You have a great property - make sure you have great insurance to match
How will you use yours?
Once the buying process is done there are still important things to consider when relocating to Portugal - setting up utility connections and bills, learning the lingo, checking out the best beaches and golf courses … and making sure your dream home is covered against any accidents, yep make sure you get your property insurance in place.
Read more
It’s important to get the right level of insurance and this is dependent on how you intend to use your property. If you are going to be living permanently in Portugal property insurance is fairly straightforward. However if you are only going to live in Portugal part-time, meaning that your property is likely to be unoccupied for long periods, or if you intend to rent it out it is important to ensure you have the right cover. Normally cover for unoccupied properties applies up to 60 days, after that then any money or valuables would need to be removed. If you foresee your home not being used for longer than 60 days make sure your policy takes this in to consideration.
If you are thinking about renting out your property public liability insurance must be considered. This helps protect you in the event a guest claims against you for an accident at your property. Make sure you check that your insurance covers this as not all local insurers provide public liability insurance as standard in their policy.
If you have bought with a mortgage then most banks will include buildings insurance as compulsory when you get a mortgage (buildings insurance generally just covers the structure of your property from fire, earthquake, flooding or storm damage). Contents insurance is usually not required by mortgage providers but if you want to include it, then it might be cheaper to buy it as a joint policy as buildings and contents insurance.
Even if Portugal is not as cold and rainy as some European countries, winter temperatures may affect your property and frozen or burst pipes could occur, which can cause extensive damage. With this in mind it’s important to understand the policy wording to identify what cover might be excluded when your home is unoccupied. Identifying early risks can minimise potential loss and damage.
Every client has different needs so speak with a reputable insurance broker for professional advice to ensure you have for peace of mind, we can recommend a number of companies so that you can get different quotes to see which is the best for you.