Yes, home automation is covered under your home insurance policy.

You don’t need to determine the value of your home contents yourself.
The contents of your home are insured up to 200 000 euros. The compensation for each individual object is 15 000 euros.

We provide compensation based on the reconstruction value; i.e. the cost to rebuild the home, as at the date of the claim event, with comparable materials.
You are not required to rebuild your home. If you do choose to rebuild your home, the competent authority can impose specific building regulations in the planning permission granted or for your duty to report. We also cover the resulting additional costs, if applicable. These additional costs can never exceed the compensation you receive to rebuild your home. In other words, as a maximum, we double the compensation for the damage to your home.

Items intended for your private use that you have temporarily moved elsewhere, are also covered.
For example:

• Your luggage during a holiday
• Items you carry on your person

Any items your children take with them to their lodgings, or any home contents you move to a retirement or care home, are also always covered under your home insurance policy.

However, items which are situated in a different location than yourself are not regarded as having been ‘temporarily moved’ and must be included in the cover taken out for that other location.

A bicycle is part of your home contents and is covered under your home contents insurance, provided the bicycle was located at the address of your main residence when it was stolen. Theft of your bicycle from a different location is not covered, unless you have taken out separate bicycle insurance.

If you are living in a home you own in Flanders, you will also have to install smoke detectors as of 1 January 2020.

In an autonomous home (single-family dwelling, apartment or studio) there must be at least one smoke detector on every floor.

Building standards have changed a lot in recent years. This is something you need to take into account should you incur a severe claim event, such as a fire or flood. Factors including more stringent, often energy efficiency-related, building standards imposed by the government can sometimes result in higher-than-expected reconstruction costs, and these costs can also be covered by property insurance. For example, KBC’s property insurance not only covers your home’s new value, but also an additional amount to comply with the applicable standards.

If you want to renovate your own home with a view to improving its energy efficiency, it may be worth considering what is known as ‘builder’s insurance’. What if burglars attempt to break into your home? What if you fall off a ladder? What if your contractor goes bankrupt or breaks the contract for some other reason? In these and other situations, you can obtain compensation if you take out temporary ‘builder’s insurance’.

This insurance protects the builder (in other words, you), the members of your family residing with you, as well as any people who help you on site free of charge, such as a handy relative.

There are some exceptions, though: for example, if you carry out works that have an impact on the stability and supporting structure, or if you do your own roofing with an open-flame burner. You can include additional cover in this insurance for loss or damage caused to third parties during construction or reconstruction. That way, you’re covered against events such as a scaffold falling over and landing on a neighbour’s roof.

You naturally want these kinds of expensive investments to be insured just as well as the rest of your home. The charging station and home battery are automatically insured under your KBC property insurance and there’s no need to report to KBC that you’ve installed these items. If you’ve installed solar panels, we recommend checking with your insurance expert whether they are covered under your property insurance. Certain policy types include solar panels, but as this is not always the case, it’s best to check to make sure.

If you are carrying out major works, we recommend informing your insurer to make sure your property insurance is up to date.

Examples of changes, additions and renovations to your home that should be reported:

• Adding a garden office, shed, garden house, swimming pool, veranda, etc. to your home
• Splitting a space, such as an attic, into two or more habitable rooms.
• A sharp increase in the value of your home’s contents or the home itself For example, by laying parquet flooring in your entire home or buying a set of expensive Danish designer furniture
• Using your home for professional purposes, for example if you are self-employed and work from home
• Changing the material used in the façades, roofing and/or construction, for example if you replace your flat roof with a gable roof

That depends on which region your rented property's situated in. In Flanders, tenants have been under a legal duty to take out home insurance since 1 January 2019. Wallonia made tenant's insurance compulsory on 1 September of this year. Brussels has not yet officially gone that far. Your landlord may well include it as a lease term, however.

As a tenant, you are required to return the subjects of lease back to the owner in their original condition, which is why we recommend that you take out tenant’s liability insurance in any event, to make sure you're covered for the costs of restoring the property to that original condition following some untoward event.

Actually, yes as your landlord’s policy does not cover damage to the rented home for which you are responsible.

Even if your lease contract includes a ‘waiver of recourse’ option, we still recommend that you cover your liability as a tenant. Because, what if your landlord cancels their policy? Or the damage spreads to your neighbours, and this isn’t covered by your landlord’s policy?

We also recommend including cover for your personal belongings (furniture, clothing, PC, etc.) in your home insurance. Learn more about our home contents insurance.

As a tenant, you are usually not liable for a leak in a water pipe. Your landlord is responsible for taking this up with their insurer. Be sure to inform your landlord of the leak as soon as possible.

You don’t need to determine the value of your home contents yourself.
The contents of your home are insured up to 200 000 euros. The compensation for each individual object is 15 000 euros.

Items intended for your private use that you have temporarily moved elsewhere, are also covered.
For example:

• Your luggage during a holiday
• Items you carry on your person

Any items your children take with them to their lodgings, or any home contents you move to a retirement or care home, are also always covered under your home insurance policy.

A bicycle is part of your home contents and is covered under your home contents insurance, provided the bicycle was located at the address of your main residence when it was stolen. Theft of your bicycle from a different location is not covered, unless you have taken out separate bicycle insurance.

In Flanders, the landlord must buy and install smoke detectors.

Do the devices have replaceable batteries? Then the tenant must replace the batteries in time. This obligation applies to social rental homes, private rental homes, rooms and student rooms.

In an autonomous home (single-family dwelling, apartment or studio) there must be at least one smoke detector on every floor. Room homes must have a smoke detector on every floor and in every room.

Yes, home automation is covered under your home insurance policy.

Your tenant is usually not liable for a leak in a water pipe. As the landlord, you should take this up with your insurer.

We provide compensation based on the reconstruction value, i.e. the cost to rebuild the home, as at the date of the claim event, with comparable materials.
You are not required to rebuild your home. If you do choose to rebuild your home, the competent authority can impose specific building regulations in the planning permission granted or for your duty to report. We also cover the resulting additional costs, if applicable. These additional costs can never exceed the compensation you receive to rebuild your home. In other words, as a maximum, we double the compensation for the damage to your home.

Are your solar panels co-insured in your existing home insurance? Ask your KBC insurance agent.

If the home you are renting out becomes uninhabitable, due to, for example, fire or flooding, we will cover the loss you sustain as the owner as a result of being temporarily unable to rent out the building. You will receive this compensation during the period necessary for the reconstruction of your home.

In Flanders, the landlord must buy and install smoke detectors.

Do the devices have replaceable batteries? Then the tenant must replace the batteries in time. This obligation applies to social rental homes, private rental homes, rooms and student rooms.

In an autonomous home (single-family dwelling, apartment or studio) there must be at least one smoke detector on every floor.Room homes must have a smoke detector on every floor and in every room.