My investment property is nearly ready in Brisbane. Who do you use for landlord insurance?
What specific benefits am I looking for?
I know some faults could be covered in the strata in regards to building structure, but this is my first investment and I just need a bit of a guide.
Any advice you can offer will be appreciated.
TIA - Have a prosperous new Year.
Can +1 this.
Use them for all my properties :)
who did? Terri Scheer?? link
Yes, it’s worthwhile having as anything can happen (not just shitty tenants). Also if you don’t disclose it’s a rental and you still using owner occupied insurance - you could be in a world of pain if anything happens.
Most of the insurance is underwritten by a very limited number of larger companies, so shop around and see what the inclusion/exclusions are, and what are the various excess rates (our experience on pricing between all of them is usually based on the variable excesses).
We have used both brokers and gone direct with the likes of RACQ - much of a muchness based on our experience.
Yes, it’s worthwhile having as anything can happen
Alternative pro tip view. Make sure you know what's covered (after excess, etc.) and what's not and then consider whether it's worthwhile or not. Definitely not worthwhile if you've got a portfolio of properties - self insurance is cheaper than paying for it.
It won't cover anything that can happen, and if you're worried about that scenario, don't be a landlord. Also, if you are using an property manager, rely on that service that you are paying for to help weed out "shitty tenants" - it's not fool proof, but you are paying for that service, so ask them what they will do to try to ensure you don't end up with said situation.
agreed, ive read some travel insurance pds' that were highly voted on here, i could not think of a single event where i would be reimbursed for a loss. aka not work the paper it was written on.
My tenant looked ok on paper, then several months in lost their job and stopped paying rent. As it was late in year, courts closed up so couldn't evict them for months. (But tenancy groups claim renters need more rights…)
I had agent that handled all the police/court side and rent insurance that paid for the lost income, clean-up etc.
Was worth having for me, to reduce some of the stress of the situation.
Terri Scheer all the way
I heard they catch wine before it even hits the carpet
What about shit before it hits the fan?
My advice would be to NOT use OnePaths Landlords Insurance.
Allianz
I just wanted cheap, to keep the bank happy, but I have my MIL renting the house out so I know it wont be trashed….
Aami, not sure what's the fuss about Terri Scheer. Bit pricy for me.
Both are part of Suncorp.
If you ever need to claim, you’ll find out
I have and haven't had any issues. It's all great advertising, just like nurofen had same drug for different packaging for different purpose.
EBM, they had a promo for two months free when mentioning "Propertychat" as a reference
Good idea to note the exclusions. Eg a toilet floods the house with sewage. Yay I have landlords insurance. Day later boo tree roots excluded…
EBM worked out cheaper for us than Terri Scheer, but both are much the same when it comes to their PDS. Have not had to claim with them, fortunately.
We did in the past have a landlord insurance product through Budget Direct. We were unfortunate enough to have the tenants from hell who cost us $20000 in repairs, loss of rent etc. Budget Direct did cover our loss of rent and some clean up of property but then refused to renew our policy because we were too much of a risk - after actually using the landlord insurance for its intended purpose!
What about your intended purpose as a landlord? You can't rent a place out willy nilly and expect insurance to foot the bill when things go awry. Once is too much of a risk to repeat. I can definitely understand why they would steer clear. Not sure why you're surprised.
Going DIRECT with CGU worked the cheapest BY FAR!
https://www.cgu.com.au/personal/landlords-insurance
Most policies will cover malicious damage, but would suggest checking that accidents damage caused by the tenant is covered.
Most policies will cover rent default but there will be limits. Such as 12 weeks cover if lease still current but decreases to only 2 weeks if the tenants have moved to a periodic arrangement.
Also check limits for loss of rent due to an insured event (ie Bushfire destroys home so unable to be occupied therefore loss of rent). Many cover up to 52 weeks or 20% of sum insured, whichever is less. These limits vary, so check you're comfortable with them.
A good way to compare policies is to compare the exclusions and limitations, add most policies will appear to cover the same things, but the coverage varies. Take flood for example. All insurers offer it, but some will cover you for 100% of your sum insured, whilst others up to 10% of your sum insured, a difference that can can cost you thousands at claim time.
Check your excesses.
And cheaper doesn't mean better.
Has anybody done a comparison of insurance products that could share, or know of one online? You have me worried now, and it sounds like a terrible job to read the fine print of every product.
Terri Scheer. They worked out cheaper for me than EBM.