best landlord insurance?

hi,
currently i am with ing insurance (thru anz bank) but they seem slightly expensive so am shopping around for another company.

aami looks pretty good to me and am leaning their way.
carpets/blinds/curtains are included under building insurance so i dont need to take out extra contents insurance.
also cover flood which most companies dont.
they agree to rebuild the house to the original specs no matter what the cost in case of total loss.

most insurance companies will only pay out to an agreed valuation of house which is generally too low.


can other folks give their recommendations for insurance companies and different policies.
also most companies dont insure against termite damage which is a bummer.
 
Hi Zap, have been warned to carefully check the "accidental damage" vs "malicious damage" component when taking out a landlord policy.
Frizzle
 
I am with AAMI and for the first time in 10 year of active IP investing put in claim.

I amd so far not happy and very concerned for a fair resolution.

So far they will not cover:

Cleaning: tentant never cleaned in 2 years and it cost $1k
Carpet Cleaning: ditto
Do not pay out first 4 weeks ( you have the bond)
Do not cover damage by pets approved or illegal
Do not cover trashed garden- dead grass, weekd, dead plants and piles of rubbish

We are presently completing claim and hope they will cover damaged ceiling due to tenants removing tiles ??? broken walls, repainting, rekyeing etc..

We are considering agent recomended one.

Peter
 
Hi Zap, have been warned to carefully check the "accidental damage" vs "malicious damage" component when taking out a landlord policy.
Frizzle

This is true.......

But it still seems a bit silly when your insurance company is suggesting that it is accidental damage (when it is not covered for accidental damage) when there is a hole in each and every wall of a house.

I am currently reviewing insurances for all my properties now, as a claim I put in about 6 months ago is still not settled. The insurance company has lost the paperwork a couple of times now, and the assessor that went out their has also lost his paperwork?.....you really wonder...........Just think if I had to wait for them to approve claim before I could rent the house back out??

Anyway, I have heard Terri Scheer is pretty good, and I will get a quote from these guys.

I think I will find out about Suncorp insurance. I have a friend who has Suncorp as their landlord insurer. The tenant jacked and didn't pay rent. He damaged a bit of the place, and my friend took a bit of time in doing up the repairs (2 months), and was pleasantly surprised to find that Suncorp paid everything (including loss of rent over the 2 month period).....with very minimal fuss......obviously, you just need good records, etc from PM to support your claim.

My current claim is about a 5cm pile of documents, arrears and notices, court judgements and tribunal letters, etc, and they now tell me they have lost it again!!

Can't wait to settle this claim and go else where.

Cheers,

F
 
no insurance company will pay for Damage or loss caused by carelessness, lack of maintenance or poor housekeeping by you or your tenant or anyone living at the site.

they will pay for malicious damage caused by tennant if you have taken out tennant protection.

so if your tennant lives like a pig and turns the house into a rubbish dump any cleaning/removal costs will be born by landlord.

not sure but if tennant maliciously damages property you may need to make police report.

i think there is always a grey area between malicious, accidental and careless.
how do you define each... it's a matter of interpretation and this is where the lawyers come into it.
 
no insurance company will pay for Damage or loss caused by carelessness, lack of maintenance or poor housekeeping by you or your tenant or anyone living at the site.

Yes they will

they will pay for malicious damage caused by tennant if you have taken out tennant protection.

malicious damage is part of my general landlord protection. There is nothing for tenant protection?

so if your tennant lives like a pig and turns the house into a rubbish dump any cleaning/removal costs will be born by landlord.

If kept up to speed with managing rental, costs would be taken out of bond and depends how tenancy agreement is worded.

Cheers,

F
 
My concern is my contacts have been all over the place and advice the same. It all seems they make it very hard to claim and help you to find mistakes.

Rubbish like if tenant break a blind in accident it is not covered but if they do maliciously are all outs for the Insureer. How can you confirm what a tennat did or did not do? The blind is stuffed, I paid premium, now you pay up.

It is appears essential to read the very very fine print, grill them and pay for the best you can afford.

Peter
 
Anyway, I have heard Terri Scheer is pretty good, and I will get a quote from these guys.

the trouble with insurance companies is until you make a claim you don't know how good they are.

But we're with Terri Scheer - have been for years - and they've just increased some of their coverage amounts, like malicious damage. :eek: And they are reasonably priced with low-ish excesses.
 
the trouble with insurance companies is until you make a claim you don't know how good they are.

