Do I need contents insurance as a renter?

Yes, if you're renting you will need contents insurance to help cover your personal belongings in case of an unfortunate event. It's a common misconception that your landlord's insurance policy will cover your items, as their insurance will only cover the bricks and mortar of the building.

As a renter, you're fully responsible for the contents inside the home, and if you were to experience a fire, theft or any other insured event, you would be up for the full cost of replacing your furniture, electronics, clothes and any other items you own. And with median rental prices reaching an all-time high with an increase of nearly 44 per cent in the last five years, it's more important to consider the likes of a Renters Insurance policy. [1]

Renters Insurance, which offers the same cover as our Contents Insurance policy, can provide cover by repairing or replacing your items in the event of an insured loss.

This includes high-value items such as furniture, household electrical appliances, kitchenware, clothing and shoes, tools and more.

Your policy covers you for a range of insured events such as:

• Fire: Bushfires and grassfires affecting your belongings
• Storm: The loss or damage from a direct lightning strike, storms or rainwater run-off
• Theft or attempted theft: Lost possessions from break-ins
• Escape of liquid: Burst pipes damaging your valuables
• Impact: Damage to your contents from a vehicle or falling tree
• Explosion: An explosion causing damage to your possessions
• Natural disasters: Loss or damage from an Earthquake or Tsunami

Generally, no. Contents Insurance for renters does not cover damage to the rental property you reside in. Any damage that is caused to the physical building including the structure, walls, roof and floors, is your landlord's responsibility to insure under a home insurance policy, often referred to as a Landlord Property Insurance policy. However, legal liability is also included in the Renters Insurance cover, which is crucial to have, whether you're a renter or a home owner.

Legal liability is automatically included in Contents Insurance and covers your legal liability in case of an incident. This is in place just in case a person is accidentally injured or you cause loss or damage to someone else's property.

For example, if a guest slips over on your wet floor and breaks a bone, you could be liable for the medical and legal costs involved. This is where your Legal Liability Cover under your Contents Insurance policy steps in, covering costs up to $20 million, if your claim is accepted and you have been found to be legally responsible.

As a renter, you can also choose to tailor your existing policy with optional covers to further protect your belongings if they suffer loss or damage as a result of an included optional cover. For the full details on the covered events, refer to the Product Disclosure Statement (PDS). These optional benefits include:

Accidents happen all the time! From accidentally spilling wine on the carpet to your pet knocking over your favourite glass table, Accidental Damage Cover can protect your belongings from any mishaps that occur outside of the "ten insured events" covered under the Contents Cover.

Whenever you're outside the home, our Personal Effects Cover can protect your items from loss or damage anywhere within Australia or New Zealand. You can protect a range of your items up to $1,000 under the Unspecified Personal Effects Cover including prams, cosmetics, jewellery and more.

Or, for some  higher-value items  worth more, you can individually insure them under Specified Personal Effects which can cover items from sporting equipment to mobile phones when outside of the home.

If you're in the middle of moving, travelling or completing renovations and need a commercial storage facility to keep your belongings, you can take out the Commercial Storage Cover to protect your valuables against loss or damage under the certain events covered. This can give you some peace of mind knowing your contents are protected even when they're not under your roof.

Your Renters Insurance cost depends on your Sum Insured and how much you've chosen to insure the value of your belongings as well as the risk profile of your insured address.

Before you purchase your policy, we recommend that you don't guess the value of your belongings, but instead map out how much it would cost to replace all your contents by using our Contents Insurance Calculator to get an accurate estimate. This will help you figure out what your replacement value would be for your belongings.

It's best to accurately define this figure, as under-insuring can leave you out-of-pocket and you don't want to over-insure your prized possessions either.

In 2025, Money Magazine presented Budget Direct the Insurer of the Year title for the eleventh time and the Best of the Best Awards for Best-Value Home & Contents Insurance. Protect your belongings with cover that Australians trust and save a 15%^ discount on your first year's premium when you buy a new contents policy online.