Making a landlord insurance claim?

[TMNT]

So, I've just had a tenant do a runner, leave behind a 300 water bill (unfortunately in my name)' leasing fee, a few bits of cleaning,

Looks like I ll have a tenant shortly, so all up it might be 700 odd out of pocket

However my insurance excess is either 300 or 500

Is making a claim worth the potential premium increase? Or even answering 'yes' to 'have you made a. Claim in the last 3 years question"

My view is that, you pay for insurance, even if the excess is 500 and the claim is 550, that's exactly what insurance is for?

What would you do, and what do people with say 50 Ips do for insurance, I mean they must be blacklisted by every insurance company if they are making 5% of claims per year as per strictly example

 

[brettc]

So, I've just had a tenant do a runner, leave behind a 300 water bill (unfortunately in my name)' leasing fee, a few bits of cleaning,

Looks like I ll have a tenant shortly, so all up it might be 700 odd out of pocket

However my insurance excess is either 300 or 500

Is making a claim worth the potential premium increase? Or even answering 'yes' to 'have you made a. Claim in the last 3 years question"

My view is that, you pay for insurance, even if the excess is 500 and the claim is 550, that's exactly what insurance is for?

What would you do, and what do people with say 50 Ips do for insurance, I mean they must be blacklisted by every insurance company if they are making 5% of claims per year as per strictly example

I don't know who you are insured with but as a general rule it would be extremely unlikely your premium would be affected due to one small claim. I'm guessing it's not with one of the "specialty" landlord insurers as by the sounds of your claim there would be no excess if it were.

Once you have multiple claims in the past X years certainly some insurers may not want to know you, but in your case I would certainly be claiming, you pay premiums for a reason and the money is better in your pocket than theirs.

With our policies, premiums are set more on an overall scheme and possibly region basis, not by individual properties or the insured. There can get a point where there is an extreme case and a landlord may be singled out, but on the odd occasion that has occurred over the last 20 years it's been more a case of questionable practices on behalf of the landlord and not just a run of bad luck.

 

[willair]

So, I've just had a tenant do a runner, leave behind a 300 water bill (unfortunately in my name)' leasing fee, a few bits of cleaning,

Looks like I ll have a tenant shortly, so all up it might be 700 odd out of pocket

However my insurance excess is either 300 or 500

Maybe have a read of the insurance contract,but for a few hundred dollars
is it worth it when you get the next insurance bill and the policy it's gone up more then the excess,plus i know a Lady with over 32 inner city properties and half that she controls are not even insured,makes you think..

 

[brettc]

Maybe have a read of the insurance contract,but for a few hundred dollars
is it worth it when you get the next insurance bill and the policy it's gone up more then the excess,plus i know a Lady with over 32 inner city properties and half that she controls are not even insured,makes you think..

All I can say is that if your insurer increases your premium due to claims history when all you claimed was a few hundred dollars. Change insurers.

In regard to the lady with 32 properties of which half are uninsured. There is always an argument at some point for being "self insured", but it's a risky business at the best of times unless you've got a huge stash of money. The biggest risk is liability, without insurance, if someone suffers an injury and goes for it the reality is that claims can reach the millions. And you don't even need to be found liable necessarily, it can simply be the costs of defending a claim. If she is willing to take that sort of risk, she's got a whole lot more money than I have.

 

[willair]

All I can say is that if your insurer increases your premium due to claims history when all you claimed was a few hundred dollars. Change insurers.

In regard to the lady with 32 properties of which half are uninsured. There is always an argument at some point for being "self insured", but it's a risky business at the best of times unless you've got a huge stash of money. The biggest risk is liability, without insurance, if someone suffers an injury and goes for it the reality is that claims can reach the millions. And you don't even need to be found liable necessarily, it can simply be the costs of defending a claim. If she is willing to take that sort of risk, she's got a whole lot more money than I have.

That's more easy said then done,and if you are in flood control area then no matter what you do from our experience every policy went up over 60% over the last insurance payment period..

As with Lady i know everything will just balance each other out from her experience,after all most only cost under 50-70k 22 years ago and if she does have problems she would just tell them too get in line with everyone else..

 

[TMNT]

Thanks guys

I think I've spoken to you before Brett, I have a few policies with Ebm,
But the properties in question are with alliance which sometimes work out cheaper for premiums depending n area,


I'm pretty sure alliance have an excess, and I know that Ebm don't have excess for landlord insurance

 

[mattysavager]

Also many landlord insurers don't cover cleaning, as the bond should first be applied to this.

Will that affect the value of your claim?

 

[brettc]

Also many landlord insurers don't cover cleaning, as the bond should first be applied to this.

Will that affect the value of your claim?

As a general rule, and it's not the case for all policies, that largely depends on "how" you effectively claim. Hopefully your policy allows you to use the bond money towards the things you can't claim (such as cleaning), and then claim the things you can claim (such as loss of rent).

In a really simple claim situation a tenant may, for example, not pay their last 4 weeks rent figuring that they have a bond there to cover it anyway. If there are then costs that need to be covered, the way the claim should be looked at (for greatest benefit), is to cover any cleaning, minor repairs etc. from the bond, and claiming the loss of rent. Not the other way around.

 

[1911naomi]

If claim it, I've made multiple small claims upto a few k in car/ building and doesn't affect my premium or cause issues when i need policies for new purchases