Recently, one of our brokers had a chat with a client interested in protecting his belongings in a rented apartment. Surprisingly, he thought that would not be possible because he was not the owner of the house.

This is one of the misconceptions many people have about insurance. The owner of the house is responsible for getting insurance to protect his building while the tenant is responsible for the belongings.

One of the most important principles of Insurance is Insurable interest. Simply put, Insurable Interest can be related to ownership, relationship by law or blood and possession. www.economictimes.com/definition/insurableinterest

In this client’s case, he owns all the properties in his apartment i.e. Television, furniture, various electronics, jewellery, generator etc. This equals insurance interest, hence, he can take up insurance to protect his belongings including that of his wife and children as well.

There are various insurance policies tailored to different specifics, all to protect your financial interest against unforeseen losses to your properties. In this segment, we’ve narrowed down the policies to the following:

1. Fire & Special Peril Insurance
2. Burglary/House Breaking Insurance
3. Householder/Better Home Guard Insurance

Fire & Special Peril Insurance

Natural and man-made disasters are an unfortunate reality of life. While we never know when to expect them, to some extent, we can prepare in other to moderate their damage. Even when we succeed in putting these measures in place to help minimize the damages, the financial implications to return things back to their normal state after the occurrence of natural and man-made disasters are usually exorbitant.

The good news is, with Insurance policies like Fire and Special Perils, we can be confident that the burden of these financial implications will fall largely on the insurer.

This reminds me of the recent incidence of rain in Lagos, resulting to flood damaging properties on the Island, and the flood devastation in Benue where over 50,000 houses were left in ruins. The entire state of Benue is in a flood zone and subject to flood devastation, so is Lagos State as is it surrounded by water. Just think about it, for Nigerians, Lagos and Benue nightmare was a flood. Imagine if it was a named storm like Harvey and Maria as experienced in Texas, Puerto Rico etc. where millions of people have been rendered homeless.

Nevertheless, floods and hurricanes are not the only disasters. We have the likes of lightning, earthquakes, landslides, explosions, riots & strikes etc. Since it is impossible to avoid any form of financial expenses in situations like these, it’s time to re-evaluate our thinking about insurance.

Fire & Special Perils Insurance Policy covers you against loss of or damage to your property (building and content) caused by the following insured peril:

1. Fire, Lightning and Explosion
2. Natural Perils such as Storm & tempest, flood, & wind, Earthquake, subterranean Fire, Land subsidence and Tornado
3. Aircraft and other aerial devices or articles dropped therefrom
4. Bursting or overflowing of water tanks, apparatus or pipes causing water damage to the property
5. Malicious Damage, Riot & Strikes e.t.c

Whether you are a tenant, landlord, private or business owner, Fire & Special Peril insurance policy is essential for your survival. There’s simply no way to predict any unfortunate occurrence, all we can do is prepare and Insurance is a good way to start.