Guide to Holiday Home Insurance Finland
Introduction -
Investors are slowly waking up to Finland as a destination for holiday & second
homes. In country famous for skiing and outdoor pursuits, its no wonder then
that log cabins and chalets are proving just as popular with investors as more
conventional types of property. What ever property you decide to purchase
whether it is a normal property built of bricks and mortar or even a timber
chalet or log cabin, the good news is that holiday or second home insurance can
now be purchased from the United Kingdom and should offer a wide range of
insurance perils. Flooding in Finland is an environmental issue although it is
lucky in that it experiences far less insurance damage caused by this peril than
some of its European neighbours. When buying insurance, always check the range
of perils on offer to make sure that flooding will be included. If you have
purchased a property in Finland for investment purposes, it may be your
intention to rent the property in between your own private usage. If this is the
case, you will need to make sure that any insurance policy you buy includes the
correct form of liability cover. The easiest way to ensure this is to discuss
the matter with the insurance company and tell them your full plans for the use
of the building. The rules and regulations relating to letting property do vary
from country to country and thus is thus important to discuss with your
solicitor any legislation that you need to be aware of before renting your
property to tenants. Local knowledge is essential with regard to this as often,
the laws will vary from area to area.
Why Buy a Holiday Home in Finland? - Finland is a country with a
population on excess of 45 million people. Its official title is the Republic of
Finland, it is known as a Nordic country and is located in Northern Europe
sharing borders with Sweden in the West, Russia to the east. The climate is
characterised by cold winters and warm summers but temperatures in winter are
improved by the influence of the Baltic Sea and west winds from the Atlantic
warmed by the Gulf Stream. In the far north, beyond the Arctic Circle, the sun
does not set for about 73 days, producing the midnight sun of summer. In the
same region, during the dark winter period, the sun remains below the horizon
for 51 days, creating the polar night known in Finland as "Kaamos."
The capital city and perhaps the centre of interest for property investors is
Helsinki. Helsinki is home to as much as 20% of the population and as many as
three hundred thousand occupy rental property, Half of these occupy state
controlled social housing. The lively and diverse capital is located partly on
the mainland, and partly on an archipelago of islands in the Baltic Sea,
Finland's picturesque and low rise capital city has many influences notably from
nearby Sweden & Russia. Most of the properties have been built within the last
60 years, nothing much older than this remains as a result of extensive war time
bombing. The main city centre surrounds the harbour, Etelesatama and the market
square, as mentioned above, this ais a low rise city, there are very few tall
buildings and this makes the capital seem very un city like.
Finland scores highly on the best places in the world to live, it has excellent
services, low levels of crime and corruption and residents enjoy excellent
standards of living and health care. Although Finland is the sixth largest
country in the European Union, its is the most sparsely populated. There is a
strong demand for rental property in Finland, particularly in eastern regions
and the northern Lapland region. In particular tourism from Russia has accounted
for a large upsurge in the demand for rental property and this seems set to
continue in the coming years. Of course most people realise that Finland is the
home to Santa and this has a large effect on the economy of the country,
visiting Santa is a hugely popular industry and can lead to a large demand for
accommodation during the months of December and March, which is also a popular
time with other overseas visitors hoping to see the Northern Lights. There
is also an important holiday let market to Finnish people themselves, they tend
to take a break between March and October. For people hoping to visit Finland
from the United Kingdom, this is now possible easily and cheaply, as well as the
Santa charter flights, Ryanair now offer budget flights to Finland
How to Buy a Holiday Home in Finland - The process of buying property in
Finland is now much easier, In 2000 the government removed the requirement that
a non-resident must obtain a permit to buy a secondary residential property .
However, overseas investors are restricted from acquiring property in the
Province of Aland (Ahvenanmaa), an archipelago. You can apply to the authorities
for permission and this will be given due consideration. The sales process is
quite straight forward an can usually be completed very quickly. Charges are
very low but as with all other countries , finding good quality legal advice is
essential. Once you have located the property you require and have agreed the
price, your solicitor or accountant can advise you on the best method of
purchase, this can be either on a individual basis or via a limited company.
Once this has been done, a contract of sale is drawn up by the estate agent and
the details will of course be checked by your own independent solicitor, both
parties can sign the documents. On completion, the documents are notarised and
the official ownership documents are signed over to the buyer and all
outstanding fees are paid.
Assetsure provide overseas property insurance and holiday home insurance for the
following countries.... Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Brazil,
Canada, Cape Verde, Chile, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia,
Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Egypt, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland,
Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, Montenegro,
Morocco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia,
Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey, United
Arab Emirates, United Kingdom (UK) and Venezuela.
