Taking out insurance for an apartment is compulsory when you are the tenant or owner of an apartment that is part of a joint ownership. On the other hand, the insurance of a rental apartment will not meet the same rules as a insurance for an owner-occupied or even vacant home. Discover everything you need to know to be well insured.
Do you have to insure a rental apartment?
In terms of insurance for a rental apartment, the owner and the tenant are not subject to the same rules. Indeed, the first has an interest in covering at least his civil liability (the insurance of his liability is compulsory if his accommodation is part of a joint ownership) whether he is an occupant or not, while the second must take out insurance for rental apartment covering at least rental risks (fire, water damage and explosion).
Tenant’s apartment insurance
Among his various duties, the tenant has the obligation to take out home insurance for his rental . Taken out with the insurance company of his choice, the insurance of the rental apartment must at least cover the tenant against the risks for which he must respond, namely rental risks. These are mainly fire, water damage and explosion originating within the dwelling. The tenant must also justify on several occasions to the lessor (the owner or the agency in charge of the rental) that he has rental insurance for his apartment :
upon handing over the keys;
Please note: in the case of a seasonal rental or company accommodation, the tenant is not obliged to provide accommodation. On the other hand, he may be required to compensate the owner of the premises if he is responsible for a claim, hence the interest in taking out insurance despite everything to cover the financial consequences that this may cause. Before that, do not hesitate to check your home insurance because it is likely to cover you in the case of a seasonal rental thanks to the holiday guarantee.
Terminate the lease: if the lease provides for a so-called “rescission” clause, the lessor can send the tenant a summons by bailiff so that he can take out insurance. If the situation has not changed one month after this dispatch, the lessor can take legal action to have the lease terminated and order the eviction of the tenant. In the absence of a resolutive clause, rental insurance for the apartment (1) .
Take out insurance on behalf of the tenant: the lessor can also send him a registered letter with acknowledgment of receipt to indicate that he wishes to take out home insurance for his tenant . If the latter has still not taken out insurance one month after receipt of this letter, the lessor can take out a contract himself, before deferring the amount of the contributions to the amount of the rent. It may also apply an increase to the amount of the annual premium, also recovered from the amount of the rent, within the limit of 10% of its value (1) .
Flat share insurance
The rules of shared accommodation are similar to those of rental. In fact, taking out home insurance for shared accommodation is compulsory to cover rental risks, such as fire, water damage and explosion. From a legal point of view, it is sufficient for only one roommate to take out home insurance for the shared apartment to be guaranteed and for the insurance obligation to be fulfilled. In this case, it is imperative that each roommate is insured for civil liability because,
To be better protected, it is therefore preferable that each member of the joint tenancy be insured. For this, three solutions are possible:
In the case of an owner, taking out home insurance is only compulsory if the accommodation is located within a condominium, which is generally the case for apartments. The landlord’s apartment insurance must cover at least his civil liability (4) , which does not remove the obligation for his tenant to take out home insurance covering at least rental risks.
Although they are not mandatory, other insurance taken out by the owner for the rental of an apartment can be useful in order to be better protected. There are mainly two of them.
PNO insurance: in addition to insuring the civil liability of the owner, which is the legal minimum in the case of a property in joint ownership, the insurance for non-occupant owner (PNO) can include many other guarantees. In particular, it can cover damage caused to your accommodation following a covered loss, loss of rent resulting from a covered loss or even damage caused to furniture that you have made available to the tenant (5).
taken out by the landlord, this insurance for the rental of an apartment provides cover in the event of non-payment by the tenant or damage to the accommodation caused by the tenant (5) . Furnished or unfurnished rental home insurance
The Law for Access to Housing and Renovated Town Planning, better known as the Alur Law, harmonized the rules for home insurance for furnished and unfurnished housing
The claims covered by the insurance of an apartment will mainly depend on the type of contract taken out and the guarantees provided for in the contract. Find below the three main contracts that it is possible to take out to insure an apartment, as well as the guarantees that generally compose them.
The nature of the apartment: surface area, number of rooms, outbuildings, floor, geographical location, value of the goods within the accommodation, equipment (fireplace, stove, etc.), use of the property (ental, main residence, secondary residence, etc