Almost a newbie! - Insurance Question

[Josko]

Hello to all,

Well, supposedly all the sellers have signed the Sale & Purchase Agreement, so should be claiming to be a newbie investor soon.

Could you let me know how to go about insuring a property that will be tenanted,(obviously in addition to pick up the phone and call an insurance co. the chattels (washing machine, drier) etc. Recommend any companies or products.

It is an apartment so should the building be covered by body corporate.

Any other pertinent points greatly appreciated.

[whitt]

Try to cover all the "what if factors"

eg.What if house burns down?
Does insurance cover rent whilst new house rebuilt.

Does insurance cover me if tenant sets up a P lab and trashs house which needs decontamination?

Does the policy cover sufficient chattels?
eg carpet curtains etc some companies need a seperate contents policy to top this figure up.

May be worth while considering seperate rental insurance if you are concearned about sleeping at night.
There is a couple of companies Rentsure and and those that are Underwritten by Lumley that can give additional protection if you are worried.

[LondonKiwi]

Hi Ivi

I have two properties in a similar setup to your intended IP in a body corp. The Body Corp insurance will pay for the outside of the building only so you will need separate cover for your chattels and the like.

There is also landlord insurance you can take out which will cover you for additional losses

There is a article on this site that covers it

http://www.propertytalk.co.nz/content-121.html

Cheers

LK

[RentMaster]

The Body Corp insurance will pay for the outside of the building only so you will need separate cover for your chattels and the like.

Check with your body corporate on this one. I have a body corporate property, and the insurance we have covers basic chattels such as carpets and stove etc. If it was furnished, it would not cover those items.

[Josko]

Thank you, whitt, LondonKiwi, RentMaster, that helps heaps.

Cheers to you, ivi.

[grotto]

Our bank made us take out insurance on our I.P.'s

I never read the policy, just signed it, and paid the bill.
We had a house fire, and it turned out we were covered for loss of rental income (less $100 excess, up to $12K). This was really good, as due to a shortage of builders, it took about 6 months to get fully repaired.
Only problem was that the carpets were not covered, as they were not GLUED to the floor (does anyone have carpet glued to the floor).

Needless to say, we're pleased we were insured, and extra pleased it covered our loss of rental.

We've never worried about chattels, and the cost of premiums on all our I.P.'s would have been more than than the carpets curtains, etc., but maybe we've been lucky

[Marcus]

Only problem was that the carpets were not covered, as they were not GLUED to the floor (does anyone have carpet glued to the floor).

Hi Grotto,
At the budget end of the carpet spectrum is "Foam backed" carpet which is glued to the floor. When replacement is needed, it is recommend that you carpet straight over the top using the existing carpet as an underlay.

Regards.