Hello
My GF and I will move into the flat we bought next spring (in Vaud)
What kind of insurances should we take (or not take) ?
I list
I’ve seen assurance responsabilité civile immeuble, but not sure what it is.
Thanks
If I translate it right, you should always have a Responsabilité civile, also if renting. You’ll get one for like 100 a year.
ECA is the building insurance? Where I live, it’s mandatory, anyway.
You can double check what your’s covers and what not.
Water is usually pushed by the insurance agents, but I wasn’t convinced and didn’t get one. Other popular sells for owners are fire damage and earthquake, again depending on what’s included in the building insurance. Don’t have those, either.
Or household insurance.
Probably not needed if you have a single flat in a building, i.e. a share of a PPE (Propriété Par Étages).
But the PPE should (must ?) have this insurance ; it covers damages induced by the building to others (eg a part of the roof falling on a pedestrian or on a car); the insurance premium is listed as an expense in the financial statements of the PPE.
“Assurance responsabilité civile immeuble” is insurance for legal liability related to your property. Your personal liability insurance does not cover that, so if you live in a location where liability claims are likely (e.g. if the property is in a populated area or near other buildings), then I would definitely recommend it.
A good first step is to check whether the condominium (if the apartment is in a condominium) already has joint insurance. If it does, there’s no need to get the same insurance again.
Whether or not getting additional property insurance on top of what is required (if applicable in your canton) is worth considering if the property is mortgaged. The reason is, structural damage caused by water or light earthquakes can greatly reduce the building’s collateral value, even if the damage is hardly noticeable and doesn’t interfere with the use of the building. But this has to be judged on a case-by-case basis depending on local risks.
One important thing (experienced on my own):
I life in a canton with mandatory building insurance. The pre owner (family) of the building had complementary insurances with a separate entity, but related to the mandatory insurer.
When I bought the building I chose to take over the police for the complementary insurances as well - according to the contract ai could have declined this within 3 months after purchase.
After 1 year one of the buildings had a minor damage from some mouse attack (CHF 500.-) cost. He insurer (complemantary insurance) agreed to cover it. But few days later the terminated the contract. Reason: to much damages. Since this was my first one I talked to them and they explained that they do not look at me as contractual counterparty when judging the risk but on the history of the building. There was a mice attack 10 years ago which did also cost about 500.-..
For me this was a bad surprise - I wasnt aware that the history of the pre owner could affect my risk rating. (In this case it was imho also foul play not informing me when I investigated if they would cover the damage - I did not know about this prior claim).
Thats why I like to place this recommendation in this thread (although TE asks for a new build, some people might read this thread who buy second hand): Do not take over any policies from your pre owner. You do not now what happend in the past.
Luckily for me there is more than one building, each under a separate police. This gave me leverage with another insurer to take over my whole business, even when for this one building I had to thick the box „contract terminated by previous insurer“
(and yes, as fellow mustachian I did the math and concluded that it is better for me to have this complementary building insurance)
Now I’m curious… We have a lot of voles in our garden, so far they spared the house…
Baldur is right, you can’t just leave it like that without providing more details.
They chewed the heating cable (anti freeze) of a waterpipe.
In hindsight I should have trust the captain who is in charge of 24/7 rodent monitoring when he reported a population increase by bringing more frequently proof of existance to our doorstep.
You answer in riddles to me. Who’s that captain? Maybe I’m confused, my oldest kid recently got really into pirates, so I’ve heard a lot more about captains then I actually care. A cat?
How do they get inside or access any cables? Is it an old-ish place?
pretty obvious no ?
They get in everywhere. Nearly nothing you can do about it (we once found a fried hermelin in a electrical cabinet of a Wastewatertreatment plant. No idea how that was possible). This stuff just happens.
I’m not a cat person so I don’t have a clue. But guess that means “yes, the cat”? 
On a more serious note, how? I got insects in summer, we had a big party when a little lizard sneaked in through the door, but what’s the entry point for rodents, or the cables you should need to watch out for?
Windows in the cellar, cable entry points, aeration vents etc.
Rodents are really creative. If you live next to a more natural grassland/forest, it is nearly impossible to avoid them, they will find an entry point.
@Brndete The answer itself was in fact before the riddle 
It is a commercial building, due to its use there are always some doors open.
Rodents will always finde a way if they want.
But the point of my post was to highlight problems one might get by overtaking a existing police. The part involving all the animals and/or possible pirates was just to help me transport the message and is imho out of scope for this thread