Why you need rental property insurance
by Brent Smith
When we talk to new ‘would be’ property investors, they’re often concerned about the things they imagine could go wrong… tenants flooding the place, a natural disaster making the property uninhabitable or the tenant ‘shooting through’.
Whether these fears are realistic or not, what would you do, if despite all the checks, your tenants ended up being an absolute nightmare?
What if they did a ‘runner’ or just refused to pay the rent and were eventually evicted? Or, did much, much worse like wrecking your hard-earned, well-cared-for investment property.
If your property is managed, a good property manager should be able to protect you from these nightmare scenarios in many ways. They reference check all tenants thoroughly, hold an adequate bond, and consistently inspect your investment property.
But if all else fails, the final backstop is to have landlord’s rental insurance in place. It covers you for financial losses on your rental property – things like malicious damage, loss of rent due to tenants vacating without notice or simply not paying rent, your legal liability as a landlord, plus repair or rebuild.
Rental insurance is essential in our books, but it’s something many landlords don’t factor into their investment property budget. People have often been caught out with only house insurance for their rental property. This doesn’t cover any of the extra chattels held on the property ie. floor coverings, window treatments, and any appliances. A big hit when anything like this is damaged.
When you’re looking for rental insurance it is worth investigating exactly what is covered in your package to make sure you’re getting the best deal.
When you use Iron Bridge property managers, you have the option to take on our Rental Insurance package – and its cover is very comprehensive compared to many packages on the market. We have a long history with our recommended insurance provider, QBE, and our very low claim rate means we can pass extra benefits on to you.
With Iron Bridge cover…
- Your rent is insured for 10 weeks if the tenant departs unduly or 10 weeks if they just don’t pay.
- Any landlord’s chattels (ie. carpets, drapes, appliances etc.) are covered. These, as well as the house itself are protected from malicious damage by anyone including the tenant.
- You’re also covered for loss of public utilities (this was a huge unforeseen bonus during the Christchurch quakes).
On new or near-new properties, we have always been able to offer this very extensive cover, and we can now extend this coverage to older properties too under Iron Bridge property management services.
So make things simple and cover your property and your landlord risks all in one. Talk to us today about Landlord’s Insurance for your property.
