QBE does not cover accidental damage for landlords insurance

Have a strata unit as my IP.
I spoke to them on the phone and apparently if the tenants drop a tv on the floor and crack the tiles i am not covered as it is 'accidental'.
If the tenants burn the unit down by accident however i am covered under Accidental malicious ' damage. Hmmm...
Malicious damage is covered but not accidental.
Too much wriggle room here for my liking, will look elsewhere.
Terri scheer's cover a bit skimpy, may look into nrma.
Suncorp sounds good but tenants must be on a lease.
 
Maybe the tenants smashed it on the ground on purpose, in a fit of rage after a fight with their spouse about what to watch ;)

Although I'm guessing a police report needs to be filed for malicious claims?

I'm in the process of shopping around too, had a rent default claim with CGU, after a $900 excess and not covering rekeying, QCAT fees, reletting fees etc( bond was exhausted on clean up) there payout makes it not worth it.
 
haha!
I just don't like the way they fudge the 'accidental' and 'malicious'.
Why is accidentally dropping a TV on the floor = 'accidental' = not covered
but
accidentally burning down the house = 'accidental malicious' = covered
..........?
way too much wriggle room there for my liking.
anyway, if 'accidental' is expressly not covered as per their PDS, their lawyers (who will surely be bigger and better than any I can afford) will surely use this in their favour in the event of a claim.
I might check out NRMA. I've heard bad things about suncorp on this forum.
Although any insurer will have good and bad said about them.
 
A lot of policies won't cover accidental damage. Ask about rubbish removal too. I had to pay for 3 skip bins worth of rubbish to be removed from my IP, just from the inside of the house. Insurer said it was just bad housekeeping and not malicious.
 
Thanks beachgurl.
I'm looking for a policy which hopefully covers accidental. Surely one must exist? And cleaning.
I might look into Allianz. Was sucked in by their 'ahhhh' ads. Will read the PDS to see if they're as good as they claim to be.
Problem is, you never know until you have to claim, do you.
I have had applicants for my property who have offered 3 months rent upfront. And why's that? Because when my agent did the reference check, the previous agent had trouble getting rent out of them.
Another applicant had previously had $500 deducted from their bond for cleaning. I assume that was on a 2-bedda apartment. That's alot of money to clean a 2-bedda. I once paid $250 to clean a 2-bedda, which included the oven (the oven itself is worth $100 alone. After having cleaned one myself once, I know why!).
 
It would be rare that you would find a landlord insurance policy that includes Accidental Damage to loose contents (such as furniture, TV's etc.). In saying that, it is something we are currently looking at as an inclusion for the future.

Why is accidentally dropping a TV on the floor = 'accidental' = not covered
but
accidentally burning down the house = 'accidental malicious' = covered
..........?
The difference here is that "fire" is an insured event in it's own right, so it would be paid as a fire claim not as an accidental damage claim. There is a very big difference between accidental damage and specific "insured" or "defined" events.

Another example would be if the tenants accidentally left a bath running and the property was damaged by water, this is actually "escape of liquid" (being an insured event) not accidental damage.
 
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Your Answer.
 
One of worlds largest insurers has a nice ad on TV which I reckon is misleading. The default Allianz cover does not include accidental damage. The ad depicts:
- Girl knock over paint damaging carpets etc
- Water flooding after leaving tap on
- Fish tank knocked over while vacuum cleaning (by a man)...Fact : No man does this. And its accidential.

These events are normally uninsured unless optional cover is taken...

VERY misleading Allianz to depict an ad of uninsured events when offering general insurance.
 
One of worlds largest insurers has a nice ad on TV which I reckon is misleading. The default Allianz cover does not include accidental damage. The ad depicts:
- Girl knock over paint damaging carpets etc
- Water flooding after leaving tap on
- Fish tank knocked over while vacuum cleaning (by a man)...Fact : No man does this. And its accidential.

These events are normally uninsured unless optional cover is taken...

VERY misleading Allianz to depict an ad of uninsured events when offering general insurance.
The "leaving the tap on" is likely to be covered under the "water damage" defined event, so would be covered. On the other examples though you would I imagine be correct.
 
One of worlds largest insurers has a nice ad on TV which I reckon is misleading. The default Allianz cover does not include accidental damage. The ad depicts:
- Girl knock over paint damaging carpets etc
- Water flooding after leaving tap on
- Fish tank knocked over while vacuum cleaning (by a man)...Fact : No man does this. And its accidential.

These events are normally uninsured unless optional cover is taken...

VERY misleading Allianz to depict an ad of uninsured events when offering general insurance.

:D
Re: the vacuuming - do you mean men never vacuum or men never knock over fish tanks?
I have seen MANY men vacuum - flatmates, family members, tradies :)

Thank you BrettC.

At this stage I am leaning towards Suncorp, if they really do cover accidental.

