Home contents and liability insurance

What contents, building and liability insurance each cover

Home contents insurance mainly concerns belongings such as furniture, electronics and clothing. Building insurance covers the structure and its fixtures. The dividing line, however, varies from product to product. Some contents policies also include certain structural elements or items the insured person has lawfully borrowed.

Liability insurance answers a different question: damage you are responsible for causing to someone else. With a tenant, check whether their policy also covers damage to your apartment and to the furnishings you provide. The colloquial term “insurance against stupidity” (pojistka na blbost) doesn’t guarantee that kind of cover.

What to read before signing

Check the address, the insured persons, the sum insured, limits for individual items and the excess. Also ask about exclusions, the security measures required for theft claims and the terms for compensating older items. A low price tells you nothing about whether the cover matches the value of the furnishings.

At the start of the tenancy, agree with the tenant which items are yours and which are theirs. Your policy may not protect the tenant’s belongings, and theirs may not protect yours. Nor will building insurance arranged by the owners’ association (SVJ) cover everything else.

One water leak, several different kinds of damage

To illustrate: the hose on the tenant’s washing machine bursts. The water damages their side table, your floor and the neighbour’s ceiling. Each part of the damage has to be assessed separately according to its cause, who is liable and which insurance applies. So a single call to the assistance line doesn’t mean all the damage is covered. First stop any further damage, then document it and report it.