Apartment insurance. How it appeared, types and what nuances to consider

In rural areas, a fire usually engulfs the property of only one family, since in the private sector people try to build houses at a certain distance from each other, which prevents the fire whirlwinds from reaching their neighbors. In cities, the situation is radically different. A fire that starts in one apartment can destroy the homes of many families overnight. Moreover, the cause of its occurrence is almost never an open fire: much more often apartments catch fire due to poor-quality electrical work or old wiring. Another misfortune of city residents is flooding. In this case, the neighbor above may either forget to turn off the tap, or turn out to be a victim of circumstances: sometimes problems with the plumbing appear due to old pipes or poor-quality plumbing.

Such incidents bring with them huge losses. People affected by water and fire need to look for new, at least temporary, housing, restore old ones, and also buy things damaged by the elements. In this regard, apartment fire and flood insurance has become one of the most popular types of home insurance.

What is apartment insurance

Home insurance is a standard procedure aimed at creating a relationship between the person insuring the property and the insurance company. It is aimed at protecting the property of the insured from its possible loss, as well as losses associated with various emergency situations.

A person who insures his apartment enters into a voluntary insurance contract with the company and regularly pays for the services of the insurer. A property insurance company issues a policy for the policyholder, which carefully spells out all the clauses of the contract signed by the parties. When a misfortune occurs that corresponds to the insured event specified in the agreement, the person is allocated an amount commensurate with the damage suffered. In this case, the amount of payments in no case can be higher than the amount specified in the agreement.

Each insurance contract is written according to certain algorithms. All of them fully comply with several features:

All insurance contracts have certain validity periods, which can range from 1 month to a year. Short-term contracts are used by people who need to keep their home for a long period of time. In this way they try to protect themselves from risks. The annual policy can be continued by signing the appropriate agreement.
Money is not paid at the first signal: it is necessary to prove that the incident corresponds to the insured event. In this case, the policyholder has to prove that he did everything possible to prevent the development of such a situation. For example, he must show a recording of a call to the rescue service or provide data to an expert commission that determined that the fire occurred in a room that did not belong to the victim. This is necessary in order to prevent fraudsters from receiving considerable sums for deliberately damaging their own property.
There is a certain sequence of actions that are performed to receive payments according to the policy. First, you need to contact the company where you insured your home, and then submit a written application for compensation for damage. Then you must provide the insurer’s employees with all the documents that will confirm that an insured event has occurred. You will have to wait a little, since the company’s specialists will need to carefully study the papers and assess the losses. The period for receiving payments is set by the company, but usually it is 30 days. If the compensation paid by the insurer is significantly lower than the damage received, you can go to court to challenge the decision.
You should not think that the start date of the policy is the moment you receive it. In fact, the contract clearly states the start and end dates of the insurance. If something goes wrong with the property before or after the deadline, no payments will be made.
Insurance of an apartment can be carried out not only by the person in whose name the property is registered. And yet, it is worth remembering that insurance compensation can only be paid to those who are financially responsible for the property according to official documents. If the apartment's layout has been changed, some companies will not undertake to insure it until the redevelopment is legalized.
Insurance costs may vary. Tariffs from different companies have different sizes. In addition, company specialists estimate how much it costs to insure an apartment against fire in each specific case. When calculating the cost of insurance, the insurer takes into account the following parameters: the total area of the housing, the region in which it is located, the list of structural elements of the apartment, the level of interior decoration and utility networks, movable property located in the apartment, the age of construction, the materials from which the house was built, and There is also an additional service that can also be ordered when creating an insurance contract. Additionally, the higher you raise your premium, the higher your insurance benefits will be. The number of risks against which you want to insure your apartment is of considerable importance.
There are a number of exclusions that you need to keep in mind when you decide to sign up for condo insurance. Remember that Russian insurance companies are not able to protect homes located outside the country. In addition, an insurance policy is not issued for housing that is already in disrepair and located in a building intended for demolition. If the apartment contains equipment and equipment that is not in working condition, then it is not taken into account when calculating losses.

