Home insurance in Cyprus in 2024. Best home insurance in Cyprus.

Home insurance in Cyprus

Your home might be your most significant investment. Carrying home insurance and understanding what your policy covers could prove to be essential if you suffer from a covered risk.

In this guide to home insurance in Cyprus, we will highlight what types of home insurance you can find in the country and what each covers.

Additionally, we will cover what is excluded by most home insurance contracts, how to compare contracts and help you to find the best home insurance in Cyprus.

Table of contents

What does home insurance cover?
Types of home insurance in Cyprus
Home and contents insurance
Home insurance exclusions
Home insurance compare
Online home insurance in Cyprus
Cheap home insurance in Cyprus
Best home insurance Cyprus
How to save money on your home insurance
Home insurance cost
Home insurance in Cyprus quote

What does home insurance cover?

Home insurance is all about protection: for your property and your belongings.

Home insurance policies are generally “package policies,” which contain various coverages to protect your property from damages while shielding you from liability.

The following section of our guide goes into detail about what most policies cover.

Home’s content. This insurance covers the contents of your home.

Home’s content coverage can help pay for covered damage and loss from events such as a burglary, fire, or certain weather events. It can help you pay for replacements and repairs.

Home and contents insurance

Home and contents insurance protects the contents of your home from covered damages and loss.

Sometimes called personal property insurance, it provides coverage for the replacement or repair of your covered goods.

To be fully protected by your home insurance and avoid misunderstandings about what is covered, it’s wise to estimate what it would cost to replace your belongings.

Note: You need to calculate the face value cost of the items and not their current value, as the insurance compensates items on their acquisition value.

For example, if you bought a smartphone for €900 and it now costs €100 to sell it, the insurance will still pay €900.

If you are unsure how to calculate the estimated value of your belongings, you can speak with one of our experienced insurers to help determine the amount.

Most standard home and contents insurance covers common household items, such as:

Furniture
Electrical appliances
Personal possessions

Additionally, extra coverage can be purchased for costly items, such as:

Professional tools or equipment
Hobby or gym equipment (such as bicycles)
Valuables (such as artwork, antiques, and jewellery)

Note: Most insurance companies will ask you to declare your valuable items worth more than €3000. For such items, you must present certificates of authenticity and receipts (for expensive items, such as collectables, jewellery, and artwork).

In addition to the above items, you should declare any objects outside your home that might need coverage, for example.

Annexes
Antennas
Solar panels
Garden furniture

Home’s structure. This type of insurance covers the structure of your home. Also known as dwelling coverage, it covers property damage and helps to pay for repairs or reconstruction.

It can also pay for living expenses if you need somewhere to stay after covered events damage or destroy your house. Some covered events and damages include fire, earthquakes, vandalism, landslides and floods. Cyprus is in a seismically active zone with catastrophic earthquakes occuring every 5 - 7 years.

Loss of use. If your property becomes inhabitable due to a serious damage (i.e. fire, earthquake etc.), this cover can help you pay for a temporary accommodation while your house is being rebuilt or repaired.

Most home insurance contracts in Cyprus do not include loss of use. It is sold as an additional coverage.

Employers liability insurance. This coverage protects you from work-related claims made against you by anyone working in your home (such as a babysitter or maid).

It can help to pay for medical bills associated with injuries they sustain while working for you or pain and suffering if they become unwell.

Employers liability insurance will ensure you don’t have to pay out-of-pocket compensation costs if the worst-case scenario arises.

Home insurance personal liability. We all face the risk of personal liability, so most standard home policies in Cyprus come with liability protection.

This portion of the policy protects you in case someone gets hurt while visiting your house or if you are found at fault for causing damage to someone else’s property. Visitors can be any guest or professionals providing services in your house (i.e. gardeners, electricians, plumbers etc.).

The number of lawsuits in Cyprus initiated by house guests increased by 250% in the last five years in Cyprus. Home liability insurance is a wise choice to help shoulder costly claims.

Types of home insurance in Cyprus

In Cyprus, the following types of home insurance are available.

Homeowners insurance

Standard homeowners insurance is designed for those who permanently live in their house, as opposed to temporarily living there and renting it.

Most homeowners insurance in Cyprus covers certain damages and losses (i.e. fire, earthquake, flood and theft). The covered risks are analytically presented in the wording of the contracts.

There are also all-risk contracts which are considered the premium homeowners insurance policies. "All risks" refers to a type of home insurance that automatically covers any risk that the contract does not explicitly excludes. All-risk contracts are usually 15% - 25% more expensive but they compensate 45% more claims.

Most contracts contain also home liability cover for guests. The average standard coverage is 50,000 euro.

Landlord insurance

This insurance protects a landlord’s rental property and contains personal liability coverage.

As a landlord, liability coverage will help to pay for legal expenses if you face a lawsuit for damages or injuries that are your fault.

