Home Insurance for second-home owners
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- File insurance claims using our app or by contacting your insurance agent
What is Home Insurance?
Home Insurance protects you from the financial risks associated with damage caused to your home, its contents or both by fire, water, natural disasters, etc.
Is Home Insurance compulsory?
No, Home Insurance is not compulsory by law. We do recommend that you insure your home and its contents against damage. No fewer than 95% of Belgian homeowners have this type of insurance, making it the most popular type of non-life cover.
If you decide to purchase Home Insurance, the insurer is required by law to cover a minimum number of risks, including, fire, storm, hail and natural disasters.
When you purchase Home Insurance, you often have a number of options to choose from, so it is important that you state which types of cover you require. For example, if you have a swimming pool you would like to include in the insurance, you can extend your policy by adding 'Swimming pool insurance'.
What does Home Insurance cover?
Home Insurance covers far more than fire damage alone. Our Home Insurance covers your home and its contents (except against theft).
Depending on your requirements, you can extend your cover by adding the following types of insurance: garden insurance, swimming pool insurance or insurance against leaks from your fuel oil tank (i.e., soil contamination)
Looking to insure your first home?
Be sure to check out KBC Home Insurance for owners.
Your home is insured against all risks
Our Home Insurance protects your home from all types of loss and damage, except for a number of exclusions. More detailed information is provided in the general conditions. This ensures that even types of loss and damage not taken into account are fully covered.
What is insured?
You are insured against all unexpected damage to
- The home itself
- Its terraces, its driveway and its enclosure
- Any constructions attached to the home
If you would you also like to insure an annex such as your garden shed, pool house, detached garage or individual garage located elsewhere, we recommend our ‘detached annexes’ cover.
We provide a specific type of cover for swimming pools.
What is not insured?
Damage caused by
- Surface instability
- Groundwater or precipitation caused by your cellars or exterior walls not being waterproof
- Work being carried out on-site
- Correction of construction flaws
The complete list of exclusions can be found in the general terms and conditions.
Good to know
If you own a flat and your building is covered under owners’ association insurance (joint insurance for the entire building), we offer you additional cover free of charge when you insure its contents. Within specific limits, you may then claim on this insurance for damage to your home that is not covered under the owners’ association insurance or that exceeds the compensation limits.
Ask your Insurance Expert about the exact terms of this cover.
Your home may be well insured, but what about its contents?
What if …
- A tree falls on top of your garden furniture due to heavy winds?
- Lightning destroys your washing machine?
- A fire breaks out?
If you opt for this insurance, the contents of your second home is covered, except against theft.
What is insured?
Damage caused by, for example, fire, explosion, storm, hail, lightning, water, collision or flooding to your
- Home contents: furniture, clothing, bicycles, jewellery, television sets, etc.
- Pets
- Motor vehicles and their trailers
And we take it a step further: your home's contents is also covered against all types of loss and damage, on condition that you did not expect said event to occur and that the loss or damage amounts to at least 1 250 euros.
What is not insured?
- Break-ins, theft and attempted theft
- Deliberate damage
- Damage caused by flooding or by the overflowing of public sewers to items outside the home
- Unique property, such as art objects and antiques. We recommend our specific ‘Valuables’ cover for this purpose. Contact our Insurance Expert.
The complete list of exclusions can be found in the general terms and conditions.
Where are your home contents insured?
- At the address of your second home (house or flat)
- In your individual garage, even if this is located elsewhere or you are renting the garage
Your pets are insured everywhere.
Cancelling a home insurance elsewhere can be a lot of hassle.
But at KBC, we make things easy for you. When you take out a new policy with us online, we'll immediately show you a form for cancelling your old insurance. All you need to do is to complete the form and send it back to us. We’ll take care of the rest.
You don't even need to send a registered letter to your old insurer.
Based on your requirements, you can extend your cover to include the following types of insurance:
Garden insurance (not for flats)
We cover damage to your garden.
What we consider to be a garden
- Lawns
- Trees, shrubs, hedges and any plants in open soil or in pots
- Ponds, fountains and fish
- Garden furniture and other movable property decorating your garden
What is insured?
- Fire, storm, hail, natural disasters
- Collision
- Escaped livestock or other domestic animals
- Spraying damage you did not cause yourself
- Vandalism and theft
What is not insured?
- Damage of a temporary nature (trees or shrubs that will recover naturally)
- Deliberate damage to or destruction of the garden by you or members of your household
Theft and compensation for plants
Theft or attempted theft is covered only if your garden is part of your main residence.
