HOME INSURANCE

This insurance offers you the peace of mind of knowing that both the structure and the contents of your home are protected against any potential damages. Home Insurance also protects you against possible claims that could be brought by third parties for material or personal damages.

However, what makes Liberty Seguros Home Insurance stand out are the services it offers, services that go beyond the scope of home insurance and that will make your life a little easier.

Main guarantees:

• Fire, domestic accidents due to the action of heat, explosion, self-explosion and direct action of lightning
• Extreme weather phenomena
• Vandalism
• Damage from smoke or soot
• Impact of animals and vehicles
• Falling sonic waves
• Leakage from fire-extinguishing systems
• Water spill damage that includes plumbing and/or masonry costs to locate and repair the fault
• Pipe breakage with no damage caused
• Excess private water consumption by the insured property
• Accidental breakages of glass, windows and mirrors
• Breakages of marble, granite and sanitary ware
• Robbery and damage caused by robberies and theft (inside the home)
• Break-in inside the property
• Theft outside the home
• Electrical damage
• Refrigerated items
• Temporary removal of the insured items
• Costs for salvage, debris removal, sweeping and replacing keys and locks
• Costs for renting housing or temporary accommodation
• Loss of rent
• Damage to garden or trees.
• Cosmetic repairs
• Third-Party Liability/Bonds and deposits
• Home assistance
• Family legal defence/damage claim
• DIY service
• Internet legal defence
• Online privacy protection
• IT support
• Extraordinary risks (insurance compensation consortium)

Before asking about the cost of insuring your home with Liberty Seguros, check that it meets the following requirements:

• The property is in Spanish territory.
• It is not a second home in an unpopulated area which is continuously unoccupied for more than 30 consecutive days a year or at weekends.
• It is not left vacant for more than 180 consecutive days per year.
• The property is in an urban centre or no more than 1 km from an urban centre. This distance will be measured based on usable roads for road traffic. An "urban centre" refers to an urban area with all public water, lighting, sewage and telephone services.
• The property is not intended for industrial and/or commercial activities.
• Content for professional activities does not exceed 25% of the total insured content.
• The property is not under construction or undergoing major renovation and has all of the building and occupancy licences and/or permits.
• The property is made up of external walls, a roof and a load-bearing structure made out of solid and non-combustible materials, and it is not a motorhome, caravan and/or trailer-home.
• The property is not a timeshare, and is not intended for room rentals or sublets, nor is it a property intended for holiday or tourist rentals.
• The property is not a unique and/or listed building of artistic or historical interest.

A multi-risk insurance policy covers the following most important risks:

• Fire damages.
• Weather damage.
• Vandalism.
• Damages caused by water.
• Damage caused by vehicle impacts.
• Breakage of glass:
• Robbery and damages caused by robbery.
• Damage caused to third parties (Third-Party Liability).
• 24 hour home assistance.

The policies do not cover certain risks, such as fires due to an accident involving a person smoking, theft of goods that are outside the home, damage caused by lack of maintenance or superficial damage to window panes.

The date the day the insurance is taken out.

All of the following:

• Walls, ceilings, floors, doors and windows of the insured property and, if any, storage rooms, garages and parking spaces located in the same building as the property or attached to it.
• Fixed installations, which form part of the insured property and are for the exclusive use of the insured party for heating (including boilers, heaters, accumulators, radiators) and refrigeration or air conditioning; water, electricity and gas; sanitary ware, including baths, washbasins, fixed screens, sinks and the like, typically found in kitchens, bathrooms and laundry rooms; telephone lines and installations, devices or security elements.
• Fencing, gates, walls and any other enclosure construction that marks out the border between the insured property and pavements and roads, located on the plot of the insured single-family home.
• Permanent sports installations, swimming pools and recreation areas.
• Fixed radio and television antennae, as well as awnings, blinds, shutters and any other installed closure system, solar panels and streetlights.
• Decorative fittings (such as paintings, wallpaper, plaster, canvases, carpets and parquet flooring), provided that they are attached to the floors, ceilings and/or walls. However, bookcases and fixed facings made out of wood or non-construction materials, which have been put in place in the property on the original walls, will be treated as content for the purposes of this insurance policy.
• Trees, plants and other garden fixtures, if there are any. These items are covered as per the provisions of paragraph 8.4. of the insurance policy.

For jointly owned property, the insurance policy covers the part corresponding to the insured party's ownership share, provided that no joint insurance has been taken out by the co-owners or if this joint insurance is insufficient.

When valuing the property, only the costs of reconstructing or restoring it with similar or equivalent materials when the same materials cannot be used will be taken into account, without taking into account the repercussions of the site and irrespective of the commercial value that it may have.

If you have a mortgage loan, the value of the structure will be that indicated in the appraisal as the insurance value. Otherwise, the reconstruction value of the building and its installations must be indicated.

