The Irish Times Property Desk answers some of your property queries. This week retiring to Spain and shopping for insurance.

Retiring to Spain

We are partially retiring to the south of Spain where we have an apartment. We hope to spend six months here and six months there. The problem is we have a small dog and naturally intend bringing him back and forth with us. Now we have been advised that as there is rabies in mainland Europe we can take him out of the country but not bring him back in. Is there any way around this?

There is, but it might mean a bit of inconvenience until July of next year. The first thing you should do is get a doggy passport, under the UK's PETS (Pets Travel Scheme). To do this your dog has to be vaccinated and be implanted with a microchip. There is a blood test a month after the vaccination to see has it taken. This passport is going to be a UK passport as that country has implemented the doggy passport system ahead of us and that means that you will have to go to Spain via the UK - on certain carriers. The Department of Agriculture and Food hope to introduce the system here in July of next year so you will be able to go back and forth from Ireland to Spain with your pooch. You should contact the department for more information and log on to a very informative site www.defra.gov.uk/animalh/quarantine/index.htm which gives the run down on how the system works and the carriers signed up to it.

Shopping for insurance

I have been shopping around (by phone) for house insurance. I find it fairly easy to figure out what my contents insurance should be but can't figure out what the building insurance should be. I have been taking the market value of the house as a rough guide. As this really does influence the actual quote I don't want to pay over the odds.

The figure you should be looking at is the costs of rebuilding your house in a total loss situation, i.e. the house has been totally destroyed and has to be demolished and totally rebuilt. In addition to demolition and reconstruction, the costs also allow for building surveyors/architects/quantity surveyors fees and for VAT at the correct rates at the date of this guide. Forget about the open market value of your house, the reinstatement value is the thing you should be looking at. Unless your property is insured adequately, you may be penalised under your policy by having to pay a certain proportion of the reinstatement costs. Where, for example, the insured sum is only 75 per cent of the total reinstatement cost, you will only receive 75 per cent of the agreed cost of reinstatement, whether the claim is for partial replacement or total loss.

For example, a house insured for €90,000, with total reinstatement cost of €120,000, the insured would receive only €90,000 to reinstate the house in the event of total loss. You would be obliged to provide the balance of €30,000 yourself. Most insurance is intended to leave the insured in substantially the same position after the damage as before. In order to avoid problems with deductions for wear and tear, you should make sure that your policy includes for full reinstatement or "new for old". The Society of Chartered Surveyors has an informative and clear website with rebuilding costs which you should consult before you make any more calls to the insurance companies. It's at wwwscs.ie

Send your queries to Property Questions, The Irish Times, 10-16 D'Olier Street, Dublin 2 or e-mail propertyquestions@irish-times.ie.

Unfortunately, it is not possible to respond to all questions. The above is a representative sample of queries received. This column is a readers' service and is not intended to replace professional advice. No individual correspondence will be entered into.