OREANDA-NEWS. September 29, 2009. ROSNO’s Samara branch and the managing company DEZ-1 Ltd. launched in the Kirovsky district of Samara a joint social project intended to attract public attention to the need to protect property and civil liability, reported the press-centre of ROSNO.

The residents of over 70,000 apartments in the buildings administered by DEZ-1 Ltd. have got an opportunity to insure their property and liability with ROSNO on favourable terms. Special visits to the insurance company for conclusion of insurance contract is not required. To accept the company’s offer, one just has to pay the special invoice receipt put into mailboxes of Samara residents. Together with the invoice receipt, the potential insurant also gets an insurance certificate. Of course, the insurance decision is left to each family’s sole discretion. The insurance coverage becomes effective after completion of payment for the first invoice receipt.

The insurance protection covers furnishings and plumbing systems of the insured apartments and civil liability of apartment owners. The apartments are insured against fire, lightning stroke, natural disasters, gas explosion, flood caused by breakdown in water supply, heating or sewage systems or internal drainpipes located in the buildings. Another type of insured accident will be the insurant’s civil liability arising from damage inflicted to life, health and/or property of third parties in the process of operation of the insured premise.

The cost of such ROSNO policy for the Samara residents is on average 35 to 50 roubles per month, depending on the apartment’s metric area.

"The consequences of floods, fires, and other unforeseen events affecting the municipal housing reflect on the condition of apartments of residents and their neighbours, public areas and housing in general; while the search for wrongdoers and enforcement of compensations may last for years. In many other countries, this issue has long been solved through housing insurance, which is the most efficient tool compensating unforeseen expenses. In our country, this practice is also gradually gaining popularity. While for Samara the project for cooperation between insurer and managing company may be considered a pilot project, this practice is already widespread throughout Russia. Along with other companies, ROSNO successfully implements similar projects in Moscow, various cities of Nizhny Novgorod Region and Kirov Region, and the Republic of Bashkortostan. In the capital, the program for insurance coverage of residential premises in the municipal housing fund buildings has been effective since 1995, enjoying support of the municipal authorities and popularity among the city residents", told Ms. Irina Timakova, Deputy Director of ROSNO’s Samara branch.

"In today’s Samara, housing insurance concerns not only insurers or insurants themselves; this issue is also of interest for the managing companies responsible for the condition of city’s housing. Thus, the initiative for joining efforts with ROSNO to implement this project in Samara is based on mutual interest. I would like to emphasize that this insurance is completely voluntary. In course of project implementation, we secured safety of personal information of apartment owners. The cost of policy for any specific apartment is calculated without insurer’s involvement, according to the parameters agreed beforehand with ROSNO. I am confident that this program will get attention of the residents of our district, and I hope that later it will be available to all residents of the city", commented on the joint project Mr. Maxim Samsonov, Economics and Finance Director of MC DEZ-1 Ltd.

The insurance certificates distributed among the residents contain ROSNO’s hotline telephone numbers, which any Samara resident can dial to get explanations on the program for insurance coverage of residential premises in the municipal housing fund buildings. Under this pilot project, ROSNO plans to carry out a social event where housing and civil liability insurance policies will be presented as a gift to 500 families of the veterans of the Great Patriotic War and multichildren families.

Provided that this program is a success, it will be expanded to include other Samara districts.

At the moment, overall, ROSNO has insured over 800,000 families in various Russian regions pursuant to the program for insurance coverage of residential premises in the municipal housing fund buildings. In 2008, the insurance compensations paid by ROSNO under this product exceeded 33.5 mln. roubles.