Timber foundations · listed status · adjoining properties
Buildings insurance (opstalverzekering) for a canal house
In insurance terms a canal house is not a home but a stack of four files: pile foundations, the quay wall, adjoining properties centimetres away and a building that rarely still houses a single household.
The calculator and the quote form below are in Dutch. Prefer to do this in English? Email info@finassverzekert. nl or call 072 - 509 24 56 and we will take it from there.
Work out for yourself what it would cost.
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A premium indication, not personal advice. Prefer to talk it through? Call 072 - 509 24 56.
In brief
Most canal houses stand on timber pile foundations in soft ground, with a quay wall in front that is not yours but does affect your property. Quay renewal, sheet piling work and dewatering in the immediate area are not a theoretical risk here but planned maintenance by the city. That makes the question of who is liable, under Article 6:162 or 6:174 of the Dutch Civil Code, more important here than for any other type of home.
The properties also stand party wall to party wall, with no cavity and often without fire-resisting separation up into the roof. The flues run through old brick structures and the street is narrow, with limited space for the fire service. Smoke and firefighting water damage in these properties is almost always greater than the fire itself.
Finally, the use is rarely straightforward: an office on the main floor, a let upper flat, a basement with its own entrance. Every form of use must appear separately on the application, otherwise the policy does not match the property as it is actually occupied.
What does buildings insurance for a canal house cover?
The structure of the cover in three parts, with an overview per situation below.
Most chosen
Extended cover
The named perils: fire, storm, water, burglary and collision.
Fire, smoke and lightning strike
Storm from force 7 upwards
Water damage and leakage
Burglary damage
Widest form of cover
Comprehensive
All sudden and unforeseen damage from outside, unless excluded.
Unnamed causes included
A small mishap while doing DIY
Less discussion when you claim
The essentials
Basis of value
Rebuild value with a guarantee against underinsurance, or a valuation.
Rebuild value calculator
Valuation under 7:960 DCC
Guarantee on your policy schedule
What is covered
Situation
Extended
Comprehensive
Fire, smoke and lightning damage
Yes
Yes
Storm damage from force 7 upwards
Yes
Yes
Water damage from a burst pipe
Yes
Yes
Burglary damage to doors and frames
Yes
Yes
Drilling through a pipe while doing DIY
No
Yes
Subsidence, pile rot and deferred maintenance
No
No
This overview is general in nature and is not personal advice. What is actually covered, including exclusions, limits and the excess, is set out in the policy conditions and the insurance card (verzekeringskaart) of the insurer; you receive both before you take out cover. Taking out cover without advice? Then read what execution only means for you.
Where things go wrong in practice
Four points that make the difference between a policy that pays out and one that does not.
Quay works and dewatering in the street call for a pre-condition survey
If the quay wall in front of your door is being renewed or dewatering is taking place in the block, have a structural pre-condition survey carried out with levelling and crack measurements before the work starts. Your own buildings policy does not cover the settlement that follows. The only route is to hold the party carrying out the work liable. Without a measurement of the starting position, that discussion ends with the assertion that the property was always out of true.
Adjoining properties determine your fire risk more than your own building does
A catering business or workshop in the neighbouring property counts in the assessment, even where your own home is fire-safe. Insurers ask about the adjoining properties and about the presence of fire-resisting separation up to the ridge. If that separation is missing, an insurer may require detection or an alteration to the roof structure. That requirement appears as a prevention condition on your policy schedule and is binding. If it is not met, the fire cover lapses.
The basement and the water level are a chapter of their own
A basement often lies below the canal water level. Damp penetrating the cellar wall is a gradual effect and therefore excluded, as is a failing cellar pump that lets water rise. What can be covered is a sudden burst pipe or a broken supply. So do not put appliances, the consumer unit and the boiler on the cellar floor, and record what is kept in the basement: if that space is let, separate conditions apply.
Exclusions that recur consistently with canal houses
Repairs to foundations, pile rot and leaning are excluded; see foundation damage. Attack of timber by house longhorn beetle or death watch beetle, penetrating damp in the front facade and damage from neglected pointing also fall outside cover. Use of the hoisting beam to bring furniture inside is not buildings damage but liability. If you let a floor, the same reporting regime applies as with a a let home.
Fire spread and firefighting water
With a fire in an adjoining property, damage spreads quickly. Smoke and firefighting water damage is often greater than the fire itself.
A guarantee against underinsurance is not automatic
If you fill in the insurer's rebuild value calculator correctly, you will usually receive a guarantee against underinsurance: in the event of a claim the actual amount is paid, even if the sum insured turns out to be too low. Your policy schedule states whether you have that guarantee. Without it, the proportionality rule applies, and that also affects small claims.
Agreed rebuild value. For these properties a valuation under Article 7:960 DCC is almost always used instead of a rebuild value calculator.
Type of foundation and last inspection. Timber piles without a recent survey make acceptance harder than a property that has demonstrably been repaired.
Adjoining properties and fire compartmentation. What is next to you and whether the party wall runs up to the ridge count heavily.
Form of use per floor. Occupation, office, room letting or short letting is assessed per floor and declared separately.
Listed status. A nationally or locally listed building brings a duty to restore that must be reflected in the valuation.
Heating installation and wiring. Old brick flues, open fires and out-of-date wiring often lead to additional requirements.
Insurers weigh these details differently. That is where your saving is.
How we arrange it
You request a quoteWe take stock of your situation, your risk and your wishes.
We compareseveral insurers, on premium as well as conditions.
You receive a proposalWith an explanation of the differences and the exclusions.
We arrange the switchIncluding cancellation, so there is no gap in cover.
Customers rate our service on four aspects: personal service, service delivery, availability and the outcome. The reviews are collected and published by NH1816 and come from customers who have actually taken out a policy with Finass Advies B.V. or reported a claim.
The local authority is renewing the quay wall in front of my property; am I covered?
Not on your buildings insurance: settlement caused by works in the area is not a sudden event affecting your structure. The route runs through holding the client or the contractor liable under Article 6:162 DCC. Make sure there is a structural pre-condition survey before the start, with crack gauges and levelling, and have that measurement repeated during the work.
Why does the insurer ask about my neighbours?
Because the properties stand against one another without a cavity and most damage here comes from outside. A restaurant kitchen or a workshop next door raises your fire risk, even if you do nothing yourself. Insurers therefore assess the whole block and not only your home, and on that basis may require detection or fire-resisting separation up to the ridge.
Is water in my basement insured?
That depends on the route the water takes. A burst pipe is a sudden event and can be covered. Damp penetrating the cellar wall, rising groundwater and a pump that can no longer cope are gradual processes and therefore excluded. Flooding from the canal as open water also falls outside the standard cover.
My property is part office and part home; can that go on a home policy?
Only if the insurer accepts that mixed use and it appears on the policy. With an office or practice in the property, both the fire risk and the liability question change. Declare per floor what happens there and whether any part is let. If the use changes later, report it again; otherwise the policy no longer matches the property.
Finass Verzekert is a trading name of Finass Advies B.V. We advise on and arrange non-life insurance on the basis of an objective analysis of several insurers, and receive commission for this from the insurer, which is included in the premium. You pay no separate advice fee. Before you take out cover, we establish your wishes and needs.
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