Moving house: when should you adjust your contents insurance?

Quick answer

Your contents insurance does not automatically follow you to your new address — you must actively inform your insurer. Most Dutch insurers apply a notification period of thirty days after the moving date. If you miss this deadline, you risk not being covered for damage in your new home because the insurer could not correctly assess the risk. The policy itself usually continues, but your premium may change due to the new postcode risk and building type. During the actual move, many Dutch contents policies include a temporary moving clause that covers your belongings during transport and storage, but this is subject to strict conditions and a maximum duration of thirty to sixty days. You should also reassess your insured sum: a larger home often means more belongings, a smaller home may mean fewer, but the replacement value of your contents almost always changes after a move. A house move is therefore not just an administrative update but a genuine recalibration moment for your entire contents policy. If you want to understand more broadly which insurances to review after a change of address, read our article on insurance after moving home.

Cover during the move

What happens if you accidentally drop your television during the move, or if someone breaks into the moving van parked outside your new home overnight? The standard contents policy only covers your belongings at the risk address stated on the policy. Fortunately, most Dutch policies include a moving clause that temporarily extends cover to 'outside the home' during the moving period. This clause typically applies for a period of thirty to sixty days around the moving date and covers damage from fire, theft, and accidental damage during transport and storage. However, the exact terms vary by insurer. With some companies, the moving clause is a standard part of the policy; with others, you must report the move in writing beforehand to claim cover. The maximum payout per event is also often capped — for example at €5,000 or €10,000 — and there is almost always an exclusion for fragile items such as glass, crockery, and electronics, unless they were professionally packed. An important distinction: damage caused by a serious error by the removal company itself typically falls under their own liability insurance, not under your contents policy.

• Belongings in a moving van are usually insured for up to sixty days through your contents policy's moving clause, provided the move takes place within the Netherlands.
• Temporary storage in a professional storage facility often falls under the same clause, but only if the facility is secured against burglary and fire.
• Fragile items such as crockery, glassware, and electronics are typically excluded from cover during transport, unless you can prove they were professionally packed.
• Damage caused by the removal company itself — such as a piano falling down the stairs due to a mover's mistake — must be claimed against their business liability insurance.
• If you are moving abroad, the standard moving clause is almost always void, and you will need a separate transport insurance policy.
• Always check whether you must notify your insurer of the move in advance; failure to do so may invalidate the moving clause.

New address, new risks

Your postcode and the type of home you live in directly affect your contents insurance premium. Dutch insurers use detailed risk maps that include factors per postcode area such as burglary frequency, the average fire damage burden, and the percentage of homes with preventive security measures. Moving from a quiet suburb to an inner-city area with a higher burglary risk can increase your monthly premium by several euros. Conversely, moving to a newly built neighbourhood with the Politiekeurmerk Veilig Wonen (Police Secure Housing Mark) can actually lower your premium. The type of building also counts: a ground-floor apartment has a different risk profile than a terraced house with rear access, and a detached house differs from a third-floor flat. Additionally, special features of your new home — such as a thatched roof, listed building status, or an open fireplace — may bring extra policy conditions or an adjusted deductible. It is therefore not just a matter of 'notifying' your insurer, but a moment to check whether your current policy terms still suit your new living situation. If you have bought a house rather than renting, you must also take out buildings insurance alongside your contents cover; learn more about insurance when buying a house.

• Postcode risk determines a significant portion of your premium; moving to an area with a higher burglary risk can raise your monthly premium by 10 to 25%.
• The type of home is equally important: a ground-floor home with French doors to the garden is considered higher risk than a second-floor apartment.
• Extra security measures in your new home, such as burglary-resistant locks and fittings certified by the Politiekeurmerk Veilig Wonen, can earn you a premium discount if you actively report them to your insurer.
• For special property types, such as listed buildings or homes with thatched roofs, additional requirements may apply, such as mandatory smoke detectors, fire extinguishers, or an adjusted deductible.
• If you move to an area with an increased risk of water damage — such as low-lying polders or flood plains — insurers may impose extra conditions on cover for flooding or groundwater damage.

