hi there,

i am a bit embarrassed to be asking this question but i hope somebody can help.

basically, i had two laptops stolen a couple of weeks ago and i have to make a claim for them. the question, where can i claim?!

is household insurance compulsory here in lausanne? i have health insurance and i have the ECA insurance, but i cannot recall a household insurance....

i have gone through files but cannot find or recall something for household. would the agency we rent from be aware of it for example if it is compulsory?

thanks for any help and apologies for the daft question!
rob

It's not compulsory neither by law or on most flats - and as 3rd party liability, highly recommended to have. As you just found out...

Shame to hear about the theft, sorry. Care to share the tale so we can be careful? How didnit happen?

Huh???

If you have insurance (household contents), you can claim. If you don't, you can't. What's your question?

purely whether it is compulsory or not....ie i can't recall having it, so if it is not compulsory, i am 99% sure i don't. thanks for your help!

Ah. Well, no, Venturello is correct, it's not compulsory. The only insurance that is compulsory is health insurance (including accident cover, which (if you're employed) is paid by your employer). Oh, and also third party cover for cars ... the velo vignette ... unemployment insurance (deducted from your salary) ... and there are probably others, too ...

Many tenancy agreements will state that you need to have third party liability insurance but as far as I know, this is not a legal requirement. It's very highly recommended, though, since the chances of you leaving your apartment in a condition that your landlord finds satisfactory are virtually non-existent -- and this insurance should help ease the pain of paying for repairs, etc.

Unless the loss of your laptops was work-related, I think you'll have to face up to the cost of replacement on your own. Sorry.

In Canton Vaud ECA is compulsory - don't know if it is in any other canton.

Just curious, what is ECA?

It is a compulsary insurance cover for damage due to fire and natural elements - it is not that expensive..

www.eca-vaud.ch explains more

Fire & natural disaster insurance.

Likewise in Canton Zurich buildings are assessed and home owners billed for building insurance. But not contents. The premiums of this cantonal insurance is quite reasonable, however I have never had to claim...

Thanks for your help folks - I figured as much.

And that is exactly what we want!

I didn't know it was also mandatory in ZH.

Contents insurance are separate as you say and not very expensive either. Hopefully you never need to claim but it's good to have.

Hi Rob,

Sorry to hear that someone has burgled your laptop...

Just to let you know this has happened last month in my apartment also, the thief had broke open the window when we were not at (Guess he would have watched us going out).

He had come inside searching for valuables that are easy to carry in hand but couldnt find anything but for the laptop.

Thankfully we had insured our house few months back only. Though we had lost peace of mind , we are happy that we got the money back for the laptop from the Insurance co. So its always safe to insure the house as these kind of uncertain incidence can happen anytime.

Regards,
VSS