In a climate like Queensland’s where the weather can be a little unpredictable, having solid protection in the form of a thorough insurance policy is highly recommended. Insurance doesn’t just protect you from our unpredictable climate; it also covers you for theft, deliberate damage and a host of other unexpected occurrences.
As a landlord, a good insurance policy will protect your investment property, and ensure you’re not left out of pocket for the expensive surprises life throws at you. As a tenant, insurance will cover you for damage or theft to your personal belongings.
Landlord Insurance for Owners
While building and contents insurance is ideal for an owner-occupier, landlord insurance is strictly for your investment property. Occasionally life throws us a curveball, usually with situations that are entirely out of our control. If you lease your property to a tenant who hits financial hardship and stops paying their rent, landlord insurance will help soften the financial blow from their default.
Similarly, if your tenant damages your building or its contents, maliciously or otherwise, landlord insurance will provide coverage for this damage.
It’s easy to forget how expensive the contents of a home can be, even if you rent your property completely unfurnished. Consider your carpets, tiles, curtains, blinds and light fittings – replacing these could rapidly become costly and usually won’t be covered in general building insurance or body corporate policies.
With the soaring cost of public liability, it’s absolutely essential that you have a good policy in place to protect you from any legal action that may arise from accidents or incidents in your investment property. A good policy will insure for upwards of $10 million dollars, which sounds like a lot, but is essential when you consider the cost of settlement in civil actions.
For additional peace of mind, landlord insurance may cover flexible extras such as legal representation, the cost of reletting, replacement of locks and tax audit fees.
Often these policies start at just a few hundred dollars a year or around the same price as one week’s rent, making landlord insurance an excellent idea for any savvy investor.
Contents Insurance for Tenants
Contents insurance is a really affordable solution for tenants looking to safeguard their belongings. While the landlord will be responsible for repairing any building damage after a break-in, storm or other destructive event, they won’t be responsible for replacing any of your personal effects that happen to get damaged.
Many companies offer contents insurance for exactly these situations. When offered independent of home insurance, contents will cover all the removable personal items you bring to a rental property.
Even in a sharehouse situation where the furniture and homewares are communal, it’s still important to insure your personal belongings. Clothes, electrical goods, musical instruments and other belongings add up in cost very quickly. For a small fee monthly or annually, contents insurance will provide adequate coverage so that you won’t be out of pocket following an unexpected event.
Do your Homework
Regardless of your role in the rental market – whether you’re an investment owner, tenant or both – it’s really important to shop around and find a policy that works best for your situation and will adequately cover the things that matter most to you.
Doing thorough research across many different companies can really pay dividends, as you’ll quickly notice the industry has a wide variation in coverage and costs. A good agent will be able to point you in the right direction and offer advice based on their experiences with owners, tenants and insurance agencies in the past.