Why Do You Need Landlord Protection Insurance?

If you are a landlord and are looking to protect your investment then waiting until it’s too late may end up costing you much more in the long term. Landlord insurance may be able to cover you for a number of issues such as burst pipes and roofing deterioration, as well as protect you against loss of rent if an issue may ever arise. But do you really need it or not?

Any insurance salesman will tell you that having insurance and not needing it is much better than needing it and not having it, and in most cases that are true. Who knows what the future holds for you, your tenants and your property with a number of issues that can arise over both long leases and multiple tenants being switched.

Protect Your Property From Specific Dangers

Many landlords suffer a few problems during their tenant leases with general household problems such as leaking roofs, burst pipes or worse. These can often be resolved simply and easily, but if your rental property suffers from something a little more serious, you could lose rental income for a number of weeks and even months while the problem is being rectified.

Insurance covers most of these general eventualities, as well as a number of unforeseen circumstances in which you may have no control. Some insurance packages include being insured through loss of rental income when a tenant does not pay rent, or when a household issue arises that means the tenant has to be moved into an alternative property.

Many of these landlord home insurance policies allow the landlord to claim monies on rent default where a tenant refuses to pay rent, or where a tenant causes malicious damage to the property. This also includes theft by the tenant from a multitude of items that can be added to your policy for safe coverage.

Recover the Costs of Loss of Rental Income

Landlord protection insurance can be similar to residential insurance in that it protects the building against a number of unforeseen events such as bushfire, weather and storm damage and other regular issues, but also adds in the policies of loss of rental income, and other unique events that arise if damage is done to your property and the tenant can no longer live there due to damage, fire or other, you can claim loss of rent from the insurance policy to keep you from losing out for the second time.

It is these policies that make landlord protection insurance one of the most popular additions to regular insurance once a landlord starts renting out a property. Aside from the confidence, it gives a landlord in renting out the property in terms of accidental damage, it also allows the landlord to further invest in the property without fearing larger losses.

Many insurance professionals are out there to help you decide which policies suit your property the best and can help decide on the costs of the policies you will be covered by. A full protection may be overkill in some places, but with the option to pick and choose from a range of policies, you will be able to fit the insurance burden into your budget and find that it will pay off in the long run.

When you balance out value for money and the level of protection you and your property will enjoy when opting for landlord protection insurance, you may find that it is a small price to pay for the benefits that it brings. There only needs to be one thing that goes wrong with your property to put your future of property landlord at risk, so act on to avoid an avoidable situation. For more information about landlord protection insurance visit St George Underwriting Agency's website.

Why Do I need Landlords Insurance?

If you have decided to rent out a residential property you should consider landlord insurance.  Standard home insurance policies are often inadequate to cover you for situations which may arise from owning a rental property. Landlord insurance is designed to protect your investment against the unique risks associated with renting the property to tenants.

Malicious, Intentional, Deliberate Damage

One of the biggest expenses an Owner may face if not insured is caused by Tenants who maliciously damage the property.  This damage can be extensive and can be spread through the entire house.  Then there are tenants who put up numerous hooks on the walls and those that paint walls & make alterations without permission and whilst not vindictive can be costly to put right.

We provide up to $60,000 of cover – Excess free

Accidental Damage

While the majority of tenants don’t set out to cause damage, accidents do happen, just like they happen in your own home. Accidental damage is defined as a sudden unexpected event which is unforeseen and unintentional.

You are covered for up to $60,000 – $250 excess per event (capped at two)

Legal Liability

As an owner of an investment, you are exposed to the possibility of personal injury claims.  The abundance of “No Win – No Fee” legal services, has made making a claim easier.  Whether you are found liable or not, the costs associated with defending against the claim can be significant  

Our policy covers you for up to $20 million in liability cover, which includes the payment of damage awards, as well as lawyer fees and costs incurred against lawsuits.

Rent Default

Your Property Manager is a trained professional who actively seeks to place trustworthy tenants in your property.  However, even with the best of care, things can go wrong.  Tenant’s situations can change.   Events such as illness, loss of a job and marital breakdowns can cause even the best of tenants to struggle to meet their obligations.

We cover up to 15 weeks of rent for any tenant rent default situation including absconding tenants, failure to pay rent, tenant hardship, the death of a sole tenant and more – all completely excess free.

Loss of Rent

Recent natural disasters in Australia have highlighted the need for this type of cover.  Many properties have been severely damaged in recent times by fire or flood. Damage can also arise from a range of events such as Fire, storm, burst pipes and more. Tenants are immediately and automatically released from their obligations if the property becomes uninhabitable. The loss of rental income can quickly become a financial issue for the landlord.

Where an insured property is damaged by an insured event to the point where it is uninhabitable, we cover the loss of rent for up to 52 weeks with up to $60,000 of Landlord’s Contents Cover.

With the annual cost of the policy being less than a week’s rent and also qualifying as a tax-deductible expense, it makes perfect sense to ensure that your investment property is protected.

Landlord insurance can be compared to car insurance – would you hand the keys to your car to a complete stranger without it?  Don’t hand the keys to your investment property to a stranger without having some protection in place. 

St. George Underwriting Agency has been specialising in providing Landlord insurance for nearly 25 years, providing protection against financial loss.  For more information about how we can help protect your property, call our friendly team today or visit our website to learn more about landlord insurance.