"Rosgosstrakh" - Apartment Insurance against Flood, Fire and Theft

Apartment insurance has its own specifics. In addition to the real estate itself and its elements, insurers recommend insuring the property that is located in it, as well as civil liability. After all, in an apartment building they can cause damage not only to the property of the owner, but he himself can cause damage to the property of other residents: a flood, a fire, an explosion.

What most often happens to apartments:

Fires. In 2021, 132,074 fires were recorded, of which 93,678 were residential buildings.
Bays. According to insurers, 9 out of 10 insured events in apartments are flooding.
Theft. Every 12th kidnapping is a burglary.

Most often, insurers recommend insuring an apartment in the following cases:

The apartment is for rent. Moreover, not only the landlord, but also the one who rents the apartment can insure the property.
Left unattended for some time.
Purchased with a mortgage.
Contains expensive property.

In addition, expensive renovations made from exclusive materials should also be considered as a reason for concluding a contract.

Apartment Insurance Programs at Rosgosstrakh - Asset and Prestige

Rosgosstrakh has developed three different products for clients insuring apartments:

“Asset fixed”;
“Individual asset”;
"Prestige".

The table shows the main parameters of these programs.

Fixed asset	Individual asset	Prestige
Purchasing on the website	+	—	+
Purchase in the office	+	+	+
Franchise	+	+	+
Structural parts of the apartment	+	+	+
Exterior decoration	+	+	+
Finishing inside the apartment and various engineering systems	+	+	+
Property	+	+	+
Civil responsibility	+	+	+
Expensive property	—	—	+
Various combinations of insurance objects	—	—	+
Any period of insurance	—	—	+
Risks	Risks	Risks
Fires	+	+	+
Explosions	+	+	+
Accidents	+	+	+
Bays	+	+	+
Vehicle collision	+	+	+
Falling on an object	+	+	+
Lightning strike	+	+	+
Natural disasters	+	+	+
Theft, robbery	+	+	+

Usually the contract is concluded for 1 year, but under the “Prestige” program you can set a period of six months.

Apartment in "Rosgosstrakh" - Policy Cost Calculator

The price of the policy is affected by:

location of the property, including region, city, area of location;
apartment area;
the amount of the insurance premium – that is, how much the apartment is insured for. The larger it is, the more expensive it is;
what elements will be included in the insurance contract - interior decoration, exterior, civil liability, property inside the apartment, its cost.

The insurer's website has a calculator that allows you to calculate the cost of the policy. The calculation itself consists of several stages:

Indicate the city where the apartment is located and the number of rooms in it.

Select a program. You can choose all three programs, or you can choose just one.

Click the icon next to the list to select the coverage amount. For interior decoration, 3 options are available: 300 thousand, 450 thousand and 900 thousand rubles.

As the amount of insurance increases, the price of the policy increases. For example, for coverage of 900 thousand rubles you will have to pay 9,210 rubles.

Next, indicate the policyholder's data: full name, date of birth, passport details, email to which the policy will be sent.

Home property can be insured for an amount from 200 thousand to 1 million rubles, civil property from 40 thousand to 500 thousand rubles, finishing inside an apartment for an amount from 300 thousand to 900 thousand rubles.

Nuances inherent in home fire insurance

Dear readers!

Our articles talk about typical ways to resolve legal issues, but each case is unique. If you want to find out how to solve your particular problem, please contact the online consultant form

What else to read:

Apartment insurance against fire and flooding
How to insure civil liability for apartment owners
Concept and types of property insurance

It's fast and free!

Or call us by phone (24/7):

If you want to find out how to solve your particular problem, call us by phone. It's fast and free!

+7 (495) 980-97-90(ext.589) Moscow,

Moscow region

+8 (812) 449-45-96(ext.928) St. Petersburg,

Leningrad region

+8 (800) 700-99-56 (ext. 590) Regions
(toll-free call for all regions of Russia)
When you decide to insure your apartment against fire, think a little about what you would like to protect first: property itself or civil liability . For maximum protection, you must take out both policies. This will allow you to receive financial compensation for losses due to a fire in a neighboring apartment and not have to pay anyone if the cause is a fire in yours.

