landlord

What is Landlord Insurance?

Landlord Insurance offers cover for investment properties to help you minimise out-of-pocket expenses. 

Budget Direct's Landlord Insurance is similar to our Home and Contents Insurance. When you get a Home Insurance quote, you can let us know that your property is being rented out and you’ll get a baseline level of Landlord Insurance cover.

You’ll not only receive specific benefits tailor-made for landlords but optional upgrades for landlords are available as well.

Landlord Insurance Solved® with Budget Direct

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30%^OFF

on your first year’s premium for a new combined policy purchased online

Know your investment property and its belongings are protected from a wide range of insured events. 

Landlord Building and Contents Insurance is a combined policy and can provide cover for:

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    Repair or replacement of your property

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    Repair or replacement of your property's contents

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    Legal liability up to $20 million

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15%^OFF

on your first year’s premium for a new policy purchased online

Landlord Building Insurance covers loss or damage to your property and outbuildings, such as garages and sheds, due to insured events like storms and fires. 

Landlord Building Insurance can provide cover for:

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    Repair or replacement of your property

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    Repair or replacement of your property’s contents

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    Legal liability up to $20 million

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15%^OFF

on your first year’s premium for a new policy purchased online

Landlord Contents Insurance covers loss or damage to the belongings within your property due to events like storms, fire, and theft. 

Landlord Contents Insurance can provide cover for:

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    Repair or replacement cost of your property

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    Repair or replacement of your property’s contents

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    Legal liability up to $20 million

Terms, conditions, limits and exclusions apply. See Product Disclosure Statement for full details.

What's Protected by Landlord Insurance?

Your Investment Property

With Landlord Building Insurance, we'll cover the cost to repair or replace your rental property building due to loss or damage caused by severe weather, fire, and more.

Note that, while we do not insure strata-title buildings, we may cover their contents.

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Contents in Your Property

With Landlord Contents Insurance, we'll cover the cost to repair or replace contents that you provide for your tenants to use if they are lost or damaged by an insured event.

What's covered by Landlord Insurance?

Budget Direct Landlord Insurance covers your investment property as well as any loss or damage to contents you own within your investment property caused by the following insured events:

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    Storm and rainwater (does not cover any loss or damage caused by flood). If this doesn't meet your needs, you can add optional flood cover§.

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    Fires (including bushfires and grassfires)

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    Lightning

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    Theft (or attempted theft)

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    Escape of liquid (e.g. burst pipe)

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    Impact at home (e.g. fallen tree)

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    Breakage of glass, ceramic and sanitary fixtures

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    Malicious damage, vandalism, riot or civil commotion

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    Explosion

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    Earthquake or tsunami

What's not covered by Landlord Insurance?

Budget Direct Landlord Insurance does not cover you for loss or damage for every circumstance. There are exclusions such as:

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    Action of the sea, high water or underground water

  • No

    Asbestos

  • No

    Breaking the law

  • No

    Business activity (not including Home Office)

  • No

    Communicable disease

  • No

    Contamination or pollution

  • No

    Defects, structural faults, or design faults

  • No

    Hacking or cyberattacks

  • No

    Loss of data (including access denial, recovery, reinstallation or replacement of data)

  • No

    Fire maliciously lit by tenants (optional cover is available)

Terms, conditions, limits and exclusions apply. Please read the Product Disclosure Statement (PDS) for full details on what’s covered by Budget Direct Landlord Insurance.

Benefits Included in Landlord Insurance

Loss of Rent

We can cover you for loss of net rental income up to 10% of the building sum insured amount for the period your investment property is unliveable due to an insured event.

Removal of Debris

We'll cover the removal and disposal of your damaged belongings during the time it takes to repair your property.

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Landlord's Contents

You can be covered for contents you own within your rental property up to 5% of your home sum insured such as loss or damage to floor coverings, internal window coverings, and light fittings.

Replacement of Locks

To ensure your property remains secure, we will pay up to $1,000 to replace stolen keys, locks and key codes.

Quality Repairs

When you make a claim on your Landlord Insurance policy, we guarantee the quality of all authorised repairs, including the materials and workmanship provided. With the help of our trusted partners, you can rest assured that all authorised repairs will be performed properly as you rebuild your property.

