Liability insurance (AVP) and contents insurance in the Netherlands: what each covers, the exclusions and caps, and what renters need

Dutch households have two insurances that no law requires. The first is the aansprakelijkheidsverzekering particulieren (AVP, personal liability insurance). It pays when you, your children or your pets damage another person or their property. The second is the inboedelverzekering (contents insurance). It pays when your own possessions are damaged or stolen, for example in a fire or a burglary. Both are common: in the spring 2024 survey of the AFM, the Dutch financial-markets regulator, 82% of people said their household has a liability insurance, and 82% said it has a contents insurance. This guide explains what each insurance covers, what it does not pay, and the rules that matter when you rent.

Keep these two apart from the insurances the law does require. Dutch health insurance is mandatory for almost everyone who lives or works here; the health insurance guide explains the 4-month deadline and the zorgtoeslag (healthcare benefit). Third-party cover (WA-verzekering) is mandatory for every car, motorcycle and scooter. Wijzer in geldzaken, the money-education platform of the Ministry of Finance, lists the AVP and the inboedelverzekering as advisable, not required.

You are liable (aansprakelijk) when someone else suffers damage through your fault. Dutch law also makes you liable for some damage that is not your fault: parents are liable for damage caused by children under 14, even when they were not nearby. The Consumentenbond gives the classic example: a child under 14 kicks a football through a window, and the parents must pay.

The AVP covers the money side of both situations. Van A tot Zekerheid, the information site of the Dutch insurers' association, describes the cover in two parts: damage to other people's belongings, and injury to other people. The examples the Consumentenbond and Wijzer in geldzaken use are everyday accidents: your bike falls against a shop window, or your child shoots a ball through the neighbours' window. A claim for injury can be much larger. The Consumentenbond warns that without an AVP, one large claim can leave you in debt for the rest of your life. Its advice: insure at least €1.25 million, and preferably €2.5 million.

Pets are co-insured, so damage your dog or cat causes to others also falls under the policy. Having pets can raise the premium.

You choose the cover when you take out the policy: yourself only (single cover) or a household (gezinsdekking, family cover). The choice decides who is insured and what you pay. On family cover, Van A tot Zekerheid lists the co-insured: your spouse or registered partner, your minor children (also when they live somewhere else), parents, parents-in-law and grandparents who live with you, guests, domestic staff and pets. The size of your family does not change the premium of a family policy. Children who move out to study can stay co-insured as long as they are not married; check the policy conditions for this.

• Damage to your own belongings. The AVP covers damage to other people and their property, not to yours.
• Damage you cause on purpose. Intentional damage is never reimbursed.
• Damage with a car, motorcycle or scooter. Motor vehicles are excluded from the AVP; that risk falls under the vehicle's own mandatory WA insurance.
• Damage you cause during paid work. Your employer's insurance covers that risk.

Beyond these fixed exclusions, policies differ on details. Insurers publish a standard verzekeringskaart (insurance card) for each policy, which shows with icons what is and is not covered. Read it before you sign.

Your inboedel (household contents) is everything in your home that is not fixed to the building: furniture, curtains, clothes, books, electronics, jewellery. The Consumentenbond's contents-cover overview lists the events a standard policy covers: fire, water, lightning, explosion, burglary, violent robbery, storm from wind force 7, and scorching or melting. The insurers' association's explainer adds leakage, rain and frost, and the costs of finding the cause of a leak.

Insurers sell two levels of cover. An extra uitgebreide (extended) policy covers the events above, but pays nothing when the damage is your own fault. An allrisk policy also pays when you drop or knock over something yourself, at a higher premium. On any policy, damage from intent or from poor maintenance is not covered. Van A tot Zekerheid also lists damage from catastrophes, such as flooding, as not covered.

Every policy caps some items. Cash is covered up to a limit, between €250 and €1,500 at most insurers. Jewellery and other valuables have their own maximums, and those amounts differ per insurer. Payouts also depend on age: most insurers pay the new value (nieuwwaarde) of an item in the first years after purchase, and switch to the lower current value (dagwaarde) once that current value drops below 40% of the new price.

