Why you may need contents or landlords insurance
When you live in a strata or community corporation, the common/shared areas are already covered by your body corporate’s residential strata insurance. This is mandatory insurance that covers the building and common property of strata title properties.
However, your personal property and liability within your own unit are not covered by strata insurance. As such, resident owners and investor owners must take out their own insurance to cover these risks. Many strata property owners are often confused about what their strata policy actually covers, leaving their personal contents, legal liability and/or rental income at risk and uninsured. Where residential strata insurance covers the building, common areas and shared facilities, contents, or landlord insurance cover individual contents of the strata title.
If you are a resident owner within a strata building, you need separate contents insurance. If you are an investor owner of a strata property, you need separate landlords’ insurance.
As the name suggests, contents insurance covers the contents of your home. It protects you against the damage or loss of your personal possessions in a range of circumstances, including theft, malicious damage, fire, flood, storm, earthquake, lightning, riot, and explosion. Legal Liability cover is also included for $30,000,000, which is designed to provide cover for your public liability. Household items are usually automatically covered, but you will need to itemise and value any expensive items such as jewellery or artwork.
For more information on contents insurance, get in touch with Strata Data today. Partnering with CHU, our strata management experts can answer all questions regarding policies and requirements for your strata property.
Landlords’ insurance covers property owners renting their strata property to tenants. It covers the property and contents from damage caused by events such as fire, flood, or storms. As the investor, landlords insurance also protects you against a number of risks that normal home and contents policies do not cover, including theft by tenants, malicious damage of your property, loss of income if tenants default on their rent, and legal expenses if you need to take action against a tenant. Legal Liability cover is also included for $30,000,000, which is designed to provide cover for your personal liability as the unit owner.
Get in touch with Strata Data today to learn more about landlords’ insurance with CHU.
Your Excess Waived
If you & your Body Corporate both make an admitted claim for the same event, and they have a CHU Residential Strata Policy, the excess is waived.
Speedy repairs
If your property incurs damage in conjunction with building damage, it will be repaired quickly with initial building repairs.
Online 24/7
CHU Contents Insurance and Landlords Insurance can both be purchased quickly and easily, online 24/7.
Easy Claims with Fix It
The CHUniverse app and Fix It allows you to submit a claim in a few taps of your finger. Available for download from the App Store & Google play.
Get a competitive quote from CHU
CHU is a market-leading insurance provider (acting on behalf of QBE). Strata Data has partnered with CHU to bring you competitive policies to give you peace of mind for your property. CHU is the largest insurer of strata/community-managed buildings in Australia.
CHU contents insurance covers the cost of repairing or replacing your household and personal possessions in the event of loss or damage. CHU landlords’ insurance covers damage to the contents of your property and includes carpets, light fixtures, free standing furniture, and cupboards. Gain peace of mind that your property will be looked after if the unexpected occurs, and get a quote from CHU today.
Frequently Asked Questions
What Insurance Will I Need to Organise for My Strata Title?
If you live within a strata property, you will need to contribute to strata building insurance and organise your own content’s insurance. If you own a property within a strata title but rent it out, you will also need to contribute to strata building insurance and organise landlords’ insurance separately.
Strata Insurance will be organised by the Body Corporate and shared between owners of the property.
Doesn’t Strata Insurance Cover My Property?
No – residential strata insurance only covers the building, common areas contents and shared areas of the strata property. The cover provided by the strata building policy does not extend to your individual property and contents.
What Does Contents Insurance Cover?
Contents insurance covers your personal possessions from malicious damage, theft, water, fire, and storm damage.
Personal possessions include things like clothing, phones, jewellery, furniture, TV, computers, internal carpets, blinds, and electrical appliances within the property.
The most common type of contents insurance claim is water damage. After large hail and windstorms, water leaks from broken windows or roofing materials can cause damage to furniture, electronics, and carpet. Contents insurance will cover the replacement or repair of your damaged personal possessions.
A comprehensive contents insurance policy will often also include:
- Furniture and furnishings
- Carpets, floor rugs, lino
- Blinds and curtains (internal)
- Household goods and electrical items
- Relocatable light fixtures
- White goods
- Clothing and personal items
- Children’s toys
- Above-ground spas and swimming pools (and accessories)
- Items used in a home office or surgery
- Permanent fixtures not forming part of the Strata building
What Does Landlord Insurance Cover?
Landlord insurance provides cover for accidental loss or damage to contents of a rented property from events such as storms, floods, or fire. This includes contents such as carpets, light fixtures, cupboards, and freestanding furniture, as well as loss of rent if the property is temporarily unliveable. Additionally, landlord insurance will cover the owner in the event of malicious damage to contents caused by tenants or their guests.
A comprehensive landlords insurance policy may include:
Contents
Cover for accidental loss or damage to your contents that occurs during the period of insurance.
Building damage
This covers damage or loss to the windows, doors, floors, walls, ceilings and fixtures of your property, as a result of: vandalism or malicious acts; theft (including damage caused by theft) which has been caused by your tenants (if such damage is not covered by any insurance policy effected by the Body Corporate on the building containing your property).
Loss of rentable value
Covers loss of rentable value if the property cannot be occupied due to loss or damage caused by a covered event.
The most common type of landlord insurance claim is loss of rent. If your tenant has to leave the property because it is uninhabitable (whether it be from water damage, a flood, sewerage damage, or fire), the CHU landlord insurance for strata policy provides a replacement for affected items and loss of rentable value while the property is not fit for living.
