NSW Landlord insurance

PIP have been great to deal with and the coverage appears very attractive, though a recent chat with their broker suggests they may be harder on claims than their competitors, though EBM has recently tightened the ship, so there might not be a whole lot of difference now?

 

From PDS of PIP:
We will not pay for Loss of rent where there is a widespread outbreak of any strain of influenza, virus or any other disease declared as quarantinable by the relevant government authority.

So if we have another outbreak again, PIP will not pay for loss of rent.

Do you think it is still ok, though their price is around $100 cheaper than EBM and TS?

 

Funny! I was just listening to their CEO on the property couch who was banging on about how all loss of rent claims were processed through the pandemic. Bit cheeky to be promoting something you don’t offer!

 

Wasn’t it just new policies that didn’t/don’t cover loss of rent in a pandemic?

Existing policies might have been covered.

 

Have you looked into AAMI policies by any chance? I was looking into their complete policy.

 

I expect to get strung up for this, but.....
"Get better tenants and risk having no insurance" !

Vacancy is a risk, sure it can be mitigated but not totally.
The tenant is liable for damage, the issue there is obtaining the money after the fact, so you need a tenant who has some form of asset (late model euro car) to sue for maybe.

I have two units in strata complexes, sure they have building insurance with all sorts of extra's, but for 5&4 years of ownership respectively I have had no other coverage, I now have a savings buffer for any vacancy (or will just fix any holes and paint myself).

Would I risk my own house, hell no, it might burn down !
But the contents insurance is near worthless, look around at home, most household items are cheap throwaway items (most electronics and furniture) so I don't bother with contents (in 30 years, a garden gnome is all I've had stolen )

 

If your house burns down it may cost $150K and up to fill it with the bare essentials. Clothes can easily cost thousands per person. Replacement cost. Those cheap throwaway items arent exactly that when they all are thrownout at one moment. $25 a CD, $500 for some pots, appliances a few grand and it goes one and on and on. The garage ? The laundry appliances. The linen, towels. Plates, cups, bottle opener etc Thw mower, whipper snipper and tools. Even $2 items in a kitchen - There will be hundreds and hundreds of them. Now what about the nicer things ? You cant just insure them only. Jewellery ?

Can you afford to recarpet your house today ? What about new curtains ? And the clothes and kitchen appliances etc. Think ofmit this way - tip the house upside down and what falls out must be replaced today.

Everytime a bushire races through a town it decimates people who cant afford to rebuild who are insured. Its often because they had no contents cover. Insurance isnt for a dropped vase. Its for the whole lot burning down. I would rather be the one with a cheque for $150K doing a HUGE shop than telling my kids we dont have any underwear and socks. Or anything else. Not even luggage to put clothes into.

Many investors with apartmnets skip the contents to find they lose out to contents. They dont think of floor coverings, curtains etc as contents. Just adjust the level of cover. ALL policy doesnt need $150K of cover. Thats up to the tenants to insure their stuff.

 

A buffer big enough is you as the owner of the unit are deemed negligent in a "slip and fall" case?

 

I have just had a building and landlord policy come up for renewal with EBM at almost $2000 (building is only insured for mid $300k's). I love their landlord coverage so will probably be doing the same - splitting the policies and getting building elsewhere.

They do offer discounts of 5+ and then a higher discount for 10+ properties.

New landlord policies are cheaper than renewals as they offer 60 days for free for the first year.

 

These can happen, to anyone at anytime, that is why so many buildings have cctv everywhere (just to catch out the scammers)

You are correct, the tenant could try this on but would have to prove I was negligent !

As all floor area's meet the Australian standard for non slip they would have a challenge, should they slip on a spill the liability would likely fall back on them for not cleaning up their own mess !
Same applies to trip hazards.

 

I recently had a very good experience with Terri Scheer Claims dept in relation to a huge water leak in a strata unit.

They did not cover contents (and, to be fair, it wasn't in the Landlords Preferred policy), being specifically an emergency plumbers bill for replacing a kitchen mixer tap late on a weekend night for $800+ (Yep, I know, spare me the commentary, and the company has been banned from the building for any future work), as this is part of the lot contents.

Anyway, Terri Scheer were great to deal with in such a situation, and did what they said they would do, and paid up immediately when various invoices were submitted.

Whilst you ask about the policy pricing, it's well worth a discussion on the claims process of a given insurer.

 

$800+ to change a mixer tap? I don't care what hour of the day it is that is absolutely Ludacris. I know ppl who make complaints to Fair Trading and Consumer protection groups/Ombudsman regarding blatant price gouging. I would be fuming if I saw that bill.

Back to landlords insurance does anyone know when Budget Direct or YOUI will be offering that again? I usually take out combined building/landlords but NRMA is ripping me off and their claims arent anything to be proud of.

Also what I am seeing is that most companies are not longer offering things like rental cover/damage caused by tenants at the current time so what is everyone just going without it? Also to the companies that are like Terry Sheer they quoted me $600 or Landlords insurance for $60k value which seems very very steep.

If a tenant cooks in a house and burns the house down that is covered by buildings insurance yes? Not landlords.

 

1. I can assure you that if I could name the company outright without causing @Simon Hampel any issues, then you'd see some 36 point font going on, and so when they experience a 100% revenue decline, I'd be crying a river. And the next time these thieves smelt hot food, they'd think some rich man farted. But everyone knows how it is these days...

2. Anyway, my Terry Scheer policy includes rental cover and tenant damage, and it was $479 (up 20%, which was bit ordinary, but given govt eviction mods/covid etc, I sort of get it, so they can enjoy their $80 increase from last year.

I'm not associated with that company in any way, but their claims process was really good, I'm happy to recommend them, and had they had made life difficult during a terribly stressful event, I would've attempted to give all of you a heads up, with some kind of cricket bat with a 6 inch nail through the end of it.

End result: I'm pleased that I did business with Terri Scheer, in my experience, in this particular instance.

So there you go.

House burns down example - not sure, ask your insurer.

 

Yeah so essentially landlords insurance from the majors like Budget Direct/YOUI are pretty much not covering much actually so not much point having it. Any rental default/malicious damage is currently NOT covered. Only things like rental is covered under natural disaster.

Also I confirmed with Budget Direct already that the buildings insurance covers accidental fires that are the cause of the tenant cooking etc....so that is already covered under the buildings.

Unless you can get the full landlords cover and none of those caveats that many insurance companies are using Covid as an excuse it may not be worthwhile at all.

 

We have resuced the IPs to only 2 now and the NSW regional one is with EBM and Vic one is with TS.

We have never had to lodge any claims or anything (touchwood) and as @Hayley Cannon mentioned, will try to get seprate quotes for Building and LL and see the price reduction/difference.

From memory GIO also offeres the LL with building but we went with EBM and TS purely based on their specialised area of IPs.

Our home and contents are with AAMI even though there are only 2/3 main insurance providers i.e. Suncorp but I have noticed their entities offer varios discounts to make them attractive.

 

EBM no longer offer tenant-related damage and loss.

 

I have never made a claim but I will look out for this one. Thank you for the heads up I did not know of this change

 

Most if not all insurance companies aren't offering those things now. So what exactly is Landlords insurance offering these days if the question? Why are ppl even taking it out?

I know for sure Budget Directs landlord insurance policies is just basically their home insurance - its the same product now without the rental default and tenant damaged taken out.

What are the other insurance companies providing landlords actually offering that's worth you paying $500+ per year?

 

Yes they are - Certain agents are still able to get this coverage for their landlords