If Suncorp doesn't cover accidental either, then I might switch to NRMA or just stay with QBE.

NRMA - I've heard good things. So, even if they don't cover accidental, they may be a better bet than QBE.

QBE - only bonus is my strata is insured with them as well (CHU, which is underwritten by QBE). I've heard on this forum that it's good to have both strata and LL insurance with the same company. I don't get a choice about the strata insurance, of course.
I have heard QBE is in financial difficulties, which worries me. That's another point off QBE.

The thing about alot of insurers is tenants MUST be on a lease for rental loss to be covered. I'm not sure if tenants not being on a lease will void any other aspects of the cover eg Let's say a tenant destroys the hot water boiler and I get a new one within a week. In the meantime, tenant lives without hot water. So not much/NIL rental loss there apart from possibly a week's free rent but not sure if the insurance will still cover the cost of the hot water boiler.
I hope I don't scare away my tenants by asking them to sign leases every 6-12 months. Some tenants may be looking to buy, and hence hesitant about being locked into another 6-month lease.
I could promise them that if they want to vacate at any time (apart from, say early December to mid-Jan), I am happy to let them go as soon as I can find a new tenant - say, max 3-4 weeks.

I agree the ads are misleading and deceptive, if Allianz really does not cover all of these events.
 
The other important question you should ask all insurance companies that landlord dont ask is what do they deduct before processsing a claim. Most off the large companies will deduct the bond off each claim, even if you used it for cleaning or other repairs! If you submit two claims for loss of rent and malicious damage they will deduct the bond from each claim before paying. Please ask and see!!
 
The other important question you should ask all insurance companies that landlord dont ask is what do they deduct before processsing a claim. Most off the large companies will deduct the bond off each claim, even if you used it for cleaning or other repairs! If you submit two claims for loss of rent and malicious damage they will deduct the bond from each claim before paying. Please ask and see!!

Thanks. I will ask, but I prefer it to be stated in the PDS also. Anyone can say anything, can't they....
I also have suspicions about who is on the other end of the phone.
Could be an inexperienced 18 year old hired yesterday. What would they know.
 
Thanks. I will ask, but I prefer it to be stated in the PDS also. Anyone can say anything, can't they....
I also have suspicions about who is on the other end of the phone.
Could be an inexperienced 18 year old hired yesterday. What would they know.

The way excesses are applied will be in the PDS, but the actual amounts may be in your cover summary. What was mentioned by Salvatore is a practice of some of the large general insurers where they deduct both the equivalent of 4 weeks rent (the bond essentially but they don't say it that way) as well as the actual excess, pretty much double dipping.
 
Thanks Brett.
I know what you mean. I read somewhere else on this forum about someone having 2 doors in their property being damaged. The insurer treated this as 2 incidents, so the insured owner had 2 lots of excesses deducted (something like that).
Oh well.
I am trying to secure a good tenant for my property at the moment. Prevention is better than cure.
The problem is, good tenants tend to get snapped up by other agents quickly, because they apply for more than 1 property (everyone does this, myself included). Everyone wants the good tenants.
Another reason why I want cover for accidental is accidents can happen to anyone. The best tenant can make one small mistake and..........
 
At this stage leaning towards EBM - it is underwritten by QBE, who are the same company as CHU, who do my strata building insurance.
But
EBM only insure for the cost to replace/repair to the current state, not original state (ie not 'new for old').
So, if my floorboards which will cost me 15k to replace are damaged, EBM may only cover up to say, 5k. EBM depreciates at the rate of 7.5% per annum.
NRMA and Suncorp don't cover accidental either.
Decisions, decisions....
 
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At this stage leaning towards EBM - it is underwritten by QBE, who are the same company as CHU, who do my strata building insurance.
But
EBM only insure for the cost to replace/repair to the current state, not original state (ie not 'new for old').
So, if my floorboards which will cost me 15k to replace are damaged, EBM may only cover up to say, 5k. EBM depreciates at the rate of 7.5% per annum.
NRMA and Suncorp don't cover accidental either.
Decisions, decisions....
Just to clarify.

Accidental Damage in RentCoverUltra won't apply to loose items of furniture (such as a TV), it would apply to what you may call fixtures & fittings such as carpets, curtains, blinds, light fittings etc. This policy as standard is designed for unfurnished properties so doesn't cover loose contents. There is however an optional add-on to cover loose items such as furniture against Malicious Damage by the tenant, this is the area where we are currently looking to extend to including Accidental Damage as well. I expect there would be very few landlord policies around that would include Accidental Damage to loose furniture.

In regard to depreciation, that is quite correct in regard to flooring and walls, other items however are not depreciated, they are new for old.
 
The answer to me seem obvious.

The tenant dropped it..the tenant is responsible.


The tenant would pay.

That really is quite a simple point, it would have to be the tenants responsibility and you shouldn't be looking to make a claim for it. Different matter I guess if the tenant simply won't pay.
 
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