best landlord insurance?

I'm about to file a claim through EBM. Rang them and was told that there is not a standard excess for a claim. You pay an excess per incident. The walls need to be repaired/painted due to every wall in the house used as the childrens drawing board, they unscrewed the locks and took them with them, damaged the builtins and doors, damaged the carpet, etc. Been told that the above constitutes 4 incidents therefore 4 excess payments. Once I file the claim I'll see whether it is worth it.

CGU are the same, I was reading through the fine print and here is what they say "Your excess and any additional excesses will apply for what we identify as each separate identifiable incident"
Time to change to another insurer me thinks......

EDIT: on the other hand Terri Sheer has the "per event clause" as well
http://www.terrischeer.com.au/faq.html#morethanone
 
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For people who self anage their properties, who are you insued with and do you recommend them? Terri Shreer do not cover if you self manage.

Cheers

We self manage units and use Westpac. Quite early on we had to make a claim and they were excellent. You can pay monthly with no penalty and they were competitive when we shopped around. We have stuck with them.
 
true for terri scheer though they don't charge excess on all claims, loss of rent = no excess (except for QLD), legal costs no excess, malicious damage $250 excess.

So not really two excesses if you have loss of rent and malicious damage.

Hope that helps.

Collie
 
My advice regarding insurance is to read the PDS carefully, then read it again ...carefully. One word or the order of words can make a BIG difference. I used to work in insurance and the biggest cause of problems is that customers buy a policy based on price and assume it covers them for what THEY want covered, not what the insurer is offering!!!

Even with my experience and familiar with the way things are worded I still get caught misreading sentences are misinterpreting the context. I find the easiest way to compare is to set up a spread sheet with all the types of coverage (most home type policies are a specified event policy so not unlimited coverage) and compare the various companies who charge a premium around what you consider reasonable. Then the following year update as there are generally changes to coverage - for better or worse.

I was with Suncorp for two years, then the price got a bit high so switched to NRMA - although some coverage a little skint. I have considered AAMI but coverage very budget style. Considered CGU but a poor cousin of NRMA and the problems I had trying to clarify intention of wording in policy turned me off in case I had the same problems once I had taken out a policy. Allianz - would not touch as short staffed and big turnover. Considered Terry Sheerer but way to high, now owned by Suncorp I think - via acquisition of Promina/Vero/Royal Sun Alliance.

Oh, did I mention READ THE POLICY COVERAGE VERY CAREFULLY, then read it again when you can take it in without interruption.
 
My PM has also suggested EBM. She says they're quick with paying out on malicious damage claims.

I once made a claim for malicious damage with NRMA and they took a longggg time!
 
EBM Insurance

I have just taken out a policy with EBM for 5 units in one building,no strata,
I got a quote for $1100 first and I accepted .

They then rang me and said , seeing as it is five (5) flats I need to have 5 rentcover policy's in place?.
This brought the price up way to high.
After some discussion with them on the phone they then issued a policy called a Householders Rental,

This was for $923
Inclusions are 450K replacement building,
20M public liability,
contents 20K,
10K loss of rent
Not my ideal policy,however some quotes were over 3K,

Can anybody comment on this policy and its suitability, :confused:
 
We self manage units and use Westpac. Quite early on we had to make a claim and they were excellent. You can pay monthly with no penalty and they were competitive when we shopped around. We have stuck with them.
I rang Westpac three days ago and still have not received a call back from them?
 
I have just taken out a policy with EBM for 5 units in one building,no strata,
I got a quote for $1100 first and I accepted .

They then rang me and said , seeing as it is five (5) flats I need to have 5 rentcover policy's in place?.
This brought the price up way to high.
After some discussion with them on the phone they then issued a policy called a Householders Rental,

This was for $923
Inclusions are 450K replacement building,
20M public liability,
contents 20K,
10K loss of rent
Not my ideal policy,however some quotes were over 3K,

Can anybody comment on this policy and its suitability, :confused:

I had this "problem" when I had my block of 4 (cheap!!) 1BR units. These were the properties I needed rent cover, but it was about 2.5 months of rent to cover the premium!!! :eek: Each!!!!!!!!
 
Has anyone got a blanket policy in place? I heard a property seminar guru mention a blanket policy, that is bundling all properties into 1 big policy. Anyone know which insurers do this?
 
Hi,

Sorry I haven't read through the entire thread but thought I would share my opinions re the best landlords Q asked at the start.

I have heard from many sources that Terry sheer have the best landlords insurance policy, and my sources include an insurance agent from an opposing company.

The only problem is that they don't insure private landlords which counts me out.

Paul.
 
I'm with EBM, recommended by one of my PMs and I'm about to find out how good they are !
Have you moved any further with a claim with EBM Lickster??? Im considering them and would be greatfull for any feedback you can provide.. :)
Any other feedback from customers of EBM would also be appreciated.

Shane.
 
Do people realise that when they talk about insurance through a bank that in most cases it will just be a re badged policy from one of the big insurers - possibly with a few tweaks. It is the insurance company who underwrites the policy and handles the claim - or can be underwritten on a shared basis. ING/QBE is one example.

CBA is one exception, but Commsure is a mess from what I heard a couple of years back - massive backlog in home insurance claims.

