Canberra has been experiencing a very strong market in the last 6 months with growth not seen like this for a few years, and whilst this is fantastic for owners (and agents!) we have recently been prompted to look beyond this great market period.
After recent incidents in Canberra around fires in houses, we are reminded about the importance of ensuring owners/landlords have the correct contents and building insurance applicable to a rented property. Especially your building insurance, as coverage for a property you reside in can be quite different for a rented property.
There are a variety of contents and building insurance policies out there in the market, and so it is important to understand what you are (and are not) covered for, with specific questions relative to when the damage is caused by the tenant (intentional or accidental).
Under both contents and building policies, we suggest you contact your insurance provider and ask them “if the tenant causes the damage to the property, be it fire or any other damage, am I covered and if so how much am I covered for?”, and conduct some comparisons with policies in the market.
Your agent/Property Manager is not able to provide any insurance or financial advice so unfortunately the conversation cannot be held with us, and does have to be with your insurance provider. We can flag for you the importance of double checking your policy coverage and whether, if the damage is caused by the tenant to either contents or building (be it minor damage ie: hole in a wall or stain to the carpet, or major damage ie: house fire) how much will your insurer cover you.
Your rental property is one of your most valuable financial assets and it is extremely important to ensure you are adequately covered, because when coverage is not adequate and something happens the worst case scenario of fire can have a severe financial impact on you and your family.