When creating an apartment fire insurance contract, a number of factors that create a threat to real estate and the property located in it are taken into account:

Presence of direct combustion. This happens when the fire is in an apartment or the fire spreads to the home from neighbors.
Damages from combustion products entering the apartment. For example, if there was no fire in the apartment, but smoke entered the rooms through the window, from which everything was covered with a black coating.
Losses suffered by property due to the actions of Emergency Situations Ministry employees. For example, if, when extinguishing a fire, they flooded not only the apartments affected by the fire, but also the neighboring ones.

Before signing an agreement on insuring your apartment against fire, do not rush, but carefully read the words. If insurance is provided only against direct burning, then an apartment flooded by firefighters or blackened by smoke will not be counted as an insured event. You can achieve maximum security only by insuring yourself against all possible consequences.

"Rosgosstrakh" - Insurance of Homes and Cottages against Flood, Fire and Theft

Most often, country houses are insured by those who do not live in them permanently. Typical incidents for a country house: floods, fires, natural disasters, thefts, explosions. Mechanical damage also often occurs: falling trees, lighting poles.

This program insures not only the house itself, but also the bathhouse, fences, outbuildings, landscaping elements, self-propelled vehicles, gardening and work tools and equipment.

Home and Cottage Insurance Programs at Rosgosstrakh - Finishing and Elements

On this line, Rosgosstrakh also offers 2 programs:

"Rosgosstrakh-dom "Active". You can insure with it a dacha, house, buildings erected in a gardening partnership, town, village, village, cottage community.

"Rosgosstrakh-dom "Prestige". This program insures private houses with exclusive architecture, interior and exterior design. This includes, at the client’s request, insurance of landscape design, antiques, and collections.

The first program is designed for 1 year, for the second you can choose the duration yourself. The premium can be paid in one go or in installments. Also, under both programs you can insure civil liability.

The website does not have a service for calculating the cost of a home insurance policy, but after registration you can order free delivery to your home or office.

Nuances inherent in home flood insurance

When drawing up a contract, it is worth remembering that you can insure both property and your own civil liability. In this agreement, it is also necessary to carefully check the presence of all possible causes of the insured event. For example, you can flood your neighbors not only when you forget to turn off the tap, but also due to worn-out pipes in the communication system. The most common causes of flooding are:

The appearance of fistulas in the heating system pipes.
Roof leak. In this situation, the blame falls on the management company, but you can get insurance.
Water leakage from pipes due to freezing of existing water.
Leakage of support fittings and other equipment.
The presence of the human factor. That is, such a case occurs if one of your neighbors forgot to turn off the tap.

For maximum security, ask the insurer to include all factors and risks in the contract.

"Rosgosstrakh" - Insured Event in an Apartment and House, What to Do?

Regardless of the type of program purchased, when an insured event occurs, the algorithm of actions is the same:

Contact the responsible authorities and tell them what happened. For example, in case of an explosion, call the Ministry of Emergency Situations or the gas service, in case of a fire - in the department of the State Fire Service, in case of a flood - in the emergency service, DEZ, Housing Department, in case of theft - in law enforcement agencies.
Try, if possible, to stop the destruction of the insured property or reduce the damage caused to it.
Call Rosgosstrakh at 0553 or and report the event.
Preserve the appearance of the event, that is, do not move the damaged property, but leave it in the condition in which it found itself after the insured event occurred.

The next step is to collect documents to receive compensation. Try to keep it within 1 day.

You must submit the following kit:

statement;
passport;
agreement with Rosgosstrakh;
payment receipt;
documents confirming the policyholder's interest in preserving the property;

documents that reflect the fact of the incident. If there was a flood, then you need to obtain a flood certificate from the Housing Office or another housing service. It indicates when and for what reason the flooding occurred, as well as the person involved in this incident. A list of damages is attached to the report. In the event of an explosion, fire, or theft - a copy of the resolution to initiate (refuse to initiate) a criminal case. If the insured object was hit by a vehicle, you must request a certificate of an accident (form 154), a resolution to initiate or refuse to initiate an administrative violation case;
policy.

