What happens if my apartment building is destroyed?

Petyr Baelish

If I own an apartment and the building were to be destroyed by fire, structural failure or perhaps condemned, what would happen?

I know that's a very vague question and there are probably many answers depending on circumstances but I'm interested to know how this works and would home insurance cover some of the scenarios above?

Franz Von Peppercorn

The building will have block insurance. You would pay into that as part of the management fees.

That covers insurance claims in the common areas and anything that affects the building. I don’t think you would get a mortgage if the block weren’t insured.

Askthe EA

Petyr Baelish wrote: »

If I own an apartment and the building were to be destroyed by fire, structural failure or perhaps condemned, what would happen?

I know that's a very vague question and there are probably many answers depending on circumstances but I'm interested to know how this works and would home insurance cover some of the scenarios above?

Yup, block policies have cover in the 10s of millions of euro.

Petyr Baelish

Thanks, I didn't know that.

Sleeper12

Askthe EA wrote:

Yup, block policies have cover in the 10s of millions of euro.

Does apartment owner still need separate insurance for contents or would block insurance pay for more than just rebuilding the actual building? I'm thinking kitchen units, bathroom fittings and then general furniture?

pinkypinky

Yes, you still need contents' insurance

Lantus

You should have block insurance which the omc purchases each year. This will insure the building including your apartment. The policy covers everything there from day 1 when you first walked in assuming you bought new. It also provides emergency accommodation, but not for tenants, just owners where building is uninhabitable.

You should have full contents insurance for all your stuff.

You can get details of the policy from your omc. Depending on your block the premium will be between 5k and as much as 50k or more each year paid through service fees.

hawkelady

Also the excess for claiming on block insurance can be anywhere between 2.5k-10k so it would not be prudent to claim for a leaking shower (unless it's on the top floor of a 10 story building and it's been leaking for a month) !!

Samuel T. Cogley

Petyr Baelish wrote: »

If I own an apartment and the building were to be destroyed by fire, structural failure or perhaps condemned, what would happen?

Condemned wouldn't be covered by insurance, it's up to the OMC (Owners) to maintain a proper sinking fund and make sure the place is properly maintained.

Lantus

Samuel T. Cogley wrote:

Condemned wouldn't be covered by insurance, it's up to the OMC (Owners) to maintain a proper sinking fund and make sure the place is properly maintained.

Structural failure could be a grey area as well. A building defect this could be classified as which is also exempted.

Check the policy! The omc should spend a lot of time discussing these with the insurers.