Home Insurance, or how to protect your house and property against theft

Home insurance is the most effective way to protect your home.

Unfortunately, burglary and crime in general have significantly increased in Cyprus since joining the EU in 2004. The main reason behind that is that Cyprus has become a particularly attractive destination for foreign nationals looking to have a second home in Cyprus.

Most foreign nationals stay in Cyprus for only a short period of time, making their homes easy targets for thieves. At the same time, the greatest activity of thieves is observed in tourist areas. Both absent and permanent resident/homeowners in Cyprus can become victims of theft.

Criminals usually meticulously prepare before they strike, carefully noting the daily schedule of all the residents of houses and apartments, and not just those who are absent, in order to choose the safest window of time for them to carry out the theft.

The statistics on the number of residential property thefts in Cyprus and the percentage of these crimes solved in 2017 are disheartening:

Limassol - 701 thefts, of which 47% were solved;

Nicosia - 485 thefts, 74% solved;

Paphos - 410 thefts, 76% solved;

Larnaca - 291 thefts, 70% solved;

Famagusta and Protaras - 144 thefts, 55% solved.

And these are just the numbers of reported cases!

Despite the owners' attempts to adhere to safety rules (doors and windows closed and locked) and their purchase of expensive security devices like alarms, high fences, complex locks, security doors or the Smart Home system, thieves continue to come up with new unexpected ways to carry out thefts.

Home insurance is, in fact, the most effective way to truly protect your property as no security measures can never eliminate the possibility of theft 100%, while the insurance company will reliably compensate for your losses regardless of the circumstances in which the theft occurred.

The coverage does not only cover burglary cases, but also when a criminal managed to enter your home through an open door or window. The only condition for receiving compensation by the owner of the real estate is the exact indication and description of the real estate contents in the Insurance Contract and the immediate appeal to the police as soon as a theft is detected.

The home insurance will not just cover the theft of money and various devices, but also the theft and use of your credit cards and official documents (like passports). The terms of the Home Insurance Contract also allow you to insure valuable items (for example, jewelry, paintings, expensive clothes, professional bicycles, musical instruments). The luxury items that we can include in the Contract should make up for no more than a third of all the content and are included in the list, each separately, with the attachment of a purchase receipt or a certificate from an appraiser.

It is important to note that absolutely all homeowners can insure residential property, regardless of the period of residence in Cyprus (for example, permanently or 2-3 months a year).

What needs to be done to file a claim and receive compensation in the event of theft?

The insured person immediately informs the police and his insurance company of the fact of theft. After that, the appraiser of the insurance company visits the place of theft and registers and records the things that were stolen. Reconciliation of the stolen and insured property under the Insurance Contract is carried out. If the property declared in the Contract corresponds to the list of stolen property, the insurance company issues a cheque or transfers the amount of insurance compensation to the bank account of the insured.

At the same time, the insurance subject is assessed as new. For example, if a TV purchased three years ago is stolen, the insurance company will take into account the cost of a new TV of the same model when paying compensation.

Once again, we would like to draw your attention to the need for a correct and clear description of the insured property and especially valuable items in order to exclude the risks of an underestimation or revaluation. In case of revaluation, the owner of the property indicates to the insurance company that the value of the insured property is too high compared to the actual value. This leads to you paying a higher insurance premium than necessary. At the same time, in the event of theft/destruction, the insurance company will compensate not the cost of the content declared by you, but its real cost. Underestimation happens when the owner, accidentally or intentionally, indicates in the Contract an underestimated value of the content in order to pay a lower insurance premium. In this case, the insurance company will pay compensation in proportion to the declared value of the property in the Contract.

You can calculate the cost of your home insurance by filling out a form on the website of our company Pitsas Insurances, following the link: https://www.pitsasinsurances.com/ru/quotes/home/.