Compare Landlord Insurance

A landlord looking to safeguard a free-standing house or building (that isn’t covered by a strata policy) could take out home insurance, also known as building insurance, to protect the walls, roof and property fencing. This policy could be combined with contents insurance to cover furniture or other contents provided to the tenant with the home. You may also find that some insurers offer automatic contents cover within a landlord’s insurance policy.

Having landlord insurance cover can also provide peace of mind for things like loss of rent, tenant default and malicious damage.

Landlord insurance covers your investment property for a range of incidents and insured events, including some that are unique to rental properties.

Some events (like flood damage and electric motor burnout) may be offered as optional cover, which you can add to the cost of your policy. You may also be able to purchase optional cover in the event that a tenant defaults on their rent or maliciously causes damage to your property.

The table below outlines the common inclusions and exclusions of landlord building insurance, landlord contents insurance and landlord combined insurance.

The best landlord insurance policy for you will depend on your circumstances and the type of investment home you have. Each type of cover has something to offer and you might consider each one in the following circumstances:

• Landlord building insurance could suit you if you’re just looking to cover the home building and other outbuildings at your insured address. It won’t cover any items you’ve left in the investment home like appliances, curtains, carpets or furniture.
• Landlord contents insurance is worth considering if you’re leasing out a strata title home like an apartment or a townhouse. Generally, these types of buildings are protected by your body corporate’s strata insurance, so you might only need cover for the items you own inside your investment home.
• Landlord combined cover could suit you if you’re an investment homeowner who wants both building insurance and contents insurance in one policy.

No – the contents portion of cover under a landlord’s insurance policy is for your own belongings that are inside your insured address, such as:

• Furnishings
• Carpets
• Blinds
• Other items you own inside the home.

It will not cover any tenant’s belongings, so your tenants would need to look into purchasing renters insurance to cover their contents inside the rented property.

If you lease your property as short-stay accommodation (e.g. Airbnb), you may want to ensure that you have the right type of cover. Many policies that cover landlords will not provide cover for short-stay accommodation. You may need to seek out a specialist policy or provider to cover your holiday rental property.

The cost of landlord insurance is different for every person. Some factors that can affect the cost of your landlord insurance policy include:

• The location of your property. Many Australian homes are vulnerable to a range of natural disasters such as floods, bushfires, cyclones, storm surges, subsidence and erosion (including sinkholes). If your property is in a hazard-prone area, this will reflect on the cost of your landlord insurance policy.
• Your suburb’s crime rate. The higher the crime rate in your property’s area, the more your insurance policy will likely cost.
• Sum insured. How much your building and contents are insured for should you need to rebuild or replace them generally influences your premium.

As a general rule, your landlord insurance premiums are tax-deductible, as well as other expenses associated with renting out your property like:¹

• Advertising for new tenants
• Property management fees
• Council rates
• Water bills
• Land tax
• Cleaning, gardening and lawn mowing bills
• Pest control expenses
• Property repairs and maintenance
• Real estate agent fees and commissions
• Interest charged on your home loan
• Legal expenses for:
  • Evicting a defaulting tenant
  • Taking court action for loss of rental income
  • Defending a damages claim brought on by a third party for injuries suffered at your rental property.

Before making any decisions about your tax return, consider speaking with an accountant or other professional.

No, it’s not compulsory in Australia to have landlord insurance or home and contents insurance for your tenanted property. However, it can be wise to have these policies in place to protect your valuable investment from loss or damage caused by an insured event.

As an Australian landlord, fires and floods are among the big risks to your investment property. Catastrophic events like these can leave you with a massive repair bill, and you could find yourself unable to afford your property’s repair and rebuilding costs.

This is why you need to accurately calculate the full replacement value of your property and take inventory of all your belongings there. Here are a few things you can do to achieve this:

• Document everything you own – your rental property, permanent fixtures, furnishings and any contents residing within the property – for insurance purposes. Videos are good for this.
• Keep the receipts and take photos of all your items leased with the property to make sure there’s a record of your ownership.
• Work out the accurate value of your property and contents. You might find some online calculators that can help you do this.