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For our international clients, it is important to understand TCIP (Turkish Natural Catastrophe Insurance Pool) or known as DASK Earthquake (Zorunlu Deprem Sigortası) insurance.
TCIP/DASK insurance is a compulsary insurance enforced by the Turkish Government to compensate for material damage on dwellings caused by natural disasters such as earthquake, fire, explosion, tsunami and landslides.
The insurance must be purchased along with the title deed. At Bodrum White, we can help to arrange your DASK insurance upon your request.
DASK Insurance
There are different pre and after sales procedures to follow when buying a property in Turkey and real estate insurance in Turkey is on the top list. This property insurance covers earthquakes and is required by the Turkish government in order to get your title deed authorized and regulated. Before subscribing to water, electricity and gas, you need to get the DASK insurance for your property.
Bodrum White works with professional insurance companies providing services to our customers for many years. You may choose the package that suits you the most but don’t forget that the earthquake insurance is a compulsory one in Turkey. Other packages offered by insurance companies cover from damages such as: flood, explosion, fire, personal accident insurance, expenses for post-earthquake, theft, smoke, aircraft and vehicle impact, civil commotion and many more.
Turkey earthquake insurance known as DASK, an abbreviation of Doğal Afet Sigortaları Kurumu, is compulsory earthquake insurance required for all types of properties. To get the subscription to water and electricity you will need to prove that you are a holder of this type of Turkey home insurance.
DASK insurance in Turkey
DASK subscription is obligatory for every property owner. Apartments, villas and holiday home insurance should be renewed every year before the end of the current insurance. DASK properties insurance in Turkey costs around 150 – 250 TL and you can arrange it from any bank and insurance company. There are few easy steps to follow for insuring your home in Turkey. Bodrum White will gladly guide you towards getting your property insured or you can simply read the following points.
To apply for DASK insurance for all properties in Turkey you need following documents and information:
• Turkish Tax Number (Vergi Numarası)
• Personal Mobile number (valid in Turkey)
• Correct property’s address or Adress Code
• The size of your property in m2
• Number of floors of your property
• Construction year of your property
The cost of property insurance varies depending on the location and size. Bodrum White Real Estate team would provide you with the suitable guide to getting your property insurance covered.
There are also other insurance options available, such as contents insurance or health insurance. If you require further information, please do not hesitate to email us at [email protected]
HOUSE CONTENT Insurance
Your home in Turkey is a very expensive asset that you should think carefully about insuring. Whilst your contents are not as valuable as your home, they will still cost a lot to replace and so most people will also want to insure these. If you insure them at the same time as you insure your home, the extra cost is often small.
Is House Content insurance obligatory in Turkey?
Homes must be insured against earthquakes, but private home insurance is otherwise rare amongst Turkish people, unless they took a mortgage when they purchased the property: in which case the bank is likely to insist on insurance. In fact, fewer than half the homes in Turkey are insured.
What types of home insurance are available in Turkey?
There is a lot of choice.
Strangely, for a country that insists you use a Turkish insurance company to insure your car, you may insure your home (and its contents) with any insurance company that takes your fancy and is prepared to take on a property in Turkey.
There are a number of international companies that offer to insure properties in most popular destinations in the world and there are local Turkish companies offering to insure your property in Turkey.
The types of insurance they will offer you can be very different.
The international companies tend to offer less complicated policies with fewer things for you to trip over when you’re applying for the insurance or making a claim.
Most international companies will offer three types of insurance:
- Insurance for when the property is your main residence.
- Insurance for holiday homes that are not let (rented out).
- Insurance for homes that are rented out for all or part of the year.
Insurance companies based in Turkey tend to take a different approach, offering you a menu of insurance items from which you can choose and, for several of those items, different amounts for which you can insure.
For example, in Turkey there is usually only one home insurance policy to which you can add extra insurance if your property is going to be vacant for more than a certain number of days each year (with a different premium depending on whether it will be empty for – say – 30, 90 or 180 days per year). They will also offer you insurance, at an additional cost, if you are going to let (rent out) your property for part of the year.
How much should we insure our holiday home/villa for?
Many people think that if their house is worth €100,000, they should insure it for €100,000. This is wrong.
Under the insurance law in Turkey (and that in many other countries), the amount you should insure for is the cost of rebuilding the property.
In some cases, this can be less than the value of the property. After all, you will still own the land and that might be worth 30% or more of the value of the building.
However, in other cases the cost of rebuilding (including the cost of any demolition and clearing the rubble from the site), can be far higher than the value of the building. This is particularly true if you own an older ‘character’ property. For example, I live in a 16th century building. Where and at what cost would I find 16th century beams, doors etc. to replace those that were destroyed and where would I find the workmen skilled in the construction methods needed to rebuild such a building?
What is the cost of rebuilding your property? This can be difficult to assess. This is strange when you consider the fact that everybody needs to do this to arrange insurance.
Fortunately, there are some websites – but none based in Turkey – that will help you estimate the cost of rebuilding a typical property of a typical type.
For example, specialising in UK property, the Building Cost Information Service, a part of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) and working at the request of the Association of British Insurers (ABI) provides a very detailed website allowing you to estimate the cost of rebuilding properties of different types, different sizes and located in different places.
Similar sites exist in many other countries around the world. They may give you some idea of the cost of rebuilding your property in Turkey.
Making a claim on House Content Insurance
- Your first step is usually to telephone your insurance company to tell them what has happened. Clearly, this is easier if they have a claim line in your own language.
- If your policy includes providing alternative accommodation and if your home is uninhabitable, you should tell them this at the time you make the phone call. Alternative accommodation should be arranged almost immediately.
- You will then usually need to submit some type of claim form and, then or later, evidence to support the claim (for example, an estimate for repair work).
- In all but the smallest claims, it is usual for the insurance company to appoint an assessor who will report on the extent of the damage and what is needed to rectify it. This process can take several weeks.
- At the end of it, they should agree with you how the claim should be dealt with. For example, that they will appoint a building company to repair the damage and pay you compensation for other aspects of your claim.
EMPLOYER'S LIABILITY Insurance
Most people are surprised when I mention employer’s liability insurance. After all, this is their holiday home!
It is, however, easy for claims to arise under the category of employer’s liability.
This is because, under Turkish law, the owner of the property is responsible for any injury or damage caused to someone working at the property whether or not they are technically the employee of the property owner. The claim is treated as an employment claim.
For example, if you are employing a cleaner at your home on a regular basis then that is – clearly – an employment contract and so it is no surprise that if the cleaner is injured a claim could arise by way of employer’s liability.
What might be a little more surprising is that if you’re employing a contractor – for example, someone who comes to clean the pool once a month – and that person is injured then the claim that will arise will be an employer’s liability claim rather than a public liability claim.
You therefore need to have employer’s liability insurance to cover anybody who is going to be working on your premises.
Fortunately, such insurance is usually extremely inexpensive if it is only going to cover casual employment such as this. It can be added to your main policy for as little as €50 per year. In some cases, it’s included automatically.
PUBLIC LIABILITY Insurance
Public liability policies cover any claim made by a member of the public: someone who is not a member of your household, your employee, or your tenant.
If your garden wall falls on someone’s car, it will give rise to a public liability claim.
If a delivery man walks up your path and trips over a hole in it, that will be a public liability claim.
If your swimming pool leaks and the water kills the plants in your neighbour’s garden, that will be a public liability claim.
Insurance against such claims is very inexpensive. In most cases, cover can be added to your existing policy for €50 or €100 per year. In some cases, it is automatically included.