• Homeowners insurance protects you from significant damage to your building, preventing financial hardship.

• Not mandatory, but highly recommended for homeowners: Even without a legal requirement, building insurance is advisable, whether you live in or rent out the property.

• You can expand the basic coverage of your building insurance to protect against high costs from natural disasters, glass breakage, or damage to your photovoltaic system.

If fire, storm, hail, or other causes damage your home, repairs, restorations, or even a complete rebuild can result in a significant financial burden. Homeowners insurance covers these costs, protecting not only your property but also you.

There is no legal obligation for homeowners to have insurance. However, since they would otherwise have to bear the often high costs of damage to their property, taking out homeowners insurance is highly advisable. It is recommended for owners of single-family homes, terraced houses, multi-family homes, and semi-detached houses.

• Comprehensive protection against financial losses due to damage

• Coverage for individual parts of the building

• Protection against fire, storm, pipe breakage, frost, hail, and water damage

Generally, the risks you can protect against with homeowners insurance can be divided into three categories: damages caused by fire, water leakage, and storms are part of the basic coverage for your home. 

These apply not only to your building but also to:

• Building accessories
• Building components
• Property components

Thus, coverage always includes the roof, masonry, and foundation, as well as permanently installed items such as heating systems, bathtubs, and parquet flooring.

In case of damage, quick action is crucial: Immediately inform your insurer and provide detailed information about the damage and the affected objects.

The most important information you should immediately provide to your insurer includes:

• The exact date of the damage
• Damaged items (including brand, type, purchase price, and purchase date)
• Photos of the damaged items and the cause of the damage

Homeowners insurance has so-called coverage limitations, meaning certain situations are excluded from the coverage, such as:

• War
• Nuclear energy
• Intentional damage

Also, gross negligence is typically excluded, but it can be covered with additional insurance. For unfinished buildings, you can take out a fire construction insurance policy.

Homeowners insurance does not work like car insurance. A claim does not immediately lead to higher premiums; instead, they are based on the overall costs insurers incur, such as from increased storm damage. 

However, frequent claims, especially for smaller amounts, may lead to cancellation in some cases. For such situations, a deductible is a good solution.

The premium for homeowners insurance depends on several factors: 

• Value of the building
• Location
• Surrounding environment (e.g., are there fire-prone businesses in the area?)
• Age of the building or the date of the last major renovation
• Building construction type (roofing and wall construction)

Additionally, it matters whether you live in the building permanently and whether it's used privately or for business. 

Features like underfloor heating, a swimming pool, and other special installations increase the insurance premium, as well as the scope of coverage and any additional risks insured. 

Changes to your building can affect your insurance coverage. Renovations, such as alterations, repurposing individual rooms, or using the building for commercial purposes, as well as vacancies, are considered risk-increasing circumstances.

These  should be reported to the insurer immediately.

If the insured amount is lower than the actual reconstruction value of your home, it results in underinsurance. 

In the event of damage, you would not receive the full amount, as the insurer can reduce the payout proportionally – and you would have to cover the remaining costs yourself. 

Important: With a waiver of underinsurance, your insurer does not check for underinsurance but covers the costs in full without any deductions. 

In some cases, you do not take out homeowners insurance yourself: When purchasing a property or inheriting one, you assume an existing homeowners insurance policy – with different rights.

When selling a property, the homeowners insurance automatically transfers: With the entry in the land register, the new owner takes over the insurance contract from the previous owner. To ensure continuous coverage, the insurer must be informed in a timely manner.

Important: As the new owner, you have a special right to cancel the policy within four weeks, during which you can compare offers for more affordable homeowners insurance.

An inheritance, unlike a sale, is a legal provision: You inherit the existing insurance contract along with the property, without any special right to cancel the policy.