Lanlord's insurance

[artme]

Is it worth having??

What experience have you had??

[Woody1]

In my case it was not worth it.
I had an investment property in darwin some years ago and I was living in Gove. Anyhow the real estate agent let my house out to this bloke who ended up losing it one night and kicked holes in bedroom wall main bedroom door and 2 lounge room walls. I contacted insurance they said yep we will repair, plasterer came filled up holes then painter came and the fun (and stress) started. The painter said "I can never match that old colour you will have to paint the whole house, back to insurance company they said "it does not say we have to paint it exactly the same colour so bad luck". I had to pay out of my own pocket an extra $2000 I think to get the whole place painted.
The tenant who went mad got off scott free, just lost his bond and kicked out of course. I found he had mental problems.
The Estate Agent would not acknowledge any wrong doing as to the screening of there tenants and they also got off scott free
Me I ended up with a heap of stress at a time in my life when I could not afford it as it ended up being vacant for about 8 weeks.
My advice is to read the fine print very carefully before signing the contract.

Just an added note of my life experiences
I have had other investment properties and with other problems with Tenants, crooked Estate agencies the list goes on and on. If I ever had my time over again I would NEVER touch investment properties and would go into the stock market instead. I would have been so much better off with Health and Money!!

Thankfully those days are now gone

My 2 cents worth

Cheers
Woody1

[GTVi]

Landlord Insurance covers Rent defaults not property...I have it but I havn't had to use it yet....it all depends on the quality of tenants that are selected.

[Arron]

Its all about risk and control. Renting out a property is a high risk activity, so you should look at a way of spreading the risk. About 1 in 5 tenants is a 'tenant from hell', and even with the good tenants you have a lot less control over what happens at the place then you do over your own house.
We had rental properties (either 1 or 2) for about 12 years and had two claims - one damage by a bad tennant, the other damage by a tradesmans shoddy work. The insurance co. paid up ok both times (but not quickly). We probably ended up about 1 or 2k down on insurance over the period, which is Ok.

We were never in a position to benefit from he 'loss of rent' benefits.

If i had the time over i would set a very low excess, as we had a lot of small damage/loss things which were below the excess and so not claimable.

You also need to think about the legal obligations. Getting sued by a tenant does happen.

[Arron]

Landlord Insurance covers Rent defaults not property...I have it but I havn't had to use it yet....it all depends on the quality of tenants that are selected.

Here in Nsw landlords insurance covers:
Legal liability
Rent default
Damage by a tenant

Landlord Home Insurance Australia - Online Quotes | AAMI

[rustynail]

Like most insurance it's a pain in the **** until you need it.
It very much depends on the property, the agent, the tenant and the landlord.
Even when all the planets are aligned the unforeseen can happen and things can still go wrong.
Before jumping in and signing up, carefully read the indemnity clauses and any other reference to liability as this is the area where insurance becomes necessary. If its not clear, seek advise on case histories. There is one thing worse than not having insurance.. paying for insurance that doesnt cover you.

[_fly_]

I had a policy from aami years ago.
They came back with we only cover damage NOT done by the tenant and rent arrears, totally useless.

Anyway You need to have it, it covers you for the public liability part, if a wall falls on someone or they get hit on the head from a falling tile.

OK, The only one worth having is the AON one, its underwritten by CGU.
If you go to CGU direct there are things that are not included in the AON one, they have been doing it for years and organising proper landlord policies.

Having said that, the banks can sometimes offer a good one if you have the loan with them. A mate had NAB and he claimed left right and centre, rent arrears, repainting after holes in walls etc.

If you have it with an agent ask them which one they recommend to deal with.

[artme]

We have been having a long running battle with NRMAover the policy on a property we rent.

I know we should read the policies carefully before signing but you fell compelled to protect yourself.
It is not until something goes wrong that you find out some of their nasty tricks. How One is supposed
to interpret or understand some of the convoluted phrasing is beyond most of us.

For instance we found out that even though we have a single policy, NRMA deducts excesses for each part of the claim!!

We have come to the conclusion that the policy actually cost more than the Money we got back from claiming!!!

Our last contact with them was yesterday. We were so tired of their BS we told them we would not renew with them again
and would be spreading the word about them. Apart from that we also threatened them with the insurance ombudsman.

Guess what! A few minutes later NRMA rang us back and said they had misinterpreted that part of the policy and would see things
our way on that point. A small victory for us but they will never get our business again.