What exactly is Partyka?

The Partyka Law, named after MP Katrien Partyka, has been in force since 1 January 2015. This law makes outstanding balance insurances more accessible and affordable for people with an increased health risk.

For people with an increased health risk, this is not always easy. Insurers often ask for higher premiums from them because they estimate the risk of death to be higher. The Partyka law also makes it easier for people with an increased health risk to access outstanding balance insurance and thus also make it easier to buy, build or renovate a home.

To be clear: the law only applies to the sole and owner-occupied home, thus not, for example, to a holiday home.

NN Belgium itself continues to apply the same criteria for their medical acceptance. That does not change. But now, you can request a new assessment of your case in specific situations.

How does it work in practice?

• You submit a new application for outstanding balance insurance to NN Belgium.
• If NN Belgium refuses your request, charges an additional premium or excludes certain risks, then NN Belgium must inform you of this. It must also state the medical reasons for the refusal, exclusion or additional premium. Finally, the customer can ask the so-called Follow-up Office Home (opvolgingsbureau.be) to investigate and see whether the customer’s case qualifies for the solidarity mechanism of the Compensation Fund.
• The customer can follow two paths:
  • He or she informs NN Belgium that he or she does not agree with the additional premium.
  • If NN Belgium refuses the risk, excludes certain guarantees or requests an additional premium of more than 75% of the basic premium, the customer can immediately contact the Follow-up Office.
• The Follow-up Office is made up of representatives of the (re)insurers, consumers and patients, and is headed by an independent magistrate. The agency will review the application and make a new proposal to the insurer and the customer within 15 days:
  • • do not insure
    • insure and at what price.
• NN Belgium must then notify the Office whether it accepts this proposal. If so, the customer will only have to pay an additional premium of 125%. The part of the premium above 125% is paid by the Compensation Fund. However, a ceiling of 800% does apply. The intervention of the Compensation Fund thus applies to the part between 125% and 925%.

Sole own home?

The Partyka law initially required that the prospective policyholder has no other residence. But with the change in the law, the scheme also applies when someone who already owns another home takes out a mortgage...

• in full ownership or usufruct and undertakes to sell this property or transfer his or her rights to it within two years of the conclusion of the insurance contract. This period can be extended by one year if the policyholder can show that the sale of the other home or the transfer of his or her rights to it has been delayed for reasons beyond his or her control. The policyholder must submit his or her application for extension to the insurer in writing before the expiry of the two-year period as from the date when the insurance contract was concluded.
• in bare ownership, as a result of an inheritance or a gift by a natural person.

The policyholder provides proof of the sale of the other home or of the transfer of his or her rights to it within the aforementioned periods. This can easily be demonstrated by means of the notarial deed. If the policyholder cannot demonstrate within the aforementioned periods that his or her former home was sold or his or her rights to it were transferred then he or she loses the right to intervention by the Compensation Fund.