If damaged trees, hedges or other plants need replacing, we will replace them with similar young plants.
The loss of value due to the difference in age with the similar young plants is covered up to a maximum of 1 000 euros per plant.
The total compensation per claim is 60 000 euros.
Swimming pool insurance (not for flats)
We cover damage to your swimming pool and its accessories.
What is insured?
- Your outdoor swimming pool or swimming pond and even the water
- Jacuzzis
- Swimming pool pumps, taps, heat pumps, filters, solar collectors and jet streams
- Lighting, panelling, roller covers, screens and covers
- Terrace and shower system near your swimming pool
All the accessories and accoutrements to your pool are insured at their full value, including against theft. This means we fully compensate any loss and/or damage.
The swimming pools must be dug into the plot of land belonging to your home. Above-ground pools are only covered if they are constructed from hard materials.
What is not insured?
Damage
- To your property as a result of your use of such property
- Caused by cleaning, processing or repair
- Covered by the warranty or a maintenance contract;
- Caused by corrosion, wear and tear, discolouration, contamination or other gradual damage resulting from exposure to slow-acting influences
- Caused by peeling, scratches, dents or stains
Soil decontamination insurance (not for flats)
If you use fuel oil to heat your home, you are personally responsible for checking the tank on a regular basis and for soil decontamination following contamination.
More than 3% of tanks start leaking at some point, often caused by rust. However, contamination may also occur while refilling the tank. You will also be responsible for covering the cost of the soil decontamination, i.e. the process of cleaning the contaminated land.
Only fuel oil tanks built less than 40 years ago and with a maximum capacity of 20 000 litres are eligible.
The total compensation per claim is 60 000 euros.
What is insured?
We cover the risk as well as the practical organisation of the compulsory soil decontamination.
We send an assessor to
- Determine the nature and seriousness of the contamination
- Take measures to limit the consequences
- Inform you of the statutory procedures relating to soil contamination
- Help you with any formalities to be completed
We arrange to have decontamination works carried out if the contamination is so serious that you are required by law to have the soil decontaminated.
What is not insured?
- Contamination that already existed when the cover was taken out
- Costs borne by the government or another body for the decontamination of contaminated soil
- The possible reduction in value of the contaminated soil
- Pollution and contamination caused by natural disasters
Questions about your Home Insurance?
Don’t hesitate to contact our Insurance Expert via KBC Live or schedule an appointment with your bank branch or insurance agent.
Good to know
KBC Home Insurance for owners - second residence may include one or more of the following types of cover: home insurance, home contents insurance, swimming pool insurance, garden insurance, and soil decontamination insurance. These are forms of property damage insurance. These forms of insurance cover are designed for owners using their private home as a second home. You are not permitted to permanently rent out the home, but several weeks out of the year is allowed. You may not use the home to engage in any commercial activities or liberal professions.
- This product is governed by the laws of Belgium.
- Insurance cover under this policy is valid for a term of one year and is tacitly renewed unless you cancel it no later than three months before the main renewal date.
For policies taken out or tacitly renewed on or after 1 October 2024, you have up to two months before the main renewal date to cancel them. As a consumer, you can cancel your insurance contract at any time starting from the second insurance year, with effect after two months have elapsed from the day after the registered letter was submitted for delivery, the writ was served or the date of the acknowledgement of receipt. - Your intermediary is the first point of contact for any complaints you may have. If no agreement can be reached, please contact KBC Complaints Management, Brusselsesteenweg 100, 3000 Leuven, complaints@kbc.be, tel. 016 43 25 94. If you cannot find a suitable solution, you can contact the Belgian insurance industry’s ombudsman service: Ombudsman van de Verzekeringen, de Meeûssquare 35, 1000 Brussels, info@ombudsman-insurance.be, www.ombudsman-insurance.be. This does not affect your legal rights.
Contact your insurance expert or visit our website to request a quotation for KBC Home Insurance for owners - second residence.
KBC Home Insurance for owners - second residence is a product provided by KBC Insurance NV, Professor Roger Van Overstraetenplein 2, 3000 Leuven, Belgium.
VAT BE 0403.552.563, RLP Leuven, IBAN BE43 7300 0420 0601, BIC KREDBEBB.
Company licensed by the National Bank of Belgium, de Berlaimontlaan 14, 1000 Brussels, Belgium, for all classes of insurance under code 0014 (Royal Decree of 4 July 1979, Belgian Official Gazette of 14 July 1979).
Member of the KBC group