Online Policy Mangement

With Budget Direct’s online policy manager, you can manage and update all the insurance policies for your rental portfolio in one location. You can also easily review your claims, coverage and inclusions for each property online.

Legal Liability

Legal liability is included in your Landlord Insurance cover up to $20 million. Legal liability can cover you for the death or physical injury to other people, or for loss or damage to other people’s property caused by an accident. Landlord Building Insurance provides legal liability cover at the insured address. Landlord Contents Insurance provides legal liability cover anywhere in Australia.

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Inflation Protection

To help keep pace with rising building costs and inflation, each year we’ll automatically increase the sum insured amounts of your property and/or contents and adjust your premium accordingly. This means your cover will reflect more current replacement costs than when your property and/or contents were first insured.

We do not automatically increase the sums insured for specified items or personal effects items. So, it’s important to review the value of these items regularly to make sure they are sufficiently insured for the cost of replacement.

Terms, conditions, limits and exclusions apply. For full details, please read the Product Disclosure Statement (PDS)

Compare Home and Contents Insurance Savings

Find out more about what cover we offer in your state
In comparison to their previous insurers’ premiums, customers across Australia who switched to Budget Direct Combined Home and Contents Insurance told us they saved an average of
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You can use our Comparitron™ tool to compare Home Insurance savings as reported by other Budget Direct customers.

Price Comparison Figures

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Award-Winning Australian Home Insurance

After comparing the cost and features of 72 policies, from 50 other insurers, Canstar presented us with the National award for Outstanding Value Home & Contents Insurance for the seventh year in a row in 2023.

We’ve also won Money magazine’s Insurer of the Year title seven years running (2017–2023); Best of the Best title for Home & Contents Insurance (2022-2024); and Finder's 2023 Best Home Insurance - Value award.

Money Magazine's Insurer of the Year 2023
Money Magazine's Best of the Best Home & Contents Insurance 2024
CANSTAR's Insurer of the Year 2024
CANSTAR's Outstanding Value Home Insurance 2020 to 2023
CANSTAR's Outstanding Value Home & Contents Insurance 2017 to 2023
Mozo Experts Choice 2023 - Exceptional Value Landlord Insurance
Mozo Experts Choice 2023 - Exceptional Quality Landlord Insurance
ProductReview.com.au - Landlord Insurance 2022
Mozo Experts Choice 2023 - Exceptional Value Home and Contents Insurance
finder Awards 2023 Winner, Home Insurance - Value

Upgrade Your Landlord Insurance Cover

Need more cover? For an additional premium, you can customise your Landlord Insurance policy by adding one or more of the following optional covers:

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Flood Cover

If you take out optional Flood Cover, this can cover you against loss or damage caused by a flood.§

We define a ‘flood’ as the covering of normally dry land by water that has escaped or been released from the normal confines of a lake, river, creek or other natural watercourse (whether or not any of them have been altered or modified) or a reservoir, canal, or dam.

Learn more about Flood Cover

§ The addition of Flood Cover to a policy is subject to our underwriting criteria.

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Motor Burnout Cover

Motor Burnout Cover covers you for loss or damage to electric motors that are less than ten years old if the motor burns out due to an electric current or power surge. Electric motors are commonly found in home appliances like fridges, freezers, or washing machines. If you have Landlord Contents insurance, we can also pay for related food spoilage as a result of motor burnout.

Learn more about Motor Burnout

Theft and Malicious Damage by Tenants

In the case of your tenants or their guests stealing or maliciously damaging your property, we'll pay up to $150,000 when we insure your investment property, and up to $20,000 when we insure your contents.

If a fire is maliciously lit by your tenant or their guests, we’ll pay up to the sums insured shown on your Insurance Certificate.

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Sum Insured Safeguard

If the cost to replace, repair or rebuild your home exceeds the amount of your nominated sum insured, Sum Insured Safeguard means we’ll increase it by up to 25% (e.g. from $400,000 to $500,000) to help cover the necessary repairs.

