Home insurance in NT (Northern Territory)

A home insurance policy (also known as building insurance) is a type of insurance policy that financially protects the policy-holder against damage to the insured building. A building insurance policy will typically also cover any garages or carports at the insured address.

Building insurance provides cover for the structural components of the insured building (e.g. walls, windows, and doors). If you only have building insurance and your home’s contents are damaged, you won’t be eligible for compensation from your insurer.

If you want to insure belongings rather than a building, a contents insurance (also known as renters insurance) policy could be the solution.

Contents insurance will provide you with financial protection against the damage, theft or loss of your belongings. This insurance can be a suitable option for renters (hence the name), and others who don’t own the building they live in.

Need to insure both a property and its contents? A combined home and contents insurance policy combines the above two types of cover into one policy.

A combined home and contents insurance policy is typically appropriate for those who’ve bought a property to live in rather than rent out, as they’ll generally own both the property and its contents.

Landlord insurance is a specific type of building and contents insurance designed for those renting out investment properties. It can provide financial protection against damage and vandalism to the owner’s building and furniture or fixtures at the insured address. It can also cover potential loss of rent due to tenant default.

As with regular home and contents insurance, landlords can choose to take out a standalone building insurance policy or a standalone contents policy, or combine the two into a landlord building and contents insurance policy.

If you own or manage a building of rental units or are part of a shared land strata scheme via a body corporate, you’ll typically need to take out a strata insurance policy rather than typical home and contents insurance.

Strata insurance policies can cover an entire building or shared piece of land against damage, and can also provide protection against loss of rent and temporary accommodation costs for unit/landowners if units become unliveable following an insured incident.

Any given home insurance policy will largely offer the same cover regardless of where in Australia it’s taken out. So, if you take out home insurance in the NT, you’ll generally be covered for damages to your building and contents occurring as a result of one or more of the following insured events:

• Storm and rainwater damage
• Fire and smoke damage
• Theft or attempted theft
• Escape of liquid causing damage
• Lightning damage
• Explosion damage
• Earthquake or tsunami damage
• Breakage of glass.

Additionally, depending on the home insurance policy in question, you could add some or all of the following optional covers to your policy in exchange for a higher premium:

Always read the relevant Product Disclosure Statement (PDS) for any insurance policy you’re considering for full details on inclusions, exclusions and annual limits. The Target Market Determination (TMD) could also guide you on whether the product is right for you.

The cost of home insurance in the Northern Territory will vary based on a few different factors, including (but not limited to):

• Your chosen level of cover. You’ll typically pay more for building insurance than contents insurance, and more again for a combined home and contents insurance policy. You’ll also pay more in premiums if you add optional cover onto your standard policy, such as portable contents cover.
• Where the building is located. Different areas in the Northern Territory will have a different risk rating based on their risk of a break-in or theft, flooding or bushfire damage. If your area has an above-average risk rating, you’ll pay a higher insurance premium.
• Your chosen sum insured. The amount you nominate for your building sum insured should be in line with the approximate cost of rebuilding your home along with any structural improvements at the insured address. For a contents insurance policy, your sum insured should be the approximate cost of replacing all your belongings kept at the insured address.

If you take out home insurance in Australia (including the NT), you’ll typically have cover for damage or loss caused by bushfire as a standard inclusion on your home insurance policy. However, if the insured address is adjacent to or near bushland, it will likely increase the cost of your insurance premiums.

If you’re in an area with an above-average bushfire risk, you may want to make sure you take out a policy which provides adequate cover for bushfire damage, and nominate a sum insured that will be enough to fully replace your building and its contents in the event of a bushfire.

It’s not compulsory for you to have cover for floods in the NT, but many insurers will have it as a standard inclusion on their home and/or contents insurance policies. However, if your area is at an above-average risk of flooding, you may pay more in home insurance premiums.

Your policy may offer you the option to forgo flood cover to reduce the cost of your home insurance premiums – also known as ‘opt-out flood cover’.