Buying property overseas is a big decision and investment, therefore arranging the correct type of property insurance is of vital importance in ensuring that your new home is adequately covered for all eventualities and that the insurance company you opt for is aware of specific requirements.

Whether you intend to live in your new property, use it as a holiday home, or let the property, the levels of cover you may require will differ.

Most Portuguese Insurers now offer a Multi-Risk policy for Buildings and Contents cover in which the normal risks for fire, lightening, storm, theft etc are covered. As you would expect however, limits of cover, policy excesses, and the optional extras vary with different insurers.

It is often the case that when arriving in Portugal owners will choose the quickest option to ensure cover without really understanding what they are paying for or indeed what they are really getting for their money.

Always ask for, at least, the summary of covers in your own language so you know basically what is in place, should the need to claim arise.

Most Portuguese Insurers impose specific conditions on properties unoccupied for more than 60 days per year, in particular items such as valuables, TV’s and similar electrical items where as little as €1500 in total of all of those items is covered in the event of theft!!!

It is always a good idea to take some photos of items or collections in excess of say 1.500€ each in value, so that you have photographic evidence of their existence should they be stolen. Although not all Insurers request this it is still a good idea to give them copies anyway – just in case!

All policies have the basic covers as standard to which various options can be added such as Earthquake, Subsidence, Electrical Risk (to cover power surges etc), outside garden furniture, damage to gardens, All Risk cover etc, which are normally available at extra charge – so check if you need these “extras”.

As Portugal is on Earthquake zone, where many minor tremors are experienced yearly this is a good option to take although it does increase the annual premium quite considerably.

Basic policy excesses vary a lot from Insurer to Insurer – from a NIL excess with one Company to up to 100,00 Euros per claim with others. So if you should be comparing quotations with Companies, lower premiums usually mean larger excesses and also possibly less overall cover so don’t just be guided by price when arranging the protection for your new home.

If letting your property, Public Liability can vary from Company to Company from a basic 25.000 Euros to 250.000 Euros, so be aware of this. Some Insurers offer “top-up” policies where the Public Liability limit can be increased up to 1.500.000€ which some tour operators now insist on.

Should a claim for theft arise the local police must be informed, who then would come to the property, take the necessary details and make a list of stolen items. They will then do a report with all the information which has to be collected from them and forwarded to the Insurance Company, Should Robbery occur, immediately advise your Agent / Insurance Cº. to record this, a claim form will have to be submitted and they will arrange for their assessor to visit the property, his report together with the police report goes to the Insurer then for analysing and subsequent settlement. Should any repairs be necessary to safeguard the house i.e. repair of window – it is a good idea to take a photograph of the damage before the repair.

Other claims such as storm, or water damage, etc are dealt with directly via the Agent or Insurance Company.

A final note, take time and care to details when arranging your home insurance, above all, compare the cover on offer with the different Insurers, don’t be guided purely by the cost, and ask yourself does the policy on offer meet all my specific needs for my house here in Portugal.

David Hills

www.davidhills.com