Life can be unpredictable. And for landlords, a burst water pipe or property damage can leave you without rent and an unexpected hole in your budget. Having the right insurance can often help.
What is home insurance for landlords and what does it cover?
Home insurance for landlords typically provides protection against unexpected insured events such as theft, flood, fire and storm damage.
Policies often provide optional cover for incidents such as loss of rent (rent default) and malicious damage or theft by tenants, which includes damage caused by structural modifications that have been carried out without your consent.
How is home insurance for landlords different to residential home insurance?
It generally protects your investment building and its contents from loss and damage from such things as extreme weather events, bushfire and so on, and offers additional protection unique to landlords such as loss of rent when your tenant can’t live in the home due to extensive damage caused by a claimable event.
It also allows you to take out cover for loss and damage associated with your tenants that can’t be covered under standard residential home insurance.
The Investment Home Package from CommInsure provides cover for your building and/or contents items, for example: carpet and furniture provided for use by your tenants. It also provides the following optional covers for added protection:
- Loss of rent (if your tenants stops paying rent) and
- Malicious damage or theft by tenants
You can also qualify for discounts by applying for your insurance online.
What tools are available to help you with your research?
If you think home insurance for landlords might be right for you, it could be a good time to revisit your budget and make sure you’ve factored in the cost to protect your investment building and its contents. This budget planner can help you work out your household and living expenses and find out exactly where you stand financially.
Find out more about the Investment Home Package here or speak to a staff member in branch. There are also online calculators available to help you work out the replacement value of your building and contents, so you can choose the right sum insured to suit your needs.