For example, if a tenant sues you after tripping over broken flooring and injuring themselves, liability coverage will help pay medical and legal fees.

Like most home insurance, most landlord insurance covers your property from extreme weather and fire events.

However, unlike most home insurance, landlord insurance is required by Cypriot law and required by most lenders if you are paying off a mortgage or financing the property.

You need a €100,000 minimum limit of public liability to get a renters licence from the CTO (Cyprus Tourism Organization) and to be registered.

To learn more about landlord insurance, please see our landlord insurance article.

Holiday home insurance

Also known as second home insurance, holiday home insurance covers property that isn’t used as a primary or full-time place of residence.

This insurance is necessary for those who reside in their holiday home in Cyprus while travelling but rent it out when they do not use it (short-term rentals).

It’s vital coverage for holiday homeowners regardless of their location or how often they visit their second home.

Like most home insurance, holiday home policies can financially protect the property’s structure and contents inside the home, but all policy details vary.

Holiday home owners are also required by the Cypriot Law to acquire public liability insurance of 100,000 euro.

Home and contents insurance in Cyprus

Home and contents insurance protects the contents of your home from covered damages and loss.

Sometimes called personal property insurance, it provides coverage for the replacement or repair of your covered goods.

To be fully protected by your home insurance and avoid misunderstandings about what is covered, it’s wise to estimate what it would cost to replace your belongings.

Note: You need to calculate the face value cost of the items and not their current value, as the insurance compensates items on their acquisition value.

For example, if you bought a smartphone for €900 and it now costs €100 to sell it, the insurance will still pay €900.

If you are unsure how to calculate the estimated value of your belongings, you can speak with one of our experienced insurers to help determine the amount.

Most standard home and contents insurance covers common household items, such as:

Furniture
Electrical appliances
Personal possessions

Additionally, extra coverage can be purchased for costly items, such as:

Professional tools or equipment
Hobby or gym equipment (such as bicycles)
Valuables (such as artwork, antiques, and jewellery)

In addition to the above items, you should declare any objects outside your home that might need coverage, for example.

Annexes
Antennas
Solar panels
Garden furniture

Home insurance exclusions

Common home insurance policies in Cyprus do not cover damages caused by the following events:

Drain and sewer backups
Landslides
Bird, vermin, or mould infestations
Wear and tear or neglect
Nuclear hazard
War and government action
Power failure

1. Drain and sewer backups

This unfortunate problem arises when heavy rainfall, melting snow, or sewer blockages cause floods within a home.

Sewer backups can create extensive water damage to your home, especially those areas connected to blocked or broken pipes.

Home insurance policies typically don’t cover sewage backup, but your insurance provider may have a separate flood insurance policy specifically suited to it.

2. Landslides

Home insurance typically does not cover natural disasters involving Earth’s movements, such as sinkholes, mudslides, and landslides. Earthquakes are not covered in the basic fire and theft insurance policies, but are covered in the standard homeowners insurance policies.

Insurance providers don’t tend to cover such events in full, as these natural disasters in one location can affect many homeowners at once. Therefore, separate policies can be added to your house policy to cover natural disasters.

There are villages in Cyprus such as Pissouri and Armou that are prone to lanslides. Houses located in these villages are not covered by most home insurance policies.

3. Bird, vermin, or mould infestations

While mould and pest infestations can cause significant damage to your home, they are seen as negligence of one’s property.

As such, infestations are avoidable as they are preventable before they affect your house. Therefore, the repair costs associated with both are typically not covered by house insurance.

Preventing pests and mould from damaging your home is considered part of maintenance by most insurance companies, for which you are responsible.

4. Wear and tear or neglect

Home insurance doesn’t usually cover damages arising from neglect. Wear and tear is often in the same category as negligence.

For example, house insurance likely won’t cover costs associated with your home’s internal heating systems malfunctioning due to everyday wear and tear.

Accidental events, such as in the case of burst pipes, are usually covered. However, there may be exceptions. Burst pipes might be deemed as neglect, depending on the circumstances.

5. Nuclear hazard

This limitation refers to the damages sustained by any nuclear hazard, such as radiation.

This issue is not covered in most home policies. However, nuclear reactions that cause fire damage may be covered.

7. War and government action

Home policies and insurance companies do not cover damages caused by war. Whether a civil or nuclear war, they are excluded from any policy.

8. Power outages

Common home insurance does not cover damages caused by power surges and outages.

However, if a power failure in your house causes fire damage, your insurance may cover it.

Home insurance compare

When comparing home insurance, you should understand the difference between “all-risk” and “named perils” contracts.

When you receive home insurance quotes, your needs will be assessed and determined by insurance underwriters who will analyse the risks of insuring your house and belongings.

Local and international underwriters operate in Cyprus, although only international underwriters provide all-risk contracts.

