you intend to insure your new holiday home. On this page we provide some top insurance tips to help you to make the right decision.
Insurance is not obligatory unless you have a mortgage in which case the lender will require you to have insurance for the property. In terms of insuring a house and getting a bond it is often easier to do this in your home country if the property is to be used as a holiday home. In the UK their are a number of reputable insurance firms offering both house insurance and mortgages. The advantages of insuring in this way are numerous but two of the most important are: 1) House Insurance claims are often settled quicker through UK, Northern European and US insurance companies. 2) It is a lot simpler to have insurance policies in your own language and the handling of claims is invariably easier. It is important to note that you should use one insurance company for both household content insurance and building/house insurance in order to avoid conflicts between the insurance companies in the case of a claim. Building insurance is the most important – try to make sure that storm damage and natural disasters are covered and that the amount insured for covers the rebuilding cost. Earthquakes will always be excluded from insurance policies as they are covered by the Italian government. If you own an apartment then building insurance is included in your service fee but third party insurance is advisable. Contents Insurance is always a good idea but not essential and the insurance company will insist on many conditions like burglar bars etc being met. Valuables are virtually never covered and so many conditions and exclusions exist that I have never bothered to cover our valuables. So many Italian insurance companies have house insurance policies that seem designed to find loopholes to get out of paying no matter what and understanding the insurance small print in English is bad enough let alone in Italian. The result is that, even if you pay a slightly higher premium to a company in your own country, it is likely to be a better option. It is not a forgone conclusion that premiums will be higher in your own country for house insurance. Italy has very high insurance premiums generally and insurance companies in the UK and Holland often have lower insurance premiums than available in Italy and offer far better service. Many UK companies are specialized in holiday homes insurance and Italian household insurance companies often seem reluctant to pay out on claims involving holiday homes.
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