Landlord/Building Insurance - Specialised V Generic

I need help understanding:

- landlord insurance V building insurance.

I’ve always had landlord insurance that also covers the building (with a company like QBE). But since looking at the Terri Sheer and EBM sites, they seem to have them split, not bundled. And when getting a quote for both, it comes out to double the cost.

- specialised insurers (Terri Sheer, EBM) V cheaper (QBE, Woolworths, BudgetDirect)

As above, the specialised ones come out as twice the cost. Can anyone convince me to take the specialised ones? I haven’t had to make any claims so far over 3 years, so I don’t have any experience here.


Thanks

 

There is a great stack I can add here regarding specialised vs major insurers, but it is also covered in other threads. But there is one point I will make for now, specialised doesn't mean you need separate policies so I'm not sure where you are getting that from, at least not in the terms of EBM I can assure you.

Happy to answer further if required.

 

Need to read the policy wording on some of those cheaper covers. I've noticed a few of them don't kick in til a certain amount of weeks have passed whereas EBM will cover from day rent stops being paid.

Some also have excesses on rental claims whereas EBM have 0.

Not trying to convince you one way or the other, just saying ensure you read the policy and ensure you know what you're getting.

 

Agreed its all in the small print. What is the cheapest option upfront can turn around and bite you at the end. Have had a lot of landlords miss out on a lot of coverage when unfortunately a tenancy goes bad. For that little bit extra at the start its the piece of mind to know that you are fully covered at the end.

You never know when something could turn bad so better to be proactive then reactive.

A quote from one of my favourite trainers in the industry Stacey Holt " Begin with the end in mind"

 

An insurance policy is based on the terms, limits and exclusions. Read and understand what is and is not included.

Retail policies are made to pay fees to the seller. They do that by cutting cover. White labels policies (eg Coles, Woolworths etc) are made to give a fee to them and be cheap as a price point. I would never compare this to EBM

100% disagree with the cost comparison. I think you are adding building + LL when it includes the building

 

It is VERY difficult to make a meaningful claim with any of the non-specialist insurance policies. I've made claims with maybe 8 different institutions now? The policies are surprisingly all set up quite differently, but it tends to result in a similar effect.

Almost all of them don't cover for anything except malicious damage (and they'll almost always squirm out of that), wont cover water, other outstanding invoice costs or any cleaning.

Then they create loopholes in the rent claims as well, e.g. doesn't come into effect until they're 4-6 weeks behind (insane), only pays out $5,000 total, takes a $1,500+$500 excess, etc. You end up wondering why you ever bothered making a claim.

 

Also have a look at Honan. Of the specialised insurances for landlords, I have found theirs to be very well priced and with good coverage. My PM is happy with dealings through them as well, for both myself and other landlords.
Have contentedly been with them for a while now. Only a couple of small claims with them so far, but all good. First found them through recommendations on the Somersoft forum, and after making comparisons with other Landlord policies, felt they were the best option. On a single recent comparison, they were still well out on top.

 

Sadly the names of some policies are false and misleading. I was sold an EBM RentCover product but they refused to cover a loss of rent claim. They claimed it was not included. Be warned, they will do whatever they can to get out of paying a cent.

 

Unfortunately with insurance there will always be cases where people don’t get what they would like, or possibly expect, it’s the nature of the beast as it can be a difficult area to understand for many. In saying that it is one of the most regulated industries in Australia with very well documented policy terms and complaints processes, so if an Insured doesn’t agree with a settlement, and believes the Insurer has not acted by the policy terms, there is a very clear process to follow, which ultimately includes an external independent review.

No doubt it would be great if an insurance policy could cover every event known to mankind however if that were the case it would be unaffordable and no-one would insure. Hence there are specifically set down risks and events that are covered.

There are, for the record, millions of dollars of claims paid for rent loss under the RentCover policies every year.