I bought an apartment in santo domingo and now wondering what is the story with getting insurance on the place ....any recommendations or idea of cost involved
thanks in advance
thanks in advance
- Thread starter irishpaddy
- Start date
apartment insurance
It might be available from one of the major insurance companies, but I am fairly sure that most do not buy apartment insurance in DR.
I have insurance from Seguros Banreservas via Franco Acra. You may contact them for a quote. It's not that expensive.
Can you give us a rough estimate what it costs annually and what it covers? Thanks.
The biggest risk that I have come up with to your ownership of an apartment here could be earthquake. Hurricane could also be a potential factor, if CAT 4-5, however I still believe earthquake is the major risk. Flooding and fire in terms of the structure itself are non-factors since we are talking concrete. I am not including any personal possessions to be insured, only the structure.
I believe none of the insurance policies will cover you for earthquake or wind damage from a hurricane and if they did it would be quite expensive.
We pay $104.00USD per year. It covers up to $20,000 usd in personal property for damage from fire, flood theft, break ins etc.
We have not had to any claims yet so I can't say if its any good. Our agent is in Bavaro so that won't help you in SD.
We have not had to any claims yet so I can't say if its any good. Our agent is in Bavaro so that won't help you in SD.
As I understand it, you own an apartment within a building comprising many other privately owned apartments.
Have you checked the insurance policies held by the complex owners in respect of the apartment complex which should cover the structural integrity, fire, flood and the like related to common areas....security issues globally too if security is provided to owners. You can't be responsible if the structure fails in the event of natural events that should have been be taken into account in the structural design nor can you be responsible for fire or flood resulting from an occurrence elsewhere in the common area or services for the complex.
You are responsible for the security of your own possessions and perhaps for the consequences of a flood or fire starting in your premises and affecting third parties but that might be covered under the apartment complex policy. Worth checking out.
I had that same discussion when moving into a rented unfurnished apartment a month back and questioned the apartment block cover.
The cost Melphis says is about right. I also pay about half of one percent of insured value. Includes fire, earthquake, flooding, hurricane, explosion, strike, all kind of events.
OK, but this is just for personal property damaged from those events and not insurance on the structure itself, however.
I asked my insurance agent about structural insurance and his response was quite enlightening. As Rubio mentioned in a previous post his guy was .5% of the condo value per year. My guy was 1%. So lets split it at .75%.
So a $300,000 condo will cost you $2250 usd per year. Now say there's 50 units in your complex and a catastrophic event happens and they are all wiped out. According to my insurance guy if everyone of the 50 had a full claim on thier property the insurance company would have a 90 to 95% chance of not paying anybody a single cent.
The reason, insurance companies here don't split the risk on large projects. They just collect the money and decline payment.
He said the commission would be fantastic but its basically fraud.
Also if half are insured how does the rebuild process work as the people who did not buy insurance still have rights to their percentage of the land.
It gave me a headache so I just bought the content coverage and pray that we don't get wiped out.
So a $300,000 condo will cost you $2250 usd per year. Now say there's 50 units in your complex and a catastrophic event happens and they are all wiped out. According to my insurance guy if everyone of the 50 had a full claim on thier property the insurance company would have a 90 to 95% chance of not paying anybody a single cent.
The reason, insurance companies here don't split the risk on large projects. They just collect the money and decline payment.
He said the commission would be fantastic but its basically fraud.
Also if half are insured how does the rebuild process work as the people who did not buy insurance still have rights to their percentage of the land.
It gave me a headache so I just bought the content coverage and pray that we don't get wiped out.
I suspect you are one of many apartment owners with that headache, who don't have adequate insurance for all of your investment. Not pleasant at all and I sympathize with you. Those involved in selling and conveyancing of properties to buyers without highlighting this issue need to question the ethics of not doing so.
Insurance for the integrity of the condo/apartment complex and common areas can only be realistically be covered by the owner of that complex and that may be all the apartment owners collectively. How can an insurance company insure one small part of a complex without knowledge of all the complex design details and parceling of the property etc.? Impossible and taking a premium for such from any single owner would be dubious.
I came across a similar issue when renting an apartment in Las Terrenas. The expatriate owners including my landlord were trying to retrospectively arrange insurance for the apartment complex and common areas but the Dominican owners would not contribute leaving them with a similar headache of what to do. One of the owners wife was an insurance broker too.
Such insurance cover provision surely has to be part of the contract of sale agreement......one must ask?
Perhaps another reason to rent with rental prices so low.......and there are apartment properties with an owner who does insure their property and the maintenance cost includes that.