Standard or Basic Fire Insurance only provide cover loss or damage to your property caused by fire, lightning and explosion of domestic gas cylinder in any building provided such building does not form part of any gas works. Nothing else unless you add-on additional coverage. Thus basic fire insurance are usually taken up for commercial property with specified add-on covearge.
Fire Insurance specifically design for private dwellings are commonly referred as Houseowner Insurance. A houseowner insurance are covers solely for residential purposes, including fixtures and fittings, garages, out-buildings, wall, gates and fences against loss or damage caused by specified or named perils as below:
- Fire, lightning, thunderbolt and subterranean Fire
- Bursting or overflowing of domestic water tanks, apparatus and/or pipes
- Theft by actual, forcible and violent means
- Explosion
- Earthquake and Volcanic eruption
- Aircraft and other aerial devices and/or articles dropped therefrom
- Impact with any of the buildings by any road vehicles or animals not belonging to or under the control of the Insured or any members of his family
- Hurricane, cyclone, typhoon, windstorm
- Flood but excluding loss of damage caused by subsidence or landslip
- Rent (up to 10%of the total sum insured) if building is rendered uninhabitable by an insured peril
- Public Liability up to RM50,000 including legal expenses with insurer’s consent
Optional extensions under a Houseowner Insurance are:
- Riot, Strike and Malicious Damage
- Subsidence and Landslip
- Increased Limits to Public Laibility
- Plate Glass exceeding RM500 per piece
- Alteration, repair and additions
Importance Note:
When purchasing a houseowner insurance, you will need to determine the insured sum amount. The Sum to be insured is NOT based on your existing market value of your property, but the cost of re-building your property. Your property may now be valued at RM1.2mil, this is because the value of your land is included. In a event of a Fire, your property will be damaged, but not your land.
Calculating your cost of re-building can be based on your build-up sq ft x estimated cost per sq ft. (example: 2150 sqft x RM150/sqft = RM322,500) Taking into account of inflated cost, you may want to insure your property for RM350,000.
You may want to take up a Householder Insurance together with your Houseowner insurance to protect the contents of your house.
