Terri Scheer - Caution From My Claim
- Thread starter DaveM
- Start date
G'day Dave,
The coincidence is eerie; like your claim disappointment and then the untimely arrival of the policy renewal, I was in exactly the same boat. Whilst I was deliberating on whether to take my CHU claim dispute to the Ombudsman, I received my policy renewal.
At the end of the day I have three community title townhouses on the policy and felt very, very uncomfortable with not insuring, so I just swallowed my pride and paid the premium.
I had to weigh up the potential for loss of rental income and accidental damage versus wanting to tell CHU to bash their insurance right up their proverbial backside.
When it's all said and done......they win.
Mate as I wrote earlier, I have scoured numerous insurance policy PDS detail and they are all the bloody same.....chopping & changing insurers is of little value IMHO, unless you wish to do so out of spite.......believe me it is tempting!!
I think you should just renew the policy and have the SANF re cover for loss of rent if future tenants do a runner.
You'll have to accept having to pay out on future significant damage expenses if it happens again, then claiming back whatever you can of those repair expenses through your tax return because it is very clear the insurers sure as hell won't pay up.
***As mentioned by others, you can try and drive the police report option a lot harder if you feel strongly enough about trying to 'prove' malicious damage, versus "tenant unhygienic living habits" in order to have an insurer support your claim, but I wouldn't hold my breath on that one.
Good luck.
Ian.
The coincidence is eerie; like your claim disappointment and then the untimely arrival of the policy renewal, I was in exactly the same boat. Whilst I was deliberating on whether to take my CHU claim dispute to the Ombudsman, I received my policy renewal.
At the end of the day I have three community title townhouses on the policy and felt very, very uncomfortable with not insuring, so I just swallowed my pride and paid the premium.
I had to weigh up the potential for loss of rental income and accidental damage versus wanting to tell CHU to bash their insurance right up their proverbial backside.
When it's all said and done......they win.
Mate as I wrote earlier, I have scoured numerous insurance policy PDS detail and they are all the bloody same.....chopping & changing insurers is of little value IMHO, unless you wish to do so out of spite.......believe me it is tempting!!
I think you should just renew the policy and have the SANF re cover for loss of rent if future tenants do a runner.
You'll have to accept having to pay out on future significant damage expenses if it happens again, then claiming back whatever you can of those repair expenses through your tax return because it is very clear the insurers sure as hell won't pay up.
***As mentioned by others, you can try and drive the police report option a lot harder if you feel strongly enough about trying to 'prove' malicious damage, versus "tenant unhygienic living habits" in order to have an insurer support your claim, but I wouldn't hold my breath on that one.
Good luck.
Ian.
Rough calculation.
Over the last 12 years I have saved at least $190k by not having LL insurance. I have only spent (lost) a fraction of this in lost rent and fix ups/ clean outs. Well and truly ahead.
I think initially the LL was worth having as they hadn't refined their claim process and actually paid out. Since the introduction of LL insurance the insurance companies have refined the policies to be very much in their favour and now, as per the recent experiences, things are coming home to roost.
Cheers
Over the last 12 years I have saved at least $190k by not having LL insurance. I have only spent (lost) a fraction of this in lost rent and fix ups/ clean outs. Well and truly ahead.
I think initially the LL was worth having as they hadn't refined their claim process and actually paid out. Since the introduction of LL insurance the insurance companies have refined the policies to be very much in their favour and now, as per the recent experiences, things are coming home to roost.
Cheers
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I had a whole heap that were with NRMA. This is back when it only cost an extra $20 or so to add the LL component. I had a couple of payouts & got a reasonable amount back, but I think that was more in the skill of the PM in working the claim, rather than anything else. She did say that I should have had EBM as I would have got a heap more for the damage that was done.
Since then, I have changed my Insurance, as NRMA started to get a lot more expensive. I've got the properties in areas that are more problematic insured with NRMA for Building only & have also LL Insurance with EBM. The others I've got with Honan. It's an all in one policy & is cheaper than NRMA's building only policy, but also covers for LL. As I've never claimed on this, I'm not sure how good the LL component is.