Let us dwell on the last point in more detail, because depending on the type of property, a different package of documents may be required.

Where can I insure an apartment?

Home insurance is provided by specialized companies. These include Rosgosstrakh, VSK, Ingosstrakh, Sogaz, Tinkoff, and RESO-GARANTIA. All of them have a wide range of services. Here you can choose standard insurance or expand the package of services, make it more limited or raise it to the “Lux” level.

Insurance services are often offered by Sberbank, VTB and other banks. It seems that their offers are profitable and reliable, but in fact, they only offer a standard package that is practically impossible to change.

How to save on insurance

Taking out an insurance policy seems quite expensive. And in fact, if you insure everything and everyone according to a complete list of possible risks (and such a list can be supplemented endlessly), then no money will be enough. Still, there are several ways to make insurance more economical:

Buy package insurance, which is often called box insurance. This is a standard policy, the registration of which does not take into account the cost of the apartment. Such insurance costs less, but the payments for it are also lower.
Take advantage of the franchise. It would seem from which side the deductible relates to insurance. It turns out that this is an opportunity to obtain more complex insurance, in which you cover part of the amounts at your own expense, and the rest is covered by the insurer. The amount may vary. There are cases when the franchise reached several million.
Don't rush to change insurer. Each new year of unused insurance reduces its cost, that is, a reduction factor is used.
Reduce the number of risks. The fewer insurance cases are registered, the lower the cost.

Insuring your apartment against flooding or fire is inexpensive, but it will make you feel more protected. Remember that the insurance company compensates for damage not only to you, but also to neighbors who suffered from your actions. Issue a policy both in the office and using the Internet portals of insurance companies.

How to get insurance against flooding of an apartment

Home insurance is voluntary and includes either a full package, including all possible risks of property damage, or a separate service. This could be, for example, flood insurance.

Before concluding a contract, you need to analyze the work of insurance companies in this market. Here it is important to pay attention not only to the favorable conditions, but also to the reliability and duration of the company’s work. The insurance contract must be carefully studied so that when an insured event occurs, you are not left without compensation.

The most reliable way to protect your apartment and property is full insurance, which includes:

civil liability of neighbors in case of flooding or arson;
all property located in the residential premises;
interior decoration when damaged due to a flood;
destruction of walls, which can occur, for example, from a gas explosion.

All conditions and payments must be spelled out to the smallest detail. Otherwise, the company may recognize the case as uninsurable and refuse to reimburse costs. Note that some insurance agents practice restrictions on flood risks in the form of deductibles. For example, a certain amount of money is agreed upon. Based on the assessment results, a conclusion about the damage caused is given. In a conditional franchise, if the damage is less than the established amount, then the company does not pay anything to the victim; if it is more, then it compensates in full. An unconditional franchise implies payment of an amount regardless of the damage incurred.

Insurance companies offer citizens a range of insurance packages with various functions. The most common are:

Express insurance . It is carried out by concluding an agreement upon the personal appearance of the insurer. It does not require an agent to go to the site and evaluate the property. The insurer itself determines the amount of the insured amount, not exceeding the maximum established by the company. At the same time, the citizen must understand that the amount of contributions will depend on the amount under the contract. In addition, to prove the value of the property, you will need to keep receipts and contracts.
Classic insurance . Here, at the request of a citizen, a representative of the insurance company goes to the house and evaluates the premises and property in it, and a detailed inventory is drawn up. When an insured event occurs, the insurer contacts the company with a contract and a certificate of ownership. There is no need to present receipts or contracts to prove the value of the damaged property. There are practically no restrictions on the sums insured for this type of insurance.

The cost of flood insurance directly depends on:

identified risks;
objects of insurance, their value;
duration of the contract.

At the same time, you can significantly reduce the cost of insurance with counter insurance of neighbors' liability.

Insurance companies set an increasing coefficient for the insurance of rental housing. This increases the cost of the policy by 1.5 times. For example, for a one-room apartment in a house located in a remote area of Moscow, with decent renovation, furniture and household appliances, the annual insurance amount can be set at 7.5 million rubles. Then the insurance premium will be 15 thousand rubles.