Property Insurance in the TRNC

I have owned several holiday homes in the UK before I bought my lovely villa here in Northern Cyprus. My experiences in the UK made me realise the vital importance of getting proper holiday home insurance, and it is something I would not be without, especially in these days of "Where there's blame, there's a claim."

In the UK, my buildings and contents insurance always covered almost every problem that might occur, from major flooding to accidental damage. I was always amazed at how clumsy some holiday-makers were! I assumed that finding the same level of insurance for my North Cyprus holiday villa would be easy, but I was wrong.

To begin with, I did not want any policy written in Turkish, as I would not know what I was signing. It was important that the policy covered not only the structure and contents of my villa, but included public and employer's liability for every person who might step one foot onto my property. I am lucky in having a good TRNC property manager who has an excellent network of tradesmen to fix any problems that arise, but as a result I never really know exactly who is in my property at any one time.

In the end, I looked at UK- based firms, and soon discovered that some companies just did not want to know about North Cyprus properties.  From those who did offer TRNC cover, I then discovered that both the level of cover offered and the prices charged varied enormously. In the end, I took out the holiday home policy from Intasure, not just because they offered good cover at half the price of everyone else, but also because when I rang the UK office, they had a real 'can-do' attitude and knowledge of their products. (After a prolonged battle with a company I once booked car insurance with over the internet, I now ring companies to check they really do know what they are doing!)

If you are a holiday home owner, I'm sure you have your own 'horror' stories, but I will never forget arriving at our first holiday home on the Isle of Wight late one night, popping the inevitable hot water bottles into the beds, and snuggling down for the night. The next day, my daughter was scratching like a hound, and when I took a look, she was covered in tiny red bites. It took us ten minutes to discover the masses of fleas covering the back of the curtain beside her bed, and three hours for the pest control specialist to fumigate and discover the source was dead birds in the roof space above. Moral of the story? Never neglect your holiday property's loft!

Kate Mitchel