AVP for private individuals
- Family, children, pets, house guests
- Property damage and injury to third parties
- Professional and business activities excluded
- Let property excluded
Liability is not a single product. Alongside the personal policy there are covers for property, letting, directors and unusual possessions.
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The basis is Article 6:162 of the Dutch Civil Code: anyone who acts unlawfully and thereby causes loss has to make it good. The law also has strict liabilities where no fault is needed. The best known are Article 6:174 of the Dutch Civil Code for the owner of a building and Article 6:179 of the Dutch Civil Code for the keeper of an animal. Separate rules also apply to children and to assistants.
Personal liability insurance (AVP) covers family life: you, your partner, your children, your pets and your house guests. Anything outside that really is outside it. Liability arising from profession or business is excluded, as is liability connected with the ownership or letting of property that you do not live in yourself. So for a rented-out home or a second home you let, you need a different policy.
Letting is also something you have to disclose when you take out the policy. Article 7:928 of the Dutch Civil Code requires you to state everything that matters for assessing the risk; non-disclosure can lead under Article 7:930 of the Dutch Civil Code to a reduced payment or to no payment at all. See also what liability in law actually means.
We compare your personal liability insurance (AVP) across dozens of insurers, explain where the real differences lie, and arrange the switch from start to finish — without you having to chase it yourself.
Personal liability insurance (AVP)
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Get coveredThree categories into which virtually every liability question falls.
Liability in family life, towards third parties.
Liability arising from the ownership, management and letting of a building.
Covers for situations that fall outside the standard policies.
What is covered
| Situation | AVP | Supplementary policy |
|---|---|---|
| Your child throws a ball through the neighbours' window | Yes | Yes |
| Your dog bites a passer-by | Yes | Yes |
| Injury to a tenant in the home you let out | No | Yes |
| Loss arising from work you carry out for payment | No | Yes |
| Damage to items you had borrowed from someone | No | Provided that |
| A fine or a traffic offence | No | No |
The sums insured, exclusions and excess that apply to you are set out in the policy conditions and the insurance card (verzekeringskaart) you receive before you take out cover.
Insurers weigh these details differently. That is where your saving is.
We look at the terms as well as the premium, and stay your point of contact when there is a claim.
We are not tied to one insurer and compare on the basis of an objective analysis of several companies.
You call or email someone who knows your file. No menu options, no changing call centres.
We cancel your old policy and align the start date, so you are never a day without cover.
We report the claim and monitor how it is handled. In urgent cases you can reach us on the emergency line.
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.
Where liability covers dovetail in practice, and where they leave a gap.
The AVP insures family life. If you own a home you do not live in yourself, liability arising from that ownership is usually excluded. Some policies cover one second home in the Netherlands as long as you use it exclusively yourself; as soon as you let it, including occasionally through a platform, that lapses. You remain strictly liable under Article 6:174 of the Dutch Civil Code, so the risk does not disappear, only the cover.
No liability insurance covers loss caused deliberately. Article 7:952 of the Dutch Civil Code provides that the insurer does not pay for loss the policyholder caused intentionally or through recklessness. Policies work that out in an intent clause that also applies to vandalism, assault and sexually inappropriate behaviour. For children under fourteen an exception often applies, because the law attributes their acts to the parents.
Besides intent, all policies have standard exclusions. The exclusions are damage to your own property, damage caused by a motor vehicle, vessel or aircraft (separate insurance applies to that, and for motor vehicles it is compulsory under Article 2 of the Dutch Motor Insurance Liability Act (WAM)), and loss arising from a contractual penalty clause or guarantee that goes beyond liability in law. On an AVP, pure financial loss without property damage or injury also falls outside the cover.
If you start letting, start a business from home, buy a horse or a boat, the risk changes. Report it to your insurer. When the policy is taken out, Article 7:928 of the Dutch Civil Codeapplies; when there is a loss, the duty to give notice under Article 7:941 of the Dutch Civil Codeapplies, which requires you to report the loss as soon as reasonably possible. Leave any admission of liability to the insurer. A promise of your own can restrict your cover.
This is what people ask us most.
Usually not. The AVP excludes liability connected with the ownership or exploitation of property you do not live in yourself. As soon as there is a tenant in it, the property falls outside the cover, while as the owner you remain strictly liable under Article 6:174 of the Dutch Civil Code. For that situation you take out liability insurance for property.
That the insurer only pays where you are liable under the law, not where you feel morally responsible or have promised something. The insurer assesses liability itself and conducts the defence. If you admit liability off your own bat, that can make handling the claim more difficult. Report the loss and leave the assessment to the insurer.
For private individuals, no. The only compulsory cover is motor liability insurance under Article 2 of the Dutch Motor Insurance Liability Act (WAM). Landlords, sports clubs and clients do often require liability cover as a condition of contract. Without cover you bear injury claims yourself, and with permanent injury those are amounts well beyond the means of an average household.
Ordinary pets are covered on the AVP. Article 6:179 of the Dutch Civil Code places liability for damage caused by an animal on the keeper, even without fault. For horses there is often a separate arrangement or a separate sum insured, certainly where they are used by third parties or kept at livery. Dogs with a working function and animals kept commercially usually fall outside the personal policy.
That is the collective term for covers that sit alongside the standard policies: directors' and officers' liability for a VvE (Dutch owners' association) or an association, liability for volunteers, cover for boats, drones and horses, and employers' liability. These risks fall outside the AVP and outside an ordinary public and employers' liability insurance, and therefore call for an assessment of their own in each situation.
Every situation is different. For these situations we have a separate page.
Request a quotation without obligation. We map out your liabilities and find the policy that fits.
Prefer to call? 072 - 509 24 56, weekdays 09:00–17:00.
Claim on the road? Emergency line 06 - 55 20 40 72.
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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This page was compiled by Finass Verzekert (LinkedIn). Last updated on .
The information on this page is general in nature and is not personal advice.
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