Tenant Default

With Tenant Default Cover, we'll provide protection for loss of rent if your tenant stops paying rent or leaves unexpectedly.

How do I add an optional cover to my Landlord Insurance policy?

You can add one or more of these optional covers when you get a quote and buy a policy.

Or – if you’ve already bought a policy – add optional cover by contacting us or logging into your online account and editing your policy.

Get a Quote Online and Save 30%^

If you get a quote and buy a new policy online, you’ll receive a 15%^ discount (Landlord Building Insurance only or Landlord Contents Insurance only) or 30%^ discount (combined Landlord Building and Contents Insurance) on your first year’s premium.

How much cover do I need?

When you buy Landlord Insurance, it's up to you to determine how much it would cost to replace your property and/or contents if they were destroyed, for example, by fire. This is known as the ‘sum insured’. 

These are the maximum amounts we’ll pay after an insured event, so it’s important that the sum insured you nominate is sufficient to replace your at today’s prices.

To simplify your insurance journey, we have some calculators to help you work out how much home insurance you might need.

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How to Make a Claim

If your property and/or contents suffer loss or damage, or are destroyed by an insured event and you need to make a claim, we’re here to help.

24/7 Claims

With Budget Direct, you can conveniently make a claim online or over the phone at any time of the day or night, 365 days a year.

Make a Claim
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Manage Your Policy Online

Budget Direct customers can make a claim, view and edit their Landlord Insurance policies, and buy more insurance online.

Log into Policy Manager
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Find Out More

The information on this page is a summary only. For more details about Budget Direct Landlord Insurance, including the terms, conditions, limits and exclusions that apply, please read the, Product Disclosure Statement (PDS).

Product Disclosure Statement
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Landlord Insurance FAQs

Budget Direct home insurance covers:

  • loss or damage to your investment property

  • loss or damage to floor coverings, internal window coverings, and light fittings — up to 5% of your property's sum insured

  • loss of net rental income for the period your property is unliveable due to an insured event — up to 10% of your sum insured for a maximum of 12 months.

You can also, for an additional premium, add one or both of these optional landlord covers to your insurance policy:

  • Tenant default — in case your tenant fails to pay their rent or leaves unexpectedly

  • Theft and malicious damage by tenants — covers theft or damage by your tenants and their visitors — When we insure your home, we will pay up to $150,000 and when we insure your contents, we will pay up to $20,000. If a fire is maliciously lit by your tenant or their guests, we’ll pay up to the sums insured shown on your Insurance Certificate. 

These upgrades are subject to underwriting criteria.

Yes – you are covered for the loss of net rental income for the period your Budget Direct-insured property is unliveable due to an insured event – up to 10% of your home sum insured for a maximum of 12 months.

You can also, for an additional premium, add the ‘Tenant Default’ cover, in case your tenant fails to pay their rent or leaves unexpectedly. Upon acceptance of your claim, we will pay up to the amount stated on your Insurance Certificate, less the basic and additional excesses.

We do not insure strata-title buildings. However, we do provide personal and landlord contents cover for items within the insured premises, conditions apply to coverage of contents in common areas. 

While you won't need to provide us with a copy of your rental agreement when you buy Budget Direct home and/or contents insurance, our acceptance of landlord claims is conditional on a valid rental agreement being in place, we’ll need to see a copy of the agreement if you lodge a claim. Therefore, it's important that whenever you're renting out your property, even to family members and close friends, that you have a rental agreement in place.

It’s not a legal requirement, however your lawyer or conveyancer will usually recommend you insure your investment property when you exchange signed copies of the purchase contract with the seller.

Also, most mortgage lenders require you to take out insurance before the loan becomes unconditional.

Budget Direct's Landlord Insurance is similar to our Home and Contents Insurance but with additional optional covers like Tenant Default and Theft and Malicious Damage by Tenants. There are also additional benefits which apply to Landlord policies, like Loss of Rent and Landlords Contents.

Residential rental properties are homes usually purchased by an investor and rented out to tenants on a lease or another form of rental agreement.

Landlords must also make sure that their rental property meets minimum living standards on or before the day a renter moves in.