Property damage - tenant pays or Insurance claim?

Let tenant pay excess fee for insurance claim, then whack up his rent ASAP.
LOL what she said - and as you pointed out, that tenant can afford to pay the excess. It'll get sorted out much quicker by the insurance company than any other way, and I stand by my comment that this is what insurance is for. That + tenant paying excess = not a penny out of pocket to you, and you shouldn't have to do any legwork either.

My tenants (and most renters in that area) are too broke even for lightglobes, I changed my policy to have a $100 excess in anticipation of issues :rolleyes:
 
OK let’s see if I can draw a line under this and close it off.

Firstly – If I have offended anyone in this thread I apologise. I apologise to RumpledElf for my outburst and I apologise to everyone about the disparaging remark about the tenant. My first post was made about 5 minutes after getting the email from the agent and I was annoyed (to say the least) at the time. It is not my intent to offend on this forum. I am sincerely sorry.

Second – I am a person of principle and I believe in fighting for what I think is right. But I’m not so pigheaded as to continue the fight to the point where it starts causing grief to others, costing me money or worse. An analogy might be drawn about the pedestrian who continued to cross at a zebra crossing knowing that the car was coming way too fast. It’s pretty difficult to pursue your principles from the grave.

Thirdly – I value this forum and the vast experiences of its members. I have learnt much here and I generally have a calm demeanour. I know many of the members personally and I hope that they consider me generally to be a likeable chap. I’ll continue to be a member and try to contribute where I can.

Thank you all.
Try not to take this the wrong way but you may wish to seriously consider whether being a landlord works for you. Tenants will accidentally damage your property. Tennis balls will break windows, someone will slip and break a shower screen, a car will nudge a roller door. If you don't understand that these sorts of likely events are a cost of doing business and for which you take insurance, you might want to consider a genuinely passive investmernt class.
 
TF,
We all get upset when a tenant damages our property. This is not an accident.No one walks away from oil on the stove.
Somersoft is a great place to vent.
Maybe if you don't get upset..this isn't really a business?
 
Maybe if you don't get upset..this isn't really a business?
I don't understand what you mean. Why would approaching things in a business-like manner suggest that it's not a business? :confused:
Tell him you were checking your files, and actually there is no current landlord insurance on that property. :D
It wouldn't help. Under common law, the tenant is entitled to expect that the landlord has the building insured and that their losses would be limited to the excess.
 
I don't understand what you mean. Why would approaching things in a business-like manner suggest that it's not a business? :confused.

If the owner isn't fussed too much about having damaged done, why should a tenant or a PM?

Pedro is concerned about the long term effects this claim will have on him, as he should be.
 
It wouldn't help. Under common law, the tenant is entitled to expect that the landlord has the building insured and that their losses would be limited to the excess.

Fair enough too. Imagine if as a tenant if you were responsible for all building damage that you caused accidentally. You are unable to take out building insurance because you do not own the building, so imagine if you took this problem to the extreme, and let's say the whole house burnt down due to the tenant's stupid accident. You wouldn't expect them to pay to rebuild the entire house, whether they could afford to or not.
 
Fair enough too. Imagine if as a tenant if you were responsible for all building damage that you caused accidentally. You are unable to take out building insurance because you do not own the building, so imagine if you took this problem to the extreme, and let's say the whole house burnt down due to the tenant's stupid accident. You wouldn't expect them to pay to rebuild the entire house, whether they could afford to or not.

That has happened here..almost. In Halifax there were 4 college students sharing an apartment.One left a candle buring, and eventually it caught fire and caused $80K damage.Since all 4 were on the lease, they were all deemed responsibel for neglect. The insurance company paid the claim for the landlord and then proceeded to sue these 4 men. Some had to claim bankruptcy.
We use this story..from a newspaper article..on our website to show tenants the importance of Tenant Insurance.
 
That has happened here..almost. In Halifax there were 4 college students sharing an apartment.One left a candle buring, and eventually it caught fire and caused $80K damage.Since all 4 were on the lease, they were all deemed responsibel for neglect. The insurance company paid the claim for the landlord and then proceeded to sue these 4 men. Some had to claim bankruptcy.
We use this story..from a newspaper article..on our website to show tenants the importance of Tenant Insurance.

That's a scary story for a tenant! I thought tenant insurance in Australia only covered their contents, not the building, so what option does a tenant have here to cover themselves other than to use the landlord's insurance if the building was damaged/destroyed?
 
That's a scary story for a tenant! I thought tenant insurance in Australia only covered their contents, not the building, so what option does a tenant have here to cover themselves other than to use the landlord's insurance if the building was damaged/destroyed?

