What should I include in landlord content insurance?

Hey guys,

Sorry for the newbie question, but I'm looking for landlord insurance for my first investment property. I was wondering what I should factor in as landlord content? The property is brand new and will be unfurnished.

I have read through a couple of PDS, and from what I can gather so far, these items should be treated as landlord content: carpet, blind and dishwasher.

Have I missed anything that should be treated as landlord content? Some of the quotes I have done include $65,000 cover for landlord content, which seems excessive for the above three items.

Thanks!

 

You don't need to get contents insurance if it's not furnished. Carpets are covered in the building insurance.

 

Sorry but that's incorrect. If the property is a strata titled unit/townhouse the carpet, as well as many other items, are the landlords responsibility and not covered by the Body Corporate insurance.

 

Agreed. I have skimmed through about 4 PDS now, and none of them cover carpet as part of the building.

My property is a freestanding house by the way.

 

Typical inclusions classed as "contents" in an unfurnished property include carpets, curtains, blinds, light fittings, fans, internal paintwork, dishwasher, dryer.

 

One other point. The reason why you are better higher than lower (e.g. $65,000) is in case of an extreme circumstance such as the discovery of a drug lab. The cost for testing and forensic cleaning etc. can be massive, well into the tens of thousands of dollars. Unfortunately these circumstances are becoming far more common, you just need to check that the policy you are considering includes it.

 

Thanks Brett .

 

Also to note, seldom do policies include gardens and grounds cover such as for lawn turf and flower beds. In one example, the tenant had dogs and farm animals (unapproved of course - in a small duplex, hahaha you can't make this stuff up), which completely destroyed the grass and plants etc, insurance wouldn't cover those items, and only paid out a maximum of $500 towards 'pet damage', which was exhausted on something else very quickly. A lot of people don't realise to re-turf/plant is not exactly a small expense (can be thousands) to make the property presentable and liveable again.

 

Nowhere in the original post did it say it was a strata unit so my correct info was for a house.

 

What about kitchen and bathroom cabinets, oven and stove?

 

Carpet is an interesting one - when I spoke to my insurer last year, they said carpet isn't covered in building policies because traditionally, a carpet was more a rug that people would roll up and take with them when they moved.

(history lesson for the day!)

 

I stand corrected. It does seem that several insurance companies are now classing carpet as contents. This wasn't the case many years ago. Ridiculous really as its fixed. Apparently their arguement us that you could quite easily take it out and take it with you.

 

Unfortunately not. As a general rule, in a tenanted single dwelling such as a house, the carpets are not considered part of the building policy and are considered as contents. There may be exceptions but that is the norm.

Sorry, after I posted I saw your post acknowledging this.

 

These are generally considered part of the building. So in the case of a strata property, the Body Corporate insurance, and in a house, the building policy.