All-risk contracts cover all risks and perils in a contract, with few limits.

In contrast, all other contracts explicitly name the perils they cover, which applies to loss arising out of listed causes. Therefore, many perils are not covered.

At Pitsas Insurances, we cooperate with local and international underwriters to provide you with the best house insurance, and we can provide both types of contracts.

Online home insurance in Cyprus

You don’t need to visit our offices to buy an insurance contract. Here at Pitsas Insurances, we provide all of our services online and you are able to receive quotes and contracts within a matter of minutes.

To acquire home insurance, you will receive an electronic application form which is electronically signable.

After receiving your questionnaire details, we can get to work preparing your official quote. If you have any questions at this point, you can arrange to speak with us via a free online video call.

If you would like to proceed with your quote, you can simply email us and we will proceed. Once your confirmation is received and we finalise your contract, it will be sent to you via email.

Cheap home insurance in Cyprus

We have the cheapest home insurance contracts available in Cyprus. Our basic packages include coverages for basic needs such as fire and theft damage.

You will receive the same level of care from our insurance agents if you were to enquire about our cheapest packages or a specialised one.

Our consultants will carefully analyse your needs and help you find your perfect coverages and get you the correct contract.

If this is your second home and you rent it for a few months, then you need holiday home insurance and not home insurance.

The cheapest contract is sometimes the most expensive option as it will exclude common risks.

Common risks in the country such as fire, theft and earthquake should be covered by insurance companies in Cyprus as these can lead to expensive issues.

Best home insurance Cyprus

Pitsas Insurances will help you find the best home insurance in Cyprus. If you are value-conscious, we will help you find cheap home insurance.

For affordable home insurance, use our tips below to save money.

Boost security. Security systems (such as smoke and burglar alarms) and high-quality locks on doors and windows will help lower your premiums.

Avoid instalments. You can usually cut the cost of home insurance by paying your premium upfront, as monthly instalments incur interest.

Increase the excess. You will pay a lower premium if you raise the excess (the amount you contribute towards a claim).

Combined policies. If affordability is of the greatest importance, combining contents and building coverage might suit you. You can usually get discounts with a combined policy.

How to save money on your home insurance

Here are further steps you can take to reduce the cost of your home insurance.

Use a safe
Buy specialist insurance
Buy an all-risk policy
Document your possessions
Declare expensive items
Bundle an employee’s contract
Choose an insurance company
Declare the reconstruction value of your home

Use a safe

You can reduce the cost of your insurance by keeping your expensive items like jewellery and art in a safe.

Buy specialist insurance

You can reduce your insurance cost by working with a specialist expatriate insurance company as an expat. These companies can provide you with specialised insurance for expatriates.

Buy an all-risk policy

All-risk home policies are more expensive than standard home insurance but they cover 25% more claims.

Document your possessions

Create a document that itemises all of your possessions for your home’s content insurance application. This will decrease the cost of your insurance and prepare you in case of a claim.

Declare expensive items

Present invoices to your insurance company proving the market value of your expensive items. For example, jewellery, fine art, and carpets. The insurance might be more costly, but it will ensure you get paid in the case of a claim.

Bundle an employee’s contract

If you hire a house cleaner, an employer's liability policy is obligatory. The maid’s policy can be covered along with your home insurance at a lower premium.

Choose an insurance company

Do not acquire your home insurance from intermediaries (i.e. accountants) as they always charge an intermediary fee.

Declare the reconstruction value of your home

For insurance purposes, you should declare the reconstruction value of your home, which will be a lower figure than your property’s market value.

Home insurance cost

The cost of home insurance will vary depending on your needs and the policy’s coverage.

The average home insurance cost in Cyprus is 235 euro and the minimum insurance cost is 100 euro.

The following factors affect the cost of your home insurance.

Rebuild costs
Rental income costs
Value of insured contents
Construction materials (e.g., concrete)
The age of the building/ year of construction
The total built-up area and renovation factors
Claims history (any previous and current claims)

Home insurance quote

Failure to insure your most valuable investment can cause significant financial difficulties in the event of theft or damage.

Why insure your home with Pitsas Insurances?

Highly competitive rates
Lowest excess on earthquakes
Comprehensive all-risk contracts
Affordable home insurance
Easy to understand terms and conditions
Special offers for holiday and temporary homes
Additional coverage types, including employers liability
Tailor-made insurance packages suited to your budget

Pitsas Insurances can offer you tailor-made home insurance to protect your house and its contents.

We are part of the reputable Amazon Group Services. Our civil engineers can help you estimate the rebuild value of your home.

Home insurance in Cyprus quote

For more information about home insurance, you can visit our website.

To get a hassle-free and personalised home insurance quote in Cyprus, complete our questionnaire.

Pitsas Insurances Team