January – a good time to review your landlord insurance

As a new year is ushered in, you might have a bit of down time, making it an ideal time to dig out your landlord insurance policy papers and give them the once over. Things change, and if things have changed in respect to your investment property, you will want to make sure your landlord insurance policy still offers you the best protection for your rental. 

To help you figure out if your policy is still suitable, ask yourself these three questions: 

Do I still need landlord insurance? 

While landlord insurance may have been appropriate when you took out or last renewed cover, your circumstances may have changed, and those changes may make your landlord insurance inappropriate or redundant. These are examples of changed circumstances which could warrant a change to your insurance arrangements:  

• You no longer own the property 

• The property is no longer rented or available for rent  

• The property is now your primary place of residence  

• The property is now used for some type of student or share accommodation with multiple leases on the one property  

• The property is being left vacant  

• The property is in the process of being renovated  

• You are letting family or friends stay at the property free of charge  

• A subletting arrangement is in place – this is a cover exclusion. 

If circumstances such as these have occurred at your rental, get in touch about your existing policy to discuss options. Where landlord insurance is no longer suitable, you may want to engage an insurance broker (like our colleagues at EBM Insurance & Risk) to help you source the right type of insurance for your property. 

Do I have the right sort of policy for my type of property? 

It is always a good idea to double check that you have taken out the right cover for the type of property you have. 

There are policies (like RentCover Platinum) which cover tenant-related risks, contents and building, and are suitable for detached houses and other stand-alone properties. Meanwhile, other policies (like RentCover Ultra) cover tenant-related risks and contents (but not building), and are designed for apartments, units and villas where the building is already covered by body corporate, or stand-alone homes where the building is insured separately.  

If you take out the wrong type of policy, you could be paying for cover you do not need or, even more concerningly, find you are not properly insured at all. 

Do I have the right policy for my letting scenario? 

Many landlords have sought to benefit from using their investment properties for short-stays and switched from the long-term to short-term market. If you have switched the way you rent the property (from fixed-term to short-term or vice versa), then you need to switch your type of landlord insurance policy. 

You need to switch because different letting scenarios have different risks and therefore the policies are different too. There are policies designed to cover the risks of standard leasing and ones specific to the short-term market (e.g. our RentCover ShortTerm policy) and even ones that offer select cover (e.g. our Householders Rental policy is designed for situations where tenant-related risks do not need to be protected against, like when renting to a family member).  

Also check that your policy properly covers the property’s contents – you need different levels of cover for fully-furnished and unfurnished rentals, or for contents you own at the premises when offering a standard lease versus if you rent the property short-term.   

To summarise, be sure to chat to your landlord insurance provider if the way you are leasing your rental has changed, so you can protect your property with the right cover. We know that it can be confusing determining which cover is right for you. If you need any help, contact EBM RentCover’s Expert Care team on 1800 661 662. 

*While we have taken care to ensure the information above is true and correct at the time of publication, changes in circumstances and legislation after the displayed date may impact the accuracy of this article. If you need us we are here, contact 1800 661 662 if you have any questions.