Contents and Landlord Insurance

I've just exchanged on a small strata unit and have a few questions about insurances:
- Is contents and landlord insurance necessary?
- When should these covers start? I'm guessing when I settle?
- What insurance companies are highly recommended, and what do I need to look for when comparing policies?
- Alternatively, should I just use an insurance broker to save me the time and hassle? Any recommendations here?

Any help would be appreciated :)
 
Hi J

Yes, landlord insurance is important - and some contents cover is helpful too.

I recently had a tenant incorrectly hook up their washing machine which caused a minor flood and some damage to the carpets. The contents insurance under my policy covered it.

There's heaps of companies to choose from - check out Terri Scheer, AAMI and other recommendations on SS.

Cheers

Jamie
 
Thanks Jamie.

Is there anything specifically I should be looking for? And should I use a broker?

If you search the forums you will find a lot of responses, particularly in the "property management" forum.

A landlord policy including contents is the best way to go, if for no other reason this will include liability for inside your unit (if someone injures themselves for example and sues you for damages). But the cover provided for your contents (carpets, curtains, blinds etc.) and a whole range of tenant-related risks make the cover well worth having anyway.

I will always suggest you use a specialist policy, no doubt I'm a bit biased but I have been in the industry for over 20 years, and could spend a day explaining why. Things to look out for inlcude a policy that has no excess on loss of rent (preferably), reasonable excesses on other risks (some have excesses as high as 4 weeks rent), and include not only Malicious Damage but Accidental Damage.

Searching the forums you will see that there are plenty of suggestions, of the specialist policies certainly Terri Scheer and ourselves, EBM RentCover are probably the most prominent, and I can safely say the most popular.

Just make sure you understand what cover you are getting and don't buy on price alone, a copy of our ebook "12 most common pitfalls when insuring your rental property" might help, you can get it by going to our home page www.rentcover.com.au and signing up for our free newsletter (if you wish).

Let me know if you have any specific questions.
 
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