• Modifications made to the property in order to adapt it for use by disabled people are included.

All items owned by the insured party, family members and other people who usually live in the insured property, including, among others, the following objects:

Furniture, personal belongings and household goods, including objects plated with precious metals and costume jewelry; tools and materials necessary for home repairs, including DIY and garden supplies; electrical appliances and image, sound and electronic devices; ceramic hobs; ornaments and home decorative items, including wall lights and lamps even when they are fixed to the walls or ceilings; groceries and supplies for consumption by the insured party and their family.

They must be valued based on the cost of restoring them or replacing them with other new items with equivalent characteristics and benefits, except for items where a different valuation criterion has been established in this insurance cover.

Furniture and professional equipment when professional activity is carried out in the property and provided that it is still mainly used as a residence.

Jewellery, with the following items treated as such:

• Items fully or partially made out of precious metals, for the purpose of personal adornment.
• Precious or semi-precious stones, whether or not they are set, and pearls, for the purpose of personal adornment.

Valuables, with the items and objects listed below treated as such:

• Works and pieces of art (paintings, antiques and limited-edition series) and craftwork; ivory.
• Carpets and rugs, which have an individual value of over 1,800 euros.
• Silverware and other items made fully or partially out of gold and/or silver, which are not treated as jewellery as they are not intended for personal adornment.
• Precious furs.
• Stamp and/or coin collections. As a combined whole, these collections are treated as a single object.
• Precious-metal bars.

Collections and objects of artistic or historical value will be valued based on their price on the corresponding specialised market.

The premium is the price of the insurance, and its amount depends on several factors in addition to the sums insured, such as security, type of home or location.

If, at the time a claim is made, the sum insured is less than the replacement value of the insured goods, the compensation for any damage that may occur shall be reduced in the proportion in which the insured interest is covered.

Where the sum insured is greater than the new value of the insured property, the company will compensate for the damage actually caused.

Once a year you should check the insured property and decide whether your policy needs to be modified or extended. If you acquire a highly valuable property, you will have to change the coverage of its policy immediately.

Generally speaking, all insurance companies will readjust the insured capital and respective premiums automatically when the policy expiries every year and in the same proportion as the General Price Index. But if highly valuable acquisitions have been made during the year, especially in terms of content, this may not be enough.

If you have bought a flat, you may find that your community has taken out insurance on the building. This type of insurance covers only those breakages, faults, etc., arising from the community per se. For example, if the community's downpipe breaks and water enters neighbours’ properties, then the insurance will pay. But keep in mind that community insurance does not protect areas that are for the private use of your home. For example, if washing machine malfunctions and floods the flat below, then if you don't have a home insurance policy, you will have to pay for the damage.

Your insurance will also have to cover storage rooms, garage spaces and in general, any areas that even though they are not part of your main living quarters, are in the building for your private and exclusive use.

The difference between these three types depends on the degree of violence with which the act is committed. Robbery is when things are done with force, violent robbery is when things are done with force and/or people are treated violently or intimidated, and theft is when property is seized without things being done with force or personal violence or intimidation.

One of the characteristics of the mortgages granted by Bankinter is that approval is conditional upon taking out home Insurance through our broker or another insurance company to cover the structure capital stated in the mortgage appraisal. The policy must also include a clause assigning all rights to Bankinter. This because if there is a loss, such as a fire, the bank would lose the property, which is the mortgage collateral. In line with mortgage regulations, mortgage risks have to be insured. This demands a guarantee to cover any possible loss.

As a general rule, a home insurance policy is taken out to cover the losses that may occur due to a loss affecting assets which have an insurable interest. As the structure is owned by another person in this case, it is not in your interest to insure it, however, if you want to insure it you can do so. You would however have an insurable interest in the contents, which you are advised to insure.

You can take out the insurance policy with another company as long as the mortgage option clause includes Bankinter as the beneficiary and the insured capital matches the insurance value as stated in the appraisal.

Damage shall be appraised separately for the new for old value and the actual value, subject to the following rules:

• Buildings must be appraised according to the new construction value at the time before the loss, and the actual value is determined by deducting the difference between the new and old value due to use and condition.
• Furniture, furnishings and installations are valued according to the new market value at the time prior to the loss, and the actual value will be determined taking into account appropriate deductions for use, degree of use and condition. If there is no equivalent on the market, other items with similar characteristics and performance will be used for the valuation.
• Jewellery, works of art and all kinds of valuable objects insured for specific amounts must be valued by the sums insured, unless, due to a mistake, the estimate is substantially higher than their real value for the time the loss occurred as established by an expert.

Once the total economic amount of the losses suffered in the claim has been evaluated, the insurer is notified. From then on, it has 40 days to pay the insured party the minimum amount of the claim.