Home &amp; Property

The security conditions attached to your policy

Condition or recommendation, safe rating and anchoring, alarm grade and monitoring, the underwriter survey, and keeping the conditions true.

Cover

Solar panels, EV chargers and heat pumps: are they covered by your home policy?

Whether new installations count as building or contents, the electrical damage sub-limit that caps most claims, and the certification question.

Cover

The unoccupancy clause: what happens when your Portuguese home sits empty

Why theft and water damage cover can lapse after 30, 60 or 90 days, how to find your own number, and five ways to keep the cover intact.

Household

What changes when the buyer is American

The proportional rule instead of coinsurance, named perils, liability without an umbrella, earthquake by zone, and ownership through a structure.

Household

Wine cellars at home: storage conditions, valuation and cover

Spoilage after a cooling failure, the storage conditions an insurer attaches, how a cellar is valued, and wine in transit or bonded storage.

Insurer Guide

Zurich home insurance in Portugal: expat guide 2026

What Zurich offers on a Portuguese multi-risk policy, where it is strong, and the three things to check before you sign.

Buying Property

Title risk when buying property in Portugal: what US and UK buyers assume, and what actually protects them

US and UK buyers expect title insurance when buying property in Portugal. It is not a routine step here — this explains what actually protects the buyer, and where the title risk really sits.

Construction

Building a home in Portugal: promoter insurance and the seguro decenal explained

Before the home policy exists, construction works, public liability and structural defects need their own insurance plan.

Coastal Property

Coastal and clifftop properties in the Algarve: subsidence, erosion and flood

Sea views can bring underwriting questions: slope stability, erosion, flood maps, retaining walls and storm exposure.

Second Homes

Second homes that sit empty for months: the unoccupancy clause that voids your cover

A second home can be perfectly maintained and still fall outside cover if the policy limits how long it may remain empty.

Modern Homes

Solar panels, home batteries and EV chargers: your home is modern, your policy isn't

Modern upgrades change replacement values, electrical risk and liability, but many home policies still describe an older house.

Liability

Swimming pools, jetties and private access: the liability nobody insures

Pools, jetties, paths and gates feel like lifestyle features, but they can become the most serious liability exposure on the property.