Do You Require Landlord Insurance?

Perhaps you are moving into a bigger home (or a smaller one) but would like to hold onto your former residence and use it as a rental property. Or maybe you’ve tried to sell your home without success. Either way, if you’ve decided to rent out your home to tenants, you will probably want to look into landlord insurance. There a many things that a landlord policy covers that a building insurance policy does not cover.

Homeowners building insurance will usually cover your building for loss if there’s a fire, storm or flood. However it will not cover malicious damage from your tenant and loss of rent if the property cannot be rented out again. Plus Renting out your home to tenants means that you have an increased responsibility regarding injuries on the property.

A smart landlord and Perth property manager will make sure a rental property is covered by landlord insurance. So if you decide to become a landlord, ask your insurer about a landlord-specific insurance policy. Even if your property manager does their job correctly, there are always things that can happen that can’t be prevented… that is what landlord insurance is for.

You should also be aware that if breach and termination notices are not served in a timely fashion to the tenant, the landlords insurance will not cover you. Just another reason to have a proactive property manager on your team.

In addition to purchasing landlord insurance, it’s also a good idea to require your tenants to carry contents insurance. Your building insurance will only cover the fixtures and fittings not the contents.

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