Hi Guys,
quick question, but a bit confused on the subject,
does Body Corporation, including building insurance?
Cheers,
sisps. thanks in advance for all replies, much appreciated.
It sure should,
It will show as an expense in the strata’s anual letter they send u showing profit and loss, repairs etc etc
Cya
Hi SIS,
I believe so; but I can’t speak for body corp rulings on properties in other states.
My hubby owned a 2 br unit which he recently sold, and that had a body corp, or which building insurance was included into the BC fees.
Jo
Thanks Guys,
so, all really, that is necessary, due to a body corporate fee is, just really your landlord insurance…
is that correct?
Cheers,
sisSorry SIS,
Please explain…………..landlord insurance????
I plead ignorant here…..are you referring to public liability?????
Jo
Hi Monopoly,
are you referring to public liability?
yes and also lost of rent…
… just trying to workout which is the best insurance to take out if, building insurance is taken out by Body Corp fees. or if there is any other necessary insurance needed, that isnt covered by the Body Corp.
Cheers,
sisHi SIS,
Landlords insurance for your own sleep at night and also contents insurance for yoru carpets, blinds etc. Public liability for the inside of your unit is also an essential commodity.
Do not neglect to check that your strata manager has paid the building insurance (I have arranged the sacking of a strata manager who let building insurance lapse).
It also pays to check what the strata management rules and obligations for your complex are – in some parts of OZ there are slight differences and some strata arrangements and obligations cover more/less than others.
Derek
[email protected]Property Investment Support Available. Ongoing and never stopping. PM welcome.
Hello again SIS,
Well, as far as I know, and I am only going by previous insurers I have used, public liability is generally covered under “building” insurance. However, this is generally for a limited amount (eg. $2,000,000) and if you want to cover yourself for any further amount, say topping it up to 4m (or whatever) you will need to pay the difference.
As for loss of rental income; that is a different insurance, and as I have never really looked into it for myself (tsk, tsk); don’t really know.
Cheers,
Jo
Hi Monopoly and Guys,
on another note, and trying to work things out…
lol.. im confusing myself now…
but does Corp. Body fees also, cover public liability?
Cheers,
sisps. thanks in advance, much appreciated
SIS,
If the Body corp fees include building insurance, then I assume that that will inturn, cover your public liability. But as Derek said, it pays to ask your Strata Manager, just to be on the safe side.
Jo
Thanks Monopoly and Derek,
and everyone elses for their responses, feeling much more assured now…
Cheers,
sisHi sis
I always thought that body corp includes building insurance and public liability ONLY for the shared areas.
As far as I know, you’ll still need public liability for the unit itself (inside of the unit).
I think you can get landlord insurance that has built-in liability insurance, or you can just add it to your landlord insurance in the same policy.ANybody know if this is right?
Hi Guys,
Well I’m going to add my two cents worth and make it even more confusing.
Yes, body corporate pays for building insurance but you need to make sure they have adequately insured the building eg: if you’ve added something to the building that then forms part of the building ie: security screens/doors and the insurance hasn’t been increased then if it all burnt down then the building insurance will replace the building but not necessarily the “extra’s” that have since formed part of the building. CommInsure allow you to take out a policy for “additional” building insurance on strata titled buildings if you feel that the building insurance is not adequate to cover more than the bare shell. I’m assuming other insurers may also do this.
Often building become underinsured when the bill is just paid each year when it arrives rather than aseessing wha the value of the units currenlty is first.
Also ask if there are any exclusions to the insurance. The first unit I owned had an exclusion for shower screens as so many seemed to get broken and needed replacing, the price of the policy dropped considerably with this exclusion, but it meant if you or your tenant broke one, then either you or your tenant had to replace it. Difficult call, when they are normally covered by insurance.
Regards
PK[suave3]We always check with the bc on the building cover as you just never know and we always check that it is up to date. With landlord insurance we use BOM as they have a very good product for landlords and in a recent claim we had where the tennant killed himself they covered the cost of the clean up as he had been there for a week before the agent was notified!!!!!!it was a mess and it was done without drama’s and when it was done you would not even know it had happened. Worht considering.
