Landlord insurance in Tasmania (TAS)

Landlords in Tasmania (and all around Australia) can choose from landlord building cover, landlord contents cover, or a policy that combines the two. Some insurance companies may offer a more holistic landlord insurance policy that includes cover for both the landlord’s building and contents.

Read the relevant Product Disclosure Statement (PDS) and Target Market Determination (TMD) to understand the full details of a given landlord insurance policy, what it covers and who it might be appropriate for.

Landlord insurance offers landlords around Australia cover for the costs caused by damage to or the loss of their building and/or its contents. Without landlord insurance, if your house were to be damaged or destroyed (for example, if it were to burn down)you could potentially find yourself fully responsible for the replacement costs of your building, and any belongings you had inside it.

Additionally, landlord policies in Tasmania and around Australia will typically include some degree of legal liability