The Good Life France Magazine Autumn 2018 | Page 82

French Home and Contents Cover

Protecting your property, whether it’s a secondary home, main home or rented out on a short term, holiday or long term basis, is vital for peace of mind and also includes something very important: Public liability cover.

What is Public liability cover?

Public liability cover is included in your Home and Contents insurance with many insurers. As a rule the cover is against a claim for damage caused by the policyholder to a third party or their property.

As mentioned above the level of cover varies according to the type of property being insured. For example the level of cover offered on a second home covers damage caused by the property to a third party. Cover for a main home extends to damages caused by the policyholder or a member of their family to a third party.

For a property you may be renting out for short holiday periods Public Liability would continue as long as those staying at the property were there no longer than 3 consecutive months. For a longer term the tenant would need to subscribe to their own Public Liability policy.

Levels of cover

When choosing the level of cover for your property make sure you have the basics included such as storm, hail, snow, fire and water damage to mention a few. You may then want to add other options depending on the use of your property to your insurance such as a swimming pool pack, garden furniture pack or gîte cover if you run this type of business. Don’t forget if you do have a gite talk to your Mairie to make sure you are registered correctly as if not even if you are insured for your gite the insurance will not cover you in the event of a claim.

Make sure you have measured all your rooms as well as outbuildings correctly when setting up your cover as in the event of a claim this is the type of element that is very important if a pay out is made.

If you build an extension or change the use of one of your rooms think about calling the insurer or CA Britline if the insurance is set up with us, and check that the changes are reflected in your policy.

French Vehicle Cover

If your residence in France is your main home the chances are you will have at least one car. Whether you have opted to bring your right hand drive car over with you or have purchased a left-hand drive, insurance is obligatory.

The Experts guide to

French Insurance