Chefman
body corp pays for insurance for everything from the paint outwards of your property (public liability, wiring in the walls etc) landlords insurance you pay for public liability and any damage within the unit.
having 2 IP units, i know this for a fact.
hope its some help.
cheers
shaunLead, Follow or get out of the bloody way
Sean,
I agree with what you’ve said, the body coprate does cover the building insurance which should cover all the items listed if they have insured the building for enough.
But have you checked when the body corporate last had the buildings valued? If they haven’t done it in the last few years then how do you know that the insurance is enough to cover full replacment of the buildings (as well as removal of the debris etc)? If they are a good body corporate then they will check out the current value from time to time, but lets face it, how many of us are guilty of paying the renewal when it comes in without checking the current replacement cost? Who says the body corporate doesn’t do the same? It would be less work for them to “just pay it”.
I have had a unit in the past and 1 of my current IP’s is a unit. I have looked into this too and the insurance isn’t always enough to replace the whole thing, it should be as it’s their job to cover these things but it’s not always so I believe it’s worth checking out to ensure they are doing theri job correctly, after all, it’s your investment that you’d want replaced if something happened. I guess you could always sue them after the event if it wasn’t covered for enough, they have theri own liability insurance (hopefully), but it could be a long drawn out process. A few questions before anything happens or even a request at an AGM for a valuation for insurance purposes could save a whole lot of headaches later.
Regards
PKsis, you asked about loss of rent. You need Landlord Protection Insurance to cover loss of rent, malicious damage, fire and theft. If you haven’t got it thus far for your 12 IP’s, then you might need to move some money around and pay the 4k for it.
kay henry
Hi Monopoly,
You’ve raised an interesting point regarding rental insurance outside of landlord insurance(?). This is something I’ve often asked myself if it can be insured for. Or does anyone know if it can be covered by a different policy? Seeing as it can be a huge loss in times of a long vacancy, does anyone know if there is protection against this. I’ve always assumed that it has always been just a risk in property investing??? If anyone can enlighten me on this I’d be most grateful for their response.
Cheers,
Gatsby.Gatsby,
Check out rentcover.com.au as an initial look as to what LPI covers. The website covers what their pamphlet covers. I haven’t got LPI at the moment- when I did need it, I didn’t have it
) Then of course I got it, and didn’t need it anymore- hehe. I look at my IP’s and at the moment, I consider them fairly “low risk” in terms of my tenants. I could be wrong, of course. But you can always find out what the entitlements are, see if you think it is worth it, and then do a risk assessment on your own IP’s to see if some of them or one of them might fit into what you consider is “risky”.There are some great photos on their pamphlet of the damage an 8 year old did when her “play went too far”. hehe- holes in the walls etc- must have been some wild kid- quite the tantrummer! [angry2] So “accidental damage” is covered too, as well as malicious damage etc.
Check out the “premiums” section- interesting to see that Tassie has the cheapest prices and NT has the highest! Second highest is- you guessed it- NSW.
Caveat emptor with that coy- I don’t know them and can’t recommend them, but it’s a good read on what’s available.
kay henry
Hi Kay,
I believe Gatsby was asking about rental insurance between tenancies as distinct from broken leases, damage making the property uninhabitable and so on.
Rentcover doesn’t cover the between tenant vacancy – from their website
“RentCover Plus is not a general rental guarantee. The first criteria for a claim is that the tenant must have done something wrong (such as broken their lease, defaulted on rent or damaged your property). If these circumstances have occurred there may be cover whilst your property manager finds a new tenant, however if the tenant has simply moved at the end of their lease there is no cover.”
As far as I know there is no such cover for this eventuality currently available in Australia.
Derek
[email protected]Property Investment Support Available. Ongoing and never stopping. PM welcome.
) Then of course I got it, and didn’t need it anymore- hehe. I look at my IP’s and at the moment, I consider them fairly “low risk” in terms of my tenants. I could be wrong, of course. But you can always find out what the entitlements are, see if you think it is worth it, and then do a risk assessment on your own IP’s to see if some of them or one of them might fit into what you consider is “risky”.You must be logged in to reply to this topic. If you don't have an account, you can register here.