Re blanket policy - this sound like a commercial policy which would operate like a motor fleet policy. You would need to speak to a broker for this as these policies would only be available via a broker, not retail.
 
I don’t have time to read all the details but I can advise we did have claim with AAMI and thought we would be screwed.

In fact, they paid out within super fast in three parts as we dribbled in the info.

Mid Dec 09 they paid outstanding rent from agents email
End Dec they paid rekeying after I attached that bill and said more to come, the repairs
Mid March we submitted the repairs for $3k and they paid within 3 days of email! They even apologized for delay due to Melbourne Storm Claims!

PROS
They paid quickly, not arguement on everything we calimed except cleaning. This included a full rekey as tenants took keys.

CONS
They did not pay for cleaning which cost $1k or products for cleaning $100, or garden ( did that) or the first 4 weeks rent as we had bond.

DEBATABLE
We had the huge $1k excess (a mistake but in hindsight) but we could have been only $400 excess.Yet with multiple IP they saying is more than the $600 per year so assuing only one bad on a year you are better off having the higher excess. Need to do the calcs.

SUMMARY
No issues with multiple excess and happy to wait and did not need photos et all although I had all the details and notes and tenants address.

I was going to dump AAMi but if I drop the excess they are not so bad. On the cleaning which hurt, I am going to simply offer 1 or 2 weeks free rent and tenants takes as is. I say this strategy as I found my new decent tenant re-cleaned on moving in anyhow and I suppose a less caring one is only going to make it like it was after 12 months?.

FYI

Peter 14.7
 
Definately DO NOT insure with AAMI - they will only pay if any damage is malicious and will tell you damage is either 'bad housekeeping' by the tenents or poor maintenance on your part.
I have just had this done to me where the tenents broke slate tiles, a sliding door and lead light window, did not clean the house upon exiting, as well as ruining the carpets by spot cleaning and bleaching the carpets with all purpose cleaner (besides leaving several stains unattended - now the whole carpet needs to be replaced), left the yard unmowed, full of weeds and strewn with beer bottles and also left all their unwanted furniture and 3 bins overflowing with rubbish to be removed. Oh - they also were 14 days behind in rent.
AAMI did say they would pay the rent, but by the time I paid the excess it wouldnt be worth claiming.
I am also looking for a new insurance company and appreciate all the feed back on here - thank you all

Leonie
 
Do people realise that when they talk about insurance through a bank that in most cases it will just be a re badged policy from one of the big insurers - possibly with a few tweaks. It is the insurance company who underwrites the policy and handles the claim - or can be underwritten on a shared basis. ING/QBE is one example.

CBA is one exception, but Commsure is a mess from what I heard a couple of years back - massive backlog in home insurance claims.

Re blanket policy - this sound like a commercial policy which would operate like a motor fleet policy. You would need to speak to a broker for this as these policies would only be available via a broker, not retail.

Have to agree with Commsure, clients I worked for in the The Gap storms in 08 had serious issues with them, mind you a few insurance companies showed thier true colours in that storm event.

Brian
 
Here is my recent experience on a claim with CGU
They did not pay for damages but I was able to use the bond money for cleaning and repairs.
CGU paid all unpaid rent up to 2 weeks after the tribunal order for repossession so if it takes longer than 2 weeks to get the tenant out and fix up the place you won't get any more money.

They also conveniently tried to pay me a lower amount.
They used the rent shown on the rental agreement for their calculations which was from 2 years ago but they said it was an error and they'll fix it up.

Overall not a bad experience with CGU.
Ray White made the claim on my behalf so I didn't have to do anything other than to take the cheque to the bank.
 
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Here is my recent experience on a claim with CGU
They did not pay for damages but I was able to use the bond money for cleaning and repairs.

Good points for CGU against AAMI who dont allow bond for cleaning. that cost me $1000!


CGU paid all unpaid rent up to 2 weeks after the tribunal order for repossession so if it takes longer than 2 weeks to get the tenant out and fix up the place you won't get any more money.

Here AAMI had no issue and even paid rent for whilst we made repairs. AAMI good CGU bad, very bad IMO and what happens if your house is trashed and unrenatable for weeks!!!

They also conveniently tried to pay me a lower amount.
They used the rent shown on the rental agreement for their calculations which was from 2 years but they said it was an error and they'll fix it up.
k.

AAMI paid on my agents statement. No issue.
Very tricky on CGU and I bet if you dont ask then you dont get.

Overall this thread has shown all insurance cover has issues and you need to tailor to your tenants. Poor Cleaning is a hard one to get over. Subjective. I.E. My evicted tenants paid $200 for carpet cleaning that did not get stains or dog smell out. I did not get to claim deoderiser sprays.

Lesson No 1: A good tenant is worth a few $$$ less a week.

Peter
 
Good points for CGU against AAMI who dont allow bond for cleaning. that cost me $1000!
Peter
This is a very important point and AAMI are not alone.
I know NRMA are also taking the bond money so you are left with no bond to fix up the place.

If I had no bond money I would have made a claim for malicious damage but trying to prove that a damage is malicious could be hard so unless they put the place on fire or make holes in the wall it won't be malicious and could be clacified as poor house keeping and neglect.

With malicious damage you could also be asked to provide a police report.
 
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