A rented home needs no building insurance (opstalverzekering) from you. Nibud, the national budget institute, states it plainly: as a tenant you do not arrange the building insurance, because it runs through the landlord. The landlord's policy covers the walls, the roof and everything fixed to the building. It does not cover your possessions. So the one home insurance a renter needs is the inboedelverzekering. This applies from your first furnished room onward: the furniture may be the landlord's, but your clothes, laptop, phone and bike are not. Expect a higher premium for a rented room, because insurers count a higher theft risk there. If you are still looking for a home, finding a rental and the rental contracts guide cover the housing side.

The insured amount of a contents policy must match the real value of your possessions. If the amount is too low, you are underinsured (onderverzekerd). Underinsurance does not only lower the maximum payout. The insurers' association's underinsurance explainer describes the real effect: every claim is then paid only in part, small claims included. Insurers prevent this with the inboedelwaardemeter (contents value meter), a short questionnaire about your household. Fill it in honestly and the insurer often gives a guarantee against underinsurance. The result stays valid for about five years, so redo the questionnaire every five years to keep the guarantee, and tell your insurer when the value of your contents changes a lot.

You take out both insurances directly with an insurer. Most people buy them straight from the insurer; about a quarter go through an intermediary (tussenpersoon), the AFM survey found. Conditions differ per insurer, so compare a few policies on more than the monthly price: the insured amount, the caps for valuables, and the exclusions on the verzekeringskaart. For the AVP, the Consumentenbond's advice is simple: at least €1.25 million insured, preferably €2.5 million, and preferably no deductible (eigen risico), because the premium difference is usually small. For contents insurance, the premium depends on where you live and what you insure: Van A tot Zekerheid notes that the big cities are the most expensive, and that good locks and smoke detectors can earn a discount.

The first contract year is fixed: you cannot cancel during it. After the first year you can cancel at any moment, with a notice period of at most one month, under the cancellation rules Dutch insurers follow. So the policy you choose this week does not lock you in for years. If you find better cover later, you can switch.

It does not. The landlord's building insurance covers the building. Your possessions are covered only by your own contents policy. After a fire or a burst pipe, the landlord's insurer repairs the home, and an uninsured tenant pays for everything inside it that was ruined. A furnished rental changes nothing here: the landlord's cover concerns the landlord's property, not yours. Take out your own inboedelverzekering from the day you move in.

A contents policy covers theft from your home. It also covers theft from a shed, storage room or cellar box, but the Consumentenbond's theft-cover overview shows the conditions: the space must have been locked, and there must be clear signs of forced entry (braaksporen). A bike taken from the street or at the station is not theft from your home, so a standard contents policy does not pay for it. Theft from your car is capped at €250 to €1,000 at most insurers, with forced-entry marks required, and several insurers exclude it completely. For a bike that is parked outside every day, a separate fietsverzekering (bicycle insurance) is the product to look at. And whatever was stolen: report it to the police first, because insurers ask for the police report (aangifte) with the claim.

An AVP insures the people the policy names: you alone on single cover, or the family circle on gezinsdekking. Friends who share a flat with you are not part of that circle, so your policy does not cover them. Each housemate arranges an AVP alone, or stays co-insured at the parental home: students can keep the cover of their parents' family policy as long as they are not married. Living together with a partner without marriage or registered partnership? Family cover names spouses and registered partners, so check the policy conditions before you assume your partner is co-insured.

Check four rules before you count on a payout. First, underinsurance: with a too-low insured amount, every claim is paid only in part. Second, the caps: cash between €250 and €1,500 at most insurers, and separate maximums for jewellery and other valuables. Third, depreciation: for older items you receive the current value once it drops below 40% of the new price, not the cost of buying new. Fourth, own fault: an extended (extra uitgebreide) policy pays nothing when you caused the damage yourself; only an allrisk policy covers dropping your own television.

Arrange both insurances in your first weeks, together with the rest of the arrival admin; the first 90 days checklist gives the full order. The health insurance guide covers the one insurance the law demands from every resident, and what Dutch health insurance does not cover explains the gaps in that package.