I'm sure time will tell........
Since then, I have changed my Insurance, as NRMA started to get a lot more expensive. I've got the properties in areas that are more problematic insured with NRMA for Building only & have also LL Insurance with EBM. The others I've got with Honan. It's an all in one policy & is cheaper than NRMA's building only policy, but also covers for LL. As I've never claimed on this, I'm not sure how good the LL component is.
I'm sure time will tell........
I've never been asked for proof of insurance for a villa, townhouse or unit.
This is not the thing that worries me.
The thing that stops me from cancelling my LL insurance on units and villas is public liability. You only need one person to injure themselves in your property and you risk losing everything.
For houses I only have building insurance.
Doesn't public liability cover come with building insurance, not landlord insurance?
For years we didn't have landlord insurance, but I'm fairly sure we had public liability insurance as part of the building cover.
BrettC could answer this, are you there BrettC?
I'm pretty sure public liability comes with the building insurance component, not landlord...? Or does the strata insurance not have a public liability component, surely it must.
Well, I can say, dont itemise your claim into bits.
Each "incident" is treated as a claim in itself and if under the excess then no claim will take place. I think even if you do put it all in one "incident" it will still be itemised out.
We had a tenant with a dog and cat and specifically stated in the agreement that neither are allowed inside.
All good on that front for the first 6 years (yep SIX years) of tenancy. Each inspection showed no signs of any animal inside.
However, between last inspection, where it all looked like still no animals had been inside and now when tenants abandoned the property, there is cat and dog clawing of the carpets, majorly, and fly screens and faeces on the carpets. A year ago the carpets only exhibited fair wear and tear.
No joy there claimwise. We werent expecting the whole carpet replaced, just a portion of the cost.
We had numerous small "incidents" that added up, but were "each" below the excess so nothing to claim.
The one and most important claim though (unauthorised bathroom changes) was allowed and a chq is in the mail. Added to that the claim for lost rent from time of last rent payment to when we took posession.
Overall, I guess we cant complain too much as when one does read the PDS and interpret the way an insurance company would, one does get the idea of what you should be covered for and what not to have covered....cause it's not covered!
Still, I would have thought we should be covered for lost rent until the bathroom is rectified...? cant rent out with a bathroom not available.
Each "incident" is treated as a claim in itself and if under the excess then no claim will take place. I think even if you do put it all in one "incident" it will still be itemised out.
We had a tenant with a dog and cat and specifically stated in the agreement that neither are allowed inside.
All good on that front for the first 6 years (yep SIX years) of tenancy. Each inspection showed no signs of any animal inside.
However, between last inspection, where it all looked like still no animals had been inside and now when tenants abandoned the property, there is cat and dog clawing of the carpets, majorly, and fly screens and faeces on the carpets. A year ago the carpets only exhibited fair wear and tear.
No joy there claimwise. We werent expecting the whole carpet replaced, just a portion of the cost.
We had numerous small "incidents" that added up, but were "each" below the excess so nothing to claim.
The one and most important claim though (unauthorised bathroom changes) was allowed and a chq is in the mail. Added to that the claim for lost rent from time of last rent payment to when we took posession.
Overall, I guess we cant complain too much as when one does read the PDS and interpret the way an insurance company would, one does get the idea of what you should be covered for and what not to have covered....cause it's not covered!
Still, I would have thought we should be covered for lost rent until the bathroom is rectified...? cant rent out with a bathroom not available.
Yes if it's a house.
I was talking about units, villas and townhouses. The strata building insurance only covers the common areas for public liability.
If someone injures themselves inside your IP you are not covered. I've brought this up several times here when peope say they self insure but no-one seems concerned.
I'm curious to what you mean by this? Did the tenant remove the bath, or something?
