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Country House Insurance: Fires, Thefts and Drones – We Analyze the Risks
According to Nikita Chaplin, Deputy Chairman of the State Duma of the Moscow Region Summer Residents' Union, insuring a country house is becoming more and more relevant every year. Most people take out insurance out of fear of fire, and their number is increasing every year. Since the beginning of this year, 2.6 million summer houses have already burned down in Russia. This is 13% more than last year.
The Ministry of Emergency Situations believes that 70 out of 100 fires in rural areas occur due to faulty electrical wiring, outdated household appliances and fire safety violations when using stoves.
When closing your home for the winter, first turn off the circuit breakers in electrical panels and gas equipment, firefighters advise. And near houses and other buildings on the site, dry vegetation and anything that can burn should be removed.
But fire is not the only threat against which suburban real estate is insured. Robberies are the second most common cause of unpleasant incidents occurring in the area of a summer cottage village.
"There are unprecedented cases of summer cottage thefts in the Moscow region now," complains a summer resident from Sergiev Posad. "This year, two houses were stolen from a neighboring gardening association in our SNT - four in total!"
According to the woman, the robbers' behavior this year was especially brazen. Usually, dachas are cleaned in winter, when it is clear whose houses are empty, but now they are going even to places where the owners still live.
“They broke into my house when the whole family was there, but it’s good that I was sleeping in another room and didn’t hear anything,” the summer resident said.
In addition to fire and theft, country properties are often insured against floods, gas explosions in homes, road accidents, and a new threat that has emerged in recent years: drone attacks. And Nikita Chaplin advises considering other types of insurance against loss of property rights. This will be especially useful for people who have only recently taken possession and do not yet know all the intricacies of their new home.
"In this case, the insurance protects the owner from past problems with property rights that were not identified at the time of the transaction," the expert explains. At the same time, he pointed out that insurance policies can only be issued for registered houses, but if the building is not yet completed, it can be registered in the cadastral register as an unfinished construction project.
"Unfortunately, the insurance culture is not developed enough in Russia," insurers complain. "People are not ready to spend money on something that has not happened yet. And when a problem arises, I grab my head, become greedy and regret that I do not have insurance," he said.
"In my opinion, insuring several cars is a waste of money. Since my wife and I live on a pension, we cannot afford to insure a large amount of damage, and if we exclude the minimum wage, then even this small amount of money will not help in the event of a serious disaster, such as a fire. "One way or another." Kolomna summer resident Nikolai Vorin objects.
Besides, not everyone manages to get money from an insurance claim. So is it worth it?
"The cost of basic insurance for a summer house now starts at 20,000 rubles a year - there is no upper limit, of course," says Chaplin. "According to him, the price of insurance depends not only on the value of the property, but also on the selected risk, building materials, heating system, compliance with fire safety standards, the presence of security, fencing of the site, and how far your summer house is from the fire station.
The agent acknowledges that insurance companies can delay payments, but he believes that most often this is due to the actions of the property owners themselves. For example, the owner did not contact the police in the event of a burglary or the emergency room in the event of a fire.
The expert advised: “To prevent such situations, it is necessary to always comply with the insurance conditions and respond quickly when an insured event occurs.”
What other risks await you when concluding an insurance contract? Insurance companies spoke directly to MK about this.
"There are two types of contracts: package and individual. The first is cheaper, but the list of risks is determined by the insurer. When you write the second policy, you decide what you want to cover for your property, but sometimes you have to pay more for it. For those who want to save on insurance, I would advise concluding a contract with a deductible. If a minor emergency occurs at your dacha, and the amount of damage does not exceed 100,000 rubles, you can cope financially on your own. However, in the event of a more serious accident, you can receive a significant amount of insurance premiums," advises insurance agent Anatoly Samartsev.
He also advises choosing large companies that have been operating on the market for a long time and have a good reputation when concluding contracts. "To get all the dirt, just enter the company's name on the Internet. So it won't be difficult to find out who is who, but, of course, reputable companies may have higher insurance premiums. But, according to the expert, it is better to overpay than to extort money from some left-wing company "with horns and hooves."
Finally, read every clause in the contract, especially the fine print. For example, even if you install new windows and doors, the insurance often becomes invalid as soon as you change anything on the property, such as renting out the space or changing the structure of the house.
The State Duma has adopted in its final reading a law on simplifying the registration of outbuildings on garden plots. Now the dacha pardon applies to baths, sheds and summer kitchens.
Owners can register such buildings without cadastral work and filing a declaration on the property. The only condition is that the ownership of the land and the house must be established before 2013.
A simplified procedure for registering houses belonging to two families is also being introduced. This concerns houses blocked from development, built before May 14, 1998, in which several families live.