Key takeaways:
Over the last few years there have been more than 30 major fires at warehouse facilities and shopping malls. The total amount of losses from one event in some cases exceeded 15 billion rubles.
Consequences for the insurance market in terms of property insurance (including fire risks):
growth of insurance tariffs;
restriction of risk assessment requirements;
changes in the terms and conditions of insurance contracts (including introduction by insurers of additional restrictions and exclusions from insurance coverage).
Many of the affected objects were insured. However, the process of settlement of insurance events is delayed, including due to "ambiguity" of provisions of insurance contracts.
Insurers take a more "conservative" approach to the settlement of insurance events and increasingly turn to the courts with lawsuits to invalidate insurance contracts after the insured event on the grounds of providing false information in the insurance application.
The insurance application and/or the terms and conditions of the insurance contract may give rise to the insurer's right to demand a change in the terms and conditions of the insurance contract or payment of an additional insurance premium in the event of a change in the circumstances stated/confirmed by the insurer.
In the current circumstances, policyholders should be even more careful with their insurance applications and the terms and conditions of their insurance contracts in order to obtain the coverage they expect.
Insurers are willing to make changes to the insurance terms and conditions (insurance contracts) they offer, but not on their own initiative. It is necessary to know which additional conditions the market can offer; which wording of insurance contract provisions is desirable for a particular policyholder and how to justify the necessity to make appropriate changes to the standard form of contract to the insurer.