Contact Ralph
Compulsory insurances for owners of apartments
As already mentioned, there are insurances that you as a condominium owner must take out by law. However, these are usually covered by the owners' association. As an owner, you should ask your property management company for details.
1. building insurance
Building insurance with fire insurance is one of these mandatory insurances for condominiums. Although the law only mentions fire insurance, it usually also covers tap water, storm and hail.
This insurance is a joint insurance of the homeowners' association, which means that you as the owner do not have to take care of it. Your share for the insurance is automatically included in your statement. You automatically pay for the building insurance as part of your house payment.
2. homeowner and landowner liability
The homeowner's and landowner's liability insurance is another mandatory insurance, which is also listed as mandatory insurance in § 21 of the WEG Act. You do not have to take out this insurance yourself either. It should also be taken out by your property management company for the condominium owners' association (WEG). You also pay for homeowner's liability insurance automatically as part of your homeowner's fee. Usually, the amounts for this insurance are not very high.
This insurance covers damage caused to passers-by who are injured, for example, by black ice or falling parts during a storm.
Our tip: A good property management company must transparently explain which insurance policy has been taken out for the building and at what conditions. In addition, it makes sense from time to time to review the premiums and possibly discuss them at the owners' meeting. Your property manager should usually seek help from external, professional insurance brokers to check your contracts for cost efficiency and completeness.
Ralph will check all your current insurances free of charge on request and can obtain cheaper or better offers for you if necessary. Too often when we take over a new COA, we find that the insurance policies are either overpriced or inadequate. Often we can save WEGs significant costs through our favorable master agreements.
The change to Ralph is uncomplicated.
Other insurances that may be useful
Basically, you don't have to worry about anything if you are part of a WEG. A pro-active property management will check the insurances of your WEG without being asked and will provide you with the active contracts. However, there are other insurances that are not required by law, but often make sense for the WEG as a whole or you as an individual owner.
1. natural hazard liability insurance for WEGs
If the property is exposed to a risk of flooding, landslides or avalanches, it should be discussed within the owners' association whether natural hazard liability insurance is desirable. However, this cannot be taken out individually, but must apply to the entire building. A good property management company can quickly assess the relationship between costs and benefits and make a good recommendation.
However, insurance against natural hazards is relatively expensive. And not everyone is exposed to this risk, so such insurance does not always pay off.
2. household insurance
Household insurance usually covers damage caused by burglary, loss or damage caused by theft or, for example, water damage caused by the dishwasher or washing machine. Regardless of whether you are an owner or a tenant, household insurance for your home is indeed recommended in most cases. You are free to decide to what extent and to what extent you want to take out this insurance and what it should cover.
Our tip: Generally speaking, if you don't keep expensive furniture and objects in your home, you don't need expensive household insurance. However, household insurance is often worthwhile for apartments with an increased risk of burglary (varies depending on the area, first floor apartments are most likely to be at risk).
3. apartment liability insurance
Are you renting out your apartment? Then residential liability insurance could make sense as a supplement to your private liability insurance. Let's assume you or your tenants cause a fire that spreads to the neighboring apartment. Or you are forced to have the entire locking system replaced because the keys have been lost. This can be very expensive for large WEGs.
4. legal protection insurance for owners
It is questionable whether legal protection insurance is worthwhile for owners, because unfortunately, depending on the insurance, many of the matters that are actually urgently relevant are often excluded. If there is friction in the WEG, which you would like to challenge legally, the legal protection insurance often does not step in. You should urgently read the fine print of the contract to see if this is the case.
However, there are special owners' legal protection insurance policies that cover precisely these cases. However, these are usually very expensive. Insurance that specifically covers you against legal disputes with your tenants is often also available separately and may be useful.
5. loss of rent insurance
Which brings us right to the next possible insurance policy, rental default insurance. If you had to take out a large loan to pay for the residential property and are dependent on rental income to repay it, protection against default makes perfect sense. There, not only is the income from the rent covered, but the ancillary costs are covered on top of that. However, it is important to read the fine print carefully, as some things may be excluded.
