Hello

We have to rent a new place in Lausanne and the application form from an appartment we are interested in requires that we name (and thereby have) our assurance RC?

Anyone know what this insurance is, how much it costs and where to get it (cheap naturally

Thanks - Casper

RC is not much at all. If you are putting a deposit down on a place dont. Go through swisscaution and pay about 100sfr a year (one off payment) so your money is not tied down in a lump sum deposit and this is all you pay. With them you can ask for the RC option.

www.swisscaution.ch

Otherwise any insurance company will do it. It will be the same price with all insurances. You have to have RC.

Good luck

You'll find a description of RC insurance (assurance responsabilité civile) here under 'Third Party Liability and property'.

lizard day, do you mean, by paying 3 months deposit, i don't need RC or do I need both??
if I buy RC, is it also assurance de menage, for moving as in moving with a moving company or if i move myself do i also need assurace de menage?

thanks!

You'll need both - they're completely separate things. The deposit is a lump of cash, held in a bank account with yours and your landlord's name on it, to pay for any damage/ cleaning remaining at the property when you move out. (Edit: or you can take out an insurance policy in place of the deposit, which will pay out in the event of damage at the end of the tenancy. The annual premium will naturally vary depending on the size of apartment and cost of rent, ie, based on how much money 3 months' rent would have been in the first place.)

The assurance RC is a public liability insurance, which is technically not compulsary but seems to be required by most landlords/ schools/ official bodies.

It's not that expensive by Swiss standards. I've got mine lumped together with the usual household contents insurance against theft, insurance against breaking the landlord's ceramic bathroom fittings and windows, that sort of thing. The whole package cost 400 CHF for a 4-person, 6-room house family, and the RC was only a small part of it.

'Assurance de menage' is more what I've described, insurance for your household, but it usually includes the RC within it. It's nothing to do with actual moving. Can't recall off-hand if that's included in household insurance (it was on my UK policy) or whether you need to take out separate insurance for this via the movers.

(Note on this: we had 3 moving companies tell us that the only way to do this was via 'marine insurance', as the stuff was being put to sea - for a few hours on a ferry across the Channel... Marine insurance would have involved several hours pricing all our belongings separately on a huge form, and a premium in excess of £1000 for about £40,000 worth of goods. One other moving company said they'd speak to their company underwriters and get it included in their normal contract liability for us. Guess which got the business..?)

Anyhow, if you need to know anything more any insurance, search this forum for 'Jenny', who's a helpful insurance broker who has an excellent reputation on this forum for answering queries and organising insurances via email. She did mine!

kodokan