INSURING YOUR PROPERTY

This is very important as your Bulgarian property is inaccessible to you personally for the majority of the time.

The insurance policy usually covers both the apartment itself and also the contents. We had a number of quotations, and found that not only did prices vary considerably, but on examination, so did the cover.
Some policies are all singing, all dancing and include every eventuality, and others just cover basics and if you want to add specific eventualities, it then costs extra.

We initially used a Bulgarian company, Halifax Consultancy Ltd who recommended we take out our insurance with HDI.

We found them to be responsive, helpful and communicative as they speak good English. We therefore would have no hesitation in recommending them if you are insuring your property purely for yourself, family and friends. Contact Natalia Nikolova or Theo Stamose.

However, we have recently been informed that to rent out our ski apartments we will need to have third party liability insurance. Unfortunately insurance taken out with a Bulgarian company does not give adequate cover for third party liability. A typical figure in Bulgaria is around 10,000 euros. In the unfortunate event of a short term tenant having an accident in your apartment it may be possible to take legal action outside of Bulgaria. It is therefore essential that you are covered by UK law. There are a number of UK companies providing third party liability insurance giving protection up to £2 million. However to obtain this, you will need to take out buildings and/or contents cover.

The company we now use is Underwoods Insurance in Gwent, South Wales, who provide us with the necessary cover. Underwoods Insurance provide Hiscox policies which offer the following advantages:

• Includes weight of snow which is excluded by many other insurers
• Does not require the owner to maintain a specific temperature or drain the water during the winter months whilst the property is unoccupied
• Provided there is an intention for the property to be used by the insured theft cover is not restricted to evidence of force and violence being used to enter or exit the property. This means if the keys should get into unauthorised hands and the contents of the apartment are removed the claim would me met.
• Due to currency fluctuations and clients being unable to calculate an accurate rebuild cost of an apartment Hiscox will now rate the premium on the size in square metres however the client will be given a rebuild cost of £250,000 per apartment

Alternatively, contact Bev Reardon at Underwoods on Tel: 01633 247742
or email at info@overseaspropertyinsurance.co.uk. please quote ref: Bulgaria Buyer when calling.

Page last updated: 24th March 2010