Scary for the tenant?
What about the Landlord?
You could contact an insurance broker yourself and ask them how much it would cost (pretend you are the tenant) for personal contents (15K-25K) and $1,000,000 (1 mill) liability.
The price would depend on whether you would have had any claims before etc....same as for a property owner.
Our tenant insurance also provides accommodation to the tenant for any reason the property is not habitable.Generally a percentage of the policy.
Good value for a peace of mind.
 
i'm like most here and don't see the issue.

tenant is going to paying the excess, insurance company is going to pay the rest - you're not out of pocket. you will find that pm will organise insurance company (you may have to sign a form and authorise pm for this) ... but other than a signature and maybe a phone call, no skin off your nose.

stuff happens - i had an oil fire when frying chips as a teen. the oil splattered over and hit the element. fortunately i (in my moment of panic) threw a large pan lid over the fire and it went out.

one of my tenants had an electrical fault in the kitchen which also started a fire - i was just annoyed they put it out as it was a house i would be happy to burn down. they were more inconvinienced by the insurance claim then i was as they weren't allowed to clean anything up until after assessor had been - and he took a week to get there.

if this sort of incident upsets you so passionately then perhaps property is not for you, because tenants will always do "things" that annoy the cripes out of the landlord, from not mowing the lawns often enough (or if they do, they never do the edges) to breaking a window and then claiming it was someone walking past who threw a bottle. it's all annoying but ***** happens. get on with life.
 
Scary for the tenant?
What about the Landlord?
You could contact an insurance broker yourself and ask them how much it would cost (pretend you are the tenant) for personal contents (15K-25K) and $1,000,000 (1 mill) liability.
The price would depend on whether you would have had any claims before etc....same as for a property owner.
Our tenant insurance also provides accommodation to the tenant for any reason the property is not habitable.Generally a percentage of the policy.
Good value for a peace of mind.

I'm not talking about contents or public liability though. I'm talking about the actual building, which the landlord owns. How does a tenant insure something they don't own? So if the house burns down, how are they covered except to rely on the landlords building insurance?
 
I'm not talking about contents or public liability though. I'm talking about the actual building, which the landlord owns. How does a tenant insure something they don't own? So if the house burns down, how are they covered except to rely on the landlords building insurance?

I'm not talking about public liability either. It covers the tenant when THEY do something negligent..such as overflow the bathtub and it ruins all the drywall on the ceiling below it..or hot oil on the stove and then have a shower. This is the tenant obtaining insurance to cover themselves when they do something wrong. It doesn;t cover an electrical fire due to faulty wiring, that is property insurance form the LL.

It's similar as when you rent a car. You take insurance for that, and you don't own the car.
 
It covers the tenant when THEY do something negligent..such as overflow the bathtub and it ruins all the drywall on the ceiling below it..or hot oil on the stove and then have a shower. This is the tenant obtaining insurance to cover themselves when they do something wrong. It doesn;t cover an electrical fire due to faulty wiring, that is property insurance form the LL.

Fair enough, I didn't realise tenant insurance covered building damage if they did something wrong. I thought it was just contents; never been a tenant so never had to investigate it. Well if they do have the option to cover this then, in the original question then, I think the tenant should be responsible if he's had the option of taking out insurance but didn't. Probably not worth fighting though if he's prepared to pay the excess.
 
Fair enough, I didn't realise tenant insurance covered building damage if they did something wrong. I thought it was just contents; never been a tenant so never had to investigate it. Well if they do have the option to cover this then, in the original question then, I think the tenant should be responsible if he's had the option of taking out insurance but didn't. Probably not worth fighting though if he's prepared to pay the excess.

Always worth fighting.
It is not Pedro's insurance premiums may go up..as they might not.
He may never get any discounts for a claim free record either..which in fact..is equal to an increase.
LL need to look at the long term effect of just paying.
Same as saying yes to a tenant always asking for improvements...when does it end?
 
lease a bentley 'prox same value as half decent house
dont take the insurance
drive into a wall, or even just scratch the paint
examine the consequence

ask a car rental company,
or read their(Hertz etc) contract, and word the lease similarly, within the tenets and restrictions of the local area tenancy act

TANSTAAFL
&
there aint no such thing as no insurable interest.
Bookies insure against 100000-1 shots
Insurance brokers will & do, thats how they make their living
Its not "just the cost of business" its negligent culpable damage, not in any way fair wear, a stranger who sets a fire on the property gets jail time
 
when talking about insurance - you have to remember that almostbob and kathryn are in canada, not australia.

different country, different regulations.
 
stuff happens - i had an oil fire when frying chips as a teen. the oil splattered over and hit the element. fortunately i (in my moment of panic) threw a large pan lid over the fire and it went out.

Unfortunately I threw it in the sink and turned on the water. The plastic curtain caught fire, and there was black soot everywhere. My eyebrows grew back eventually. :eek:
 
Tenant insurance certainly doesn't cover the building.

Also contents + liability is around $40 a month or less, landlords insurance less again (for me, anyway). Contents just covers stuff that the tenant owns and can take away with them, so not things like kitchens and carpets.

I've never had to claim on LL insurance but once on home and once on contents.
 
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