Two shared walls · lowest rebuild value · fire spread
Buildings insurance (opstalverzekering) for a terraced house
A mid-terrace house has the lowest rebuild value of any house with its own ground, but what you are mainly insuring against here is what happens next door and what you cause at your neighbours'.
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In brief
With two party walls and only a front and a rear elevation, the facade area is limited and the roof surface small. The sum insured is therefore lower than for any other type of house. What remains is not a smaller risk but a a different risk: your home sits in the middle of a structure that you share with four or more households.
The key concept is transhipment. Fire, smoke and firefighting water travel along the terrace, particularly in older houses where the party wall does not continue up to the ridge and the roof structure runs across several properties. The crawl space, the drains and sometimes the chimney flues are shared as well. Your own policy covers the damage to your house, regardless of where it started.
The other side of this is your own liability. If a fire or a leak starts at your house, the neighbours can hold you liable under Article 6:162 of the Dutch Civil Code, or as the owner of a defective structure under Article 6:174 DCC. That claim does not go through your buildings policy but through your liability insurance.
What does buildings insurance for a mid-terrace 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.
Report to your own insurer, even if the cause was next door
After a fire in the terrace, it is tempting to wait until it is clear who is liable. Do not do that. Report the damage to your house to your own buildings insurer; they will pay and then recover from the liable party themselves. Waiting costs time in which the property deteriorates further through damp, and Article 7:941 DCC obliges you to report as soon as you know of the damage.
Smoke and firefighting water travel further than the fire
In a terraced house, most of the damage is rarely caused by flames. Smoke travels through gaps in party walls, service ducts and the continuous crawl space into neighbouring properties, and firefighting water soaks down through the floors. A house two doors away can be uninhabitable without a trace of fire. So check whether your policy covers additional costs, clearance and alternative accommodation, and for what period.
An extension, dormer window and solar panels shift the sum insured
It is precisely mid-terrace houses that are often extended across the full width of the garden and fitted with a dormer window at the rear. Both raise the rebuild value substantially on a base that started low. Solar panels on the rear roof slope count as well. If you do not report those alterations, the guarantee against underinsurance falls away and even minor water damage will be paid proportionately.
What the terrace does not solve for you
Damage to the foundations of a whole terrace is excluded, even where all the houses are settling at the same time; see foundation damage. Damp penetration through the party wall and mould behind a fitted cupboard are gradual processes and fall outside the cover. Damage to the boundary fencing between the gardens is usually limited or excluded. If you let the house or a room, a separate duty to report applies; see room letting.
Watch the foundations in older terraces
In areas with timber pile foundations, settlement is a real risk. Damage to foundations is almost nowhere covered as standard.
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.
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There was a fire next door; who do I report my damage to?
To your own buildings insurer. They will pay for the damage to your house, including smoke and firefighting water damage, and then recover from the liable party themselves. You do not have to wait for the outcome of that discussion. Also report any additional costs you incur, such as storage and temporary accommodation, as these are often in the policy with their own time limit.
And if the fire started at my house and the neighbours have damage?
Then they or their insurer will hold you liable under Article 6:162 of the Dutch Civil Code, or as the owner of a defective structure under Article 6:174 DCC. That is not damage to your building and therefore does not go through your home policy, but through your liability insurance. Check that you have one and that the sum insured suits the fact that you are attached to several houses.
Why is a mid-terrace house cheaper to insure?
Because the rebuild value is lower: two shared party walls mean less facade of your own, less roof surface and fewer foundations to be laid again. The difference lies in the sum insured and not in the likelihood of damage. The risk of fire spreading along the terrace is in fact greater for this type of house than for a detached property.
Do I have to report an extension or dormer window?
Yes, and with a mid-terrace house that counts more heavily than elsewhere, because the sum insured starts low. An extension across the full width can raise the rebuild value considerably. Without notification, the figures in the rebuild value tool are no longer correct and the guarantee against underinsurance lapses, after which every claim is paid proportionately. Report solar panels and a heat pump as well.
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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