Guide to Holiday Home Insurance Iceland
Introduction -
although this would not be everyone's first choice as a place to buy a second or
holiday home, Iceland is proving very popular with overseas investors.
Iceland or The Republic of Iceland to give it its official title is located in
Northern Europe between Norway, Greenland the Faroe Islands and the British
Isles. Its name is a bit of a giveaway as to the climatic conditions but this is
a holiday home destination full of surprises. Certainly, you wont be spending a
great deal of your time sunbathing but temperatures are milder than you may
think helped by warm currents from the Gulf Stream.
Property Investment in Iceland - Property prices have been a little on the
low side but have increased in recent years, especially in the capital
Reykjavik. This is a city that is considerable to be very fashionable and during
the summer months, the midnight sun turns it in to a place that never sleeps. It
is easily the property hot spot of the country but its other main cities;
Akureyri, Kopavogur and Hafnarfjorour are also popular as well. Investors from
Britain have been keen to buy property on the Islands, until very recently ,
short trips were not economically via as airfares were very expensive. However,
airfares have now reduced quite dramatically making the island more accessible
for short term breaks and making a holiday home a viable proposition. Iceland as
a lot to offer, the country is sparsely populated, about 300,000 at the last
count with an average of about three inhabitants per square kilometre. The bulk
of Icelanders live in the capital city. Iceland has numerous active volcanoes,
much of it is made up of lava fields and farmland. The scenery is dramatic to
say the least and many people holiday is the country to take advantage of this
stunning natural scenery. Add this to the fact that Iceland has been described
as the the least corrupt country in the world, wonderfully friendly to visitors
and investors, and amongst the richest most stable countries in the world, you
can easily see why it is so popular.
Insurance for a Property Located in Iceland - When you have located your
holiday home or second property, you can now obtain an insurance policy from the
United Kingdom covering a wide range of insurance perils and Public Liability
Insurance. Iceland has approximately 24 active volcanoes and is known to suffer
from Earthquakes, in fact minor tremors almost on a daily basis. The last big
quakes in the country were a few years ago and you should check to see if your
policy can be extended to include earthquake damage. Property purchase in
Iceland is fairly straight forward with very low acquisition costs once you have
located a property to buy but alas they can be a little thin on the ground.
Once you have located the property that you wish to purchase and of course
sorted out how you intend to pay for it, you will need to contact the Icelandic
Land Registry and obtain a certificate of non-encumbrance, this will cost around
ISK 1000 and very efficiently will only take 24 hours to obtain from the
magistrates office. Estate Agents in Iceland have on-line access to this
information (Landskra Fasteigna) at a cost of approximately ISK 550 per case.
The Property Purchase process - although you do not have to use an estate
agent if you do, they make the whole process easier and will draw up the sale
purchase agreement. There fees will be around 2.5% of the property value. Unless
you pay the full value of the property at the time of the agreement, the sale
purchase agreement will be registered with the magistrate, this will provide you
with certain protections and the cost of this is very cheap to arrange. The
conditions for registry of the sale purchase agreement are that it must contain
the following information: the name of the property as officially registered by
the authorities, the unique property reference number of the land and the
property, the legal description set forth by the planning and building
authorities and the land and the building’s number which has direct reference to
its coordinates. This information is available from the magistrates office or if
you use a licensed estate agent, they can obtain the details electronically from
Landskra fasteigna (cadastre).The deed is first signed when the property is paid
in full.
So if you are seeking an holiday home insurance quote why not see if we
can help? In addition, Assetsure provide overseas property insurance and
holiday home insurance for other countries including
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.
