Landlord insurance during corona

Hello all,

Our current landlord insurance (SGUA-was excellent) expires soon and they do not want to insure us again as we have made several justified claims. We have renovated the property and now it is in a great shape and tenanted, however they still refuse.
Anyhow, in the market for a new insurer.
I noticed that many off them (such as terri schemer, sgio) do not offer tenant insurance atm... Looking for one that covers malicious damages and rent default.

Would love to hear from you which insurer you suggest. WA.

Thank you!

 

Look at EBM although you may not get any insurance in this climate..

Get calling and hope you get lucky.

 

I use SGUA as well as they are better value than some of the others.
Was using Woolworths Insurance before who were also good price wise and paying out on all legit claims.

 

Note that not all policies are created equal during COVID:

Allianz, IAG – parent company to NRMA, CGU, SGIO and SGIC and WFI – and Suncorp-owned Terri Scheer have confirmed they would not require eviction notices before landlords could claim for tenant default assistance due to the current circumstances.​

From Domain: Major insurers waive eviction requirements to provide financial relief for landlords

 

Found this interesting:

Many insurers have already ceased offering landlord insurance to new applicants. Of those who still are, notably Youi and AAMI, rental default cover is no longer available as an option within the coverage.

 

Thanks everyone for your ideas, I am trying to negotiate with my current lender on a solution. Otherwise, no coverage for tental default...

 

I'm under the impression no insurers are offering full landlords insurance policies at the moment- at best they're compromised to not include rent default coverage? Can anyone shed any light on that?

 

Most still under embargo and not offering services

 

Called Terri Scheer this morning, I have an existing insurance with them.
Unfortunately they still won't take me in (with rent default)

 

If you are an existing customer with a number of properties some are still willing to consider new business.

 

What about renewals??

 

They're all good AFAIK.

 

I have a few existing policies with EBM.
Called them up early May as I went unconditional with a property and asked for insurance citing I was an existing customer.

Filled in an application form and got the policy (RentCover Platinum) over the line.

Called back a week later as I had a Terri Scheer Renewal and wanted to do a cost comparison.
Got a quote for this one and it got approved and over the line.

My partner has a property in her own name (and the property that just went unconditional above was in our joint names)
Called them up, got a quote for that and approved.

3 new policies in the last 2 weeks with EBM - but I am an existing customer.

 

I'd love your opinions on renewing this cover with Budget Direct. I'm renewing the policy so I still have the options to keep Theft Malicious Damage by Tenants and Tenant Default

1. They want to charge an extra $550 annually to cover these options
2. Excess for claiming on EACH is $1600!!!
3. Maximum payouts are Theft Malicious Damage by Tenants $10,000 and also Tenant Default $400.00 per week for a maximum of $6,000.00.

I'm not really sure this is worth it and would LOVE some opinions. Thanks

 

I've noticed a few have the malicous damage capped at $10,000 and I wouldn't bother with such a policy especially if the excess is $1,600.

Basically you are paying $550 to potentially receive back a max of $12,800 (after paying the excess on both, if they are malicously damaging your property they no doubt defaulted on rent too) plus your claim will affect your premiums by an unknown amount in future years. Not very good value I think.

If you can't find one that covers malicous damage for a decent amount I wouldn't bother. Most I've seen will cover up to the insured value for malicous damage but perhaps none of those are offering landlord insurance now.

Edit: I also think that the lesser the amount of malicious damage, the harder it is going to be to prove that is actually malicious and not negligence/total lack of caring or even a genuine accident (but hopefully you can still get accidental damage cover for this under your building and contents policy). Thus tenant may have to do far more than $10,000 worth of damage before you can be confident of proving malicious intent.

 

$1600 excess seems like someone who's had claims previously/recently

I recently got a quote from a company that I already have polices with and their excess was $2000

I went and got a quote from someone who i also have policies with but not that question, and the excess was "normal"

 

That stinks and it's not worth it. What's the premium for standard Building & Contents? A far more comprehensive Landlords Insurance policy with someone like EBM, Terri Scheer or PIP is between $250-$350 per annum.

 

thanks for the feedback,

looks like ill brace myself for policy rises for all my renewals, claims or no claims