Returned
Hey Wylie
I'm just back in the office from 3 week leave, I have somewhere near a squillion emails, as well as some private Somersoft messages, happened to see this thread which has a multitude of queries etc. that I am happy to provide some comment on, albeit every claim varies so hypothetical's are never perfect.
I will try to answer a lot of the things raised in this thread as soon as I can, but more than likely it will take a few days given my workload, or some spare moments when I feel like jumping into the firng line.
To answer this query though while I'm here, if it is a single dwelling such as a house, then it is contained in the building policy, make sure you declare that the property is tenanted though and not owner-occupied (and yes Wylie you can certainly just insure building/contents for a tenanted property without insureing against tenant related damage and other tenant risks, with us, and also with plenty of others). If it is a strata unit you need contents insurance to cover the liability inside your unit, or a landlord policy (which would include contents), and in fact is likely to be cheaper than a standards contnts policy anyway, point being that the body corporate policy WILL NOT cover liability inside your unit.
For all others, please bear with me and I will comment as soon as I can.
Hey Wylie
I'm just back in the office from 3 week leave, I have somewhere near a squillion emails, as well as some private Somersoft messages, happened to see this thread which has a multitude of queries etc. that I am happy to provide some comment on, albeit every claim varies so hypothetical's are never perfect.
I will try to answer a lot of the things raised in this thread as soon as I can, but more than likely it will take a few days given my workload, or some spare moments when I feel like jumping into the firng line.
To answer this query though while I'm here, if it is a single dwelling such as a house, then it is contained in the building policy, make sure you declare that the property is tenanted though and not owner-occupied (and yes Wylie you can certainly just insure building/contents for a tenanted property without insureing against tenant related damage and other tenant risks, with us, and also with plenty of others). If it is a strata unit you need contents insurance to cover the liability inside your unit, or a landlord policy (which would include contents), and in fact is likely to be cheaper than a standards contnts policy anyway, point being that the body corporate policy WILL NOT cover liability inside your unit.
For all others, please bear with me and I will comment as soon as I can.
Attempted to re-tile it without approval
Not a good job and unfinished, so we need to re-tile again.
Thankfully it was covered by the policy.
Attempted to re-tile it without approval
.
Haha. I thought I'd seen it all. Clearly, I haven't!
BUMP - Waiting for Brett's reply.
Are you concerned that not renewing the policy now might help them in their decision to not allow the claim? You've said that what is allowed depends on the alignment of the stars on the day it hits the assessor's desk, and I know you are being tongue in cheek, but I do wonder if they see they've lost you already, whether they will tip you one way or the other, whereas if you renew just this one policy, they might look at your claim differently and give you the benefit of the doubt?
Then, if they pay out, you can change insurers and you only lose the stamp duty part of the premium.
Quite right Wylie. it's a game of strategy with the insurers. whilst they have you as a client they may listen when you walk they have less to lose.
I have been looking al LL policies and they vary enormously. There appears no such thing as a standard policy. All contain options. ie Lost rent almost always is an extra premium option or the base insured loss is very limited. Most appear to define "malicious" v's excessive wear, rubbish and theft or destruction of LL fittings.
This is clearly evident when reading a PDS. Terry Sheer, Allianz etc all clearly describe extra policy options and extra premiums. Varys from state to state and rental circumstances too.
"READ THE PDS" is my advice. On renewal RE-READ THE PDS and compare with other providers.
Terry Sheer have a multitude of policies. Their extra premiums for lost rent vary with professional managed tenancies against those that are DIY leases. their website is actually very clear if you read and compare the PDS for each.
This is clearly evident when reading a PDS. Terry Sheer, Allianz etc all clearly describe extra policy options and extra premiums. Varys from state to state and rental circumstances too.
"READ THE PDS" is my advice. On renewal RE-READ THE PDS and compare with other providers.
Terry Sheer have a multitude of policies. Their extra premiums for lost rent vary with professional managed tenancies against those that are DIY leases. their website is actually very clear if you read and compare the PDS for each.
