Apartment Insurance - any options?

amira

I own an apartment - apart from all the negative connotations that it implies (got ripped off, everyday my negative equity is increasing, so is my mortgage, hate the neighbours, dont even want to talk about the mgmt co...) my main concern is now - the insurance.

There is a 'block insurance' that i'm paying religiously every year as part of my maintenance fees.. which i may as well should be saving as there is a 2000 eur excess fee so if anything happens i most definitely be paying whatever repairs are needed from my own pocket..

I'm also paying contents insurance, for all my stuff, that is..

My problem is.. these two insurances don't even cover the entirety of my apartment.. had a problem with my water tank and i had to replace it myself, none of the insurance policies covered it. I'm having a problem with the water pump now, just to find out that, again, none of the insurance cover water pumps.. The damage the water caused to the floor i couldnt claim to the block insurance coz it wasn't over 2000 eur worth of damage, so, what was the point?

So.. what happens if there's a fire in the kitchen.. will my furniture and appliances be covered? by who?? and what about the million of things that can happen? i just think i'm paying insurance for nothing!!

Anyways.. my question is in general.. i just put it out there.. what options do us, apartment owners, have regarding insurance 'loop holes'? To what authorities are we supposed to go to demand full cover? To demand less excess? to demand some support? To demand some help?? Is there anything we can do at all? Do we have any options? or are we just damned for as long as we have the apartment - which in the current situation - that as well may be 'eternity'!! ??

Paulw

amira wrote: »

So.. what happens if there's a fire in the kitchen.. will my furniture and appliances be covered? by who?? and what about the million of things that can happen? i just think i'm paying insurance for nothing!!

Anyways.. my question is in general.. i just put it out there.. what options do us, apartment owners, have regarding insurance 'loop holes'? To what authorities are we supposed to go to demand full cover? To demand less excess? to demand some support? To demand some help?? Is there anything we can do at all? Do we have any options? or are we just damned for as long as we have the apartment - which in the current situation - that as well may be 'eternity'!! ??

Block insurance you MUST have. It covers the property. Without it, you're technically in breach of your mortgage.

With your kitchen fire, the contents (appliances, etc) should be covered on your own contents insurance.

Full cover? There is no such thing. Every policy has an excess. The more you pay for the policy, the smaller the excess is. The more claims you have, the larger the excess is and the higher the policy cost.

Many insurers won't now cover water damage in apartment complexes. This is due to high numbers of claims.

So, with management companies, they want to keep the premium low (don't want high management fees), so they increase the excess.

If you don't like the situation - become a director of your management company and then you can discuss with the insurance company exactly what you want. It just might shock you in to reality.

the groutch

probably no use now to the OP, but could something like this be covered by Homebond?

dekbhoy

amira wrote: »

I own an apartment - apart from all the negative connotations that it implies (got ripped off, everyday my negative equity is increasing, so is my mortgage, hate the neighbours, dont even want to talk about the mgmt co...) my main concern is now - the insurance.

There is a 'block insurance' that i'm paying religiously every year as part of my maintenance fees.. which i may as well should be saving as there is a 2000 eur excess fee so if anything happens i most definitely be paying whatever repairs are needed from my own pocket..

I'm also paying contents insurance, for all my stuff, that is..

My problem is.. these two insurances don't even cover the entirety of my apartment.. had a problem with my water tank and i had to replace it myself, none of the insurance policies covered it. I'm having a problem with the water pump now, just to find out that, again, none of the insurance cover water pumps.. The damage the water caused to the floor i couldnt claim to the block insurance coz it wasn't over 2000 eur worth of damage, so, what was the point?

So.. what happens if there's a fire in the kitchen.. will my furniture and appliances be covered? by who?? and what about the million of things that can happen? i just think i'm paying insurance for nothing!!

Anyways.. my question is in general.. i just put it out there.. what options do us, apartment owners, have regarding insurance 'loop holes'? To what authorities are we supposed to go to demand full cover? To demand less excess? to demand some support? To demand some help?? Is there anything we can do at all? Do we have any options? or are we just damned for as long as we have the apartment - which in the current situation - that as well may be 'eternity'!! ??

find out about homebond , every apartment is covered by this ...... if the water pump was installed by the builder then you can claim. i did it myself for a leaky water pump. i actually employed a co. to do all the paper work for me , on a no win no fee basis , they claim for things you wouldnt think about ie paint damage etc.

Paulw

the groutch wrote: »

could something like this be covered by Homebond?

No, Homebond doesn't cover water damage. Homebond is only of use if there are structural issues due to the builder.

amira

well, my point was that some kind of higher regulation should be put in place for people with apartments.. the insurance cover are a joke.

Apartments in the last few years were built in 2 days and with the lowest quality ever, but for people like myself, it was the only thing we could afford about four years ago.. today, we're in negative equity, stuck with a small, poor quality apartment for life and we have to pay now for all the mistakes they did building the apartment..

I understand the more claims the more excess.. but it should be understood that all the claims in the development have been caused by the poor quality building.. it is not our fault the apartments were built like sh*t.. yet again, we have to pay now for all of that.

Homebond does cover very little, block insurance cover little as well, and contents well.. contents are covered relatively.. i know if i move out i wont take my water pump with me.. but if it's not considered part of the structure of the apartment.. it should be cover by one or the other..

And what would you call the instalation of the flue that release steam from the boiler? that one was installed at an angle, when it should have been just 90degrees angle from the wall, the water from the rain and from the overflow pipe on the apartment upstairs (placed just straight on top of the flue) was going straight into the flue, it leaked inside the boiler and i needed a repair.. Nobody was made responsible for the flue pipe being installed wrong.. Homebond said it wasn't structural?? again,, i had to pay all the repairs from my own pocket..

I'm just saying that it's not fair that we have to cover all of the most common repairs when we are paying for 2 types of insurance.. It is not like this in other countries, and as i said, some kind of regulation should be put in place for this newly built rip off apartments ..

Paulw

Sorry, I'll have to disagree with you on many issues there.

Let me clarify, I own/live in an apartment in Dublin, built in 2005.

In our development, there have been a good number (5-6) issues with flooding (not caused by nature) since the place was built. So far, any that were caused due to poor workmanship by the developer were paid for by the developer. We (the management company) threatened legal action should they not resolve or pay for resolution of, the problem.

Some issues were caused by residents, doing DIY, improper use of the systems, etc. Many made claims on the block insurance to recover/repair faults. These have greatly increased our premium and also forced up the excess.

At our last AGM, we took a vote - higher premium or else much larger excess. We decided to pay for the higher premium and keep the excess as low as we could.

Insurance companies never like paying out (and I don't blame them).

I can only speak from my own direct experience (being a director of our management company).

Everyone needs to have their own contents insurance. Such a policy would never cover unit facilities such as water pumps, boilers. They should be covered on the block insurance, but yet, the excess would make it ineffective to make a claim.

Our development was fairly well built. It's solid. We have had issues with plumbing, but nothing that wasn't easy enough to fix, at a minimal cost. But, in saying that, a good snag/survey before buying did highlight potential issues to me. I bought a top floor unit, to negate many risks.

goodie2shoes

Paulw wrote: »

No, Homebond doesn't cover water damage. Homebond is only of use if there are structural issues due to the builder.

homebond is about as much use as tits on a bull.

The_Conductor

goodie2shoes wrote: »

homebond is about as much use as tits on a bull.

So too is responding a zombie thread. Thread closed.