But we're with Terri Scheer - have been for years - and they've just increased some of their coverage amounts, like malicious damage. :eek: And they are reasonably priced with low-ish excesses.

Exactly........

That is the unfortunate thing about it.

You are a loyal customer for years, and then when you want to claim, they don't want to know you.

(just like home insurance, car insurance, etc, etc.)

Point taken about Terri Scheer

Cheers,

F
 
Problem is we cannot use Terri Sheer because we self-manage. I find it rather annoying (but not really a problem) because I think we manage our tenants rather better than many PMs..... go figure.
 
Landlord Insurance Shopping

My first post/reply, wish me luck...

I've had dealings with a few different landlord insurance organisations and to be fair they're all pretty much on par with one another - prices vary and thats generally to do with the 'big name brands' vs 'the smaller groups'

When shopping around, look for:

* The longest possible term for loss of rent
Some insurance companies, actually most of them, only pay around 6 weeks after the bond (so spend it first!)

* Tribunal costs e.g. VCAT application costs, cost of warrant of possession
Tribunal costs are (since 01/07/2009) $36.20 per application plus postage costs and whatever else your agency charges (Make sure they give you an invoice!) It costs $72.40 to purchase a Warrant of Possession. If you have a habitually annoying tenant's you may need to make a few of these during a tenancy

* Leasing fees in the event of a your tenant vacating during a tenancy situation
If your tenant vacates for some unforseen reason and doesn't front up all the relative funds, does a runner, is allowed to leave by tribunal you'd like to be able to re-coup these costs, 1 week? 2 weeks? in full? or pro-rata? whatever the fee is who wants to pay it again?

* Malicious damage
If the tenants break something on purpose - Payment should come out of their pocket or that of the organisation that your premiums go to

In order to get the best possible insurance refund, utilise the bond in full on things like cleaning, locksmith costs, remote controls (garage & air conditioning) - stuff that your insurance won't cover and claim your the rent etc from the insurance. If there is no bond 'left' for them to deduct from the claim - then they have to pay out in full.

Don't be surprised if the excess varies for different claims, whichever people claim the most for tend to have the great excess :)

Happy Insurance Shopping :)
 
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I currently use Allianz. I have only been with them a few years and will only be making a claim with them for the first time next month. One of our tenants skipped out on the lease leaving us with:

Rent in arrears
Cleaning costs
Carpet cleaning costs
Reletting fee
Pest Control

From our enquiry with Allianz they have advised will cover us for all of the above.

However the claim is yet to be logged and payment made.

Curious to hear if anyone else has any positive or negative comments with Allianz?

Cheers,

Fourex.
 
Something else to be careful with also is if your tenant has to be under a lease, some leases run out and you go month to month and some insurance places wont cover certain things if there wasnt a binding lease with the tenant in place. Got told this from RACV
 
EBM's OK, their processing systems are pretty quick and fairly simple. Terri Scheers better :) I've had good dealings with Bricher Insurance Brokers in Blackburn South and not so good dealings with AAMI
 
My first post/reply, wish me luck...

In order to get the best possible insurance refund, utilise the bond in full on things like cleaning, locksmith costs, remote controls (garage & air conditioning) - stuff that your insurance won't cover and claim your the rent etc from the insurance. If there is no bond 'left' for them to deduct from the claim - then they have to pay out in full.

Happy Insurance Shopping :)

AAMI does not let you use the bond for cleaning, other, etc.. We tried that and was told no. They simply dont pay the first 4 weeks of missing rent becasue you have the bond.

They did pay on locksmith rekeying but we are yet to finalise claim.

Peter
 
I am also looking for a new insurer. I am currently with REAL insurance and have a claim in for malicious damage and after six weeks I am still waiting.

I have found one which seems very good - just waiting to get their PDS to check.

If you want more details email me [email protected] and I will forward - don't want to promote on this site yet as still have to do more investigation.

Heather
 
Some of the banks offer reasonable packages from my recent inquiries. I checked out Westpac, some building societies (quite expensive), EBM and a few others. EBM are around $330 per year, Terry Scheer $350 (NSW). EBM will refund your money if you pull out even after one month with a tiny admin fee (around $10 - $20 I think). The banks will also let you pay monthly so your not under any long term contract with no setup or cancellation fees. I just went with ANZ for my unit with $5k contents as it was convenient as I was too busy to read all the various policies and I needed something before settlement and the new lease. Their excess is $250 and it only cost me $22 per month, no paying up front $300+ like the insurance companies want. I will probably be doing a lot more research soon though and make up my mind on long term protection for my my properties.
 
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