Reassessing your contents value

During a move, all your belongings literally pass through your hands. You pack boxes, discover items you have not seen for years, and face the choice: keep, sell, or discard. At the same time, you often buy new things for your new home — from paint and flooring to furniture, curtains, and lighting. This makes moving the ideal moment to reassess the insured sum on your contents policy. Many households have insured their contents at the same amount for years, while the actual replacement value has risen significantly due to purchases, inflation, and changing living needs. The reverse can also be true: if you move from a family house to an apartment and sell or discard furniture, your contents value actually decreases. Most Dutch insurers index the insured sum annually at a fixed percentage — usually between 2 and 5 percent — but this indexation only corrects for inflation, not for your personal living situation. The risk of underinsurance is real: if your insured sum is too low, the insurer will only pay out a proportionate share of any claim.

Moving in together or apart

A house move often coincides with another life event: you move in with your partner, or you split up and move to your own place. In both cases, this has consequences for your contents insurance. If you move in together, both you and your partner bring belongings to your shared home. Often both partners have their own contents policy, leading to double premium payments without doubling the cover. The solution is to merge both policies into one on the shared address, recalculating the total contents value. If you are moving apart — for example after a divorce — you must take out your own contents policy for your new home, while your ex-partner adjusts the existing policy to their new situation. The division of shared belongings also plays a role: who takes which items, and how does this change the value of both households? It is wise in both scenarios to review not just your contents policy but all your damage insurances. Use the merge insurances when moving in together checklist to make sure you do not overlook anything.

• If you are moving in together, check that you are not double-insured: two contents policies at one address is unnecessary and does not provide double cover if a claim occurs.
• Re-establish the combined contents value; there is a good chance the total value of your shared belongings is higher than the insured sum on both old policies combined.
• When separating, you must have your own policy at your new address within thirty days of moving to avoid uninsured periods.
• Your personal liability insurance (AVP) also changes when cohabiting; partners can often be covered under a single household policy, which is cheaper than two separate policies.
• Check whether your car insurance is affected by the address change; a different postcode can alter your car premium, and when cohabiting, the second-car scheme may be advantageous.

Common mistakes

In the chaos of a house move, insurance matters are regularly overlooked or mishandled. One of the most common mistakes is entirely forgetting to report the address change to the insurer. People often assume the policy moves automatically with them, or that the municipal address registration is sufficient. Another classic error is assuming that damage during the move is naturally covered by your contents policy, without checking whether the moving clause is active and whether you have met the notification requirement. Leaving the insured sum unchanged after a significant expansion or reduction of your contents is also a risk: if a claim occurs, you face underinsurance, or you are paying too much premium for a contents value that is no longer accurate. Furthermore, many people forget that moving from a rental to a purchased home — or vice versa — not only changes your contents policy but also means you must take out or can cancel buildings insurance. Finally, there is the mistake of keeping both contents policies running when moving in together, unnecessarily paying double premium each month.

How to approach this

A house move is the ideal moment not only to adjust your contents insurance, but to review your entire damage insurance portfolio. Alongside your contents policy, your liability insurance, car insurance, legal expenses insurance, and travel insurance may all be affected by a change of address or living situation. Moving from an apartment to a family home with a driveway, for example, means your car insurance may work out differently because your car is no longer parked on the street. If you move to a home with your own garden for the first time, your liability insurance becomes more relevant for damage caused by falling trees or a broken fence. And if you have just arranged your first car insurance in the Netherlands and then move shortly afterwards, you must also update that new policy with your changed address. It is worth reserving an hour during your move to go through all your policies and check whether the cover still fits. If you are unsure whether your insurances are optimally matched to your new situation, an independent compare contents insurance without commission check or an annual damage insurance review can help you get not only the right cover but also a competitive premium.