It can be well worth protecting your property and belongings, building and contents insurance is a great way to provide financial protection against loss or damage.
Should the unfortunate strike, it’s worth having the right insurance to help protect your home, your belongings and your back pocket.
What is building insurance?
As a homeowner, there’s a huge amount of peace of mind that comes with knowing your home is protected against events like theft, fire, storms, floods, and impact damage to name a few.
Insurance is a great way to protect the structure of your home, as well as permanent fixtures and fittings like the roof, ceiling, garage, driveway, fence, in-ground swimming pool, floors, windows, doors and fitted kitchens and cupboards. Depending on your insurance policy, your cover might also extend to other additional free-standing structures on your property like cabanas, sheds and pergolas.
Building insurance policies often offer a range of inclusions or additional extras as well as exclusions, so it’s always important to check the PDS to understand exactly what you’re covered for.
What is contents insurance?
If you’re looking for a way to protect your belongings inside of your home, contents insurance provides financial protection against the cost of replacing or repairing your household personal items. While many people fall into the trap of thinking their things don’t hold much value, could you afford to replace everything if it was lost in one hit? If not, taking out contents insurance could be a good idea. Imagine tipping your house upside down and shaking it - anything that is not fixed is generally considered contents. Don't forget what's in your backyard and shed, for example, outdoor settings & furniture items, swing sets, dog houses, or BBQ's.
Contents insurance usually covers you against a range of insurable events, including fire, theft, riot, explosion and earthquake among other events. Some insurers offer optional extras for additional protection, like protection for business items, accidental loss or damage, pet injury or even contents in commercial storage facilities.Whether you’re a homeowner or a renter, contents insurance is one of the best ways to protect your belongings against loss or damage. But contents insurance doesn’t just protect your things, contents cover comes with a range of additional benefits that protect the policy holder, which can come in handy for renters too.
Some insurers require you to specify jewellery, whereas others will automatically cover under the contents sum-insured. Some insurers offer cover outside the home, within Australia, and others offer the cover for items lost globally so it’s best to check the PDS to understand exactly what you’re covered for.
Usually insurers also cover legal liability as part of their contents insurance. As a tenant, you’re obligated to make sure the property is safe for anyone that’s legally on-site. If a visitor were to have an accident at your home, legal liability can protect you against damages due to a claim for an accident that results in death, bodily injury or damage to someone else’s property.
From instances where a visitor is injured at your rental property or you cause accidental damage, legal liability is there to protect you.
Other types of building and contents insurance
If you’re a homeowner that’s in need of both building and contents insurance, many insurers also offer home insurance products that combine the features of building and contents cover into a single policy.
Some insurers also offer landlord insurance to protect your investment property if it’s rented out. These policies tend to offer different types of cover and optional extras that are specific to rental and investment properties like loss of rent and protection for your furnishings and furniture.
Why you should consider protecting your home with insurance
Building and contents insurance are a great way to protect yourself, your home and your belongings, not to mention the peace of mind that comes with knowing you’ve got protection should you need it. Many people couldn't afford to cover the cost of significant repairs or replace all of their belongings in one go, so building and contents insurance is there to protect you in the event of damage or loss.
However, if and when you do decide to take out home cover, it’s essential to make sure you’ve got the right level of protection. Underinsurance is a very real risk and you could end up having to cover the gap between the insurance payout and the costs or replacing or repairing your building and / or contents.
It can be tricky to determine the level of cover you need, but luckily the Insurance Council of Australia has you covered with a number of online calculators to help you work out how much insurance cover you need.
While building and contents insurance are an essential part of homeownership, contents insurance is just as important if you’re renting a property. Youi has a number of home insurance offerings available, including building insurance, contents insurance, home building and contents insurance and landlord insurance. If you’re not sure which policy suits your needs best or need a hand with a quote, our sales team are ready to listen and help. Just give us a call on 1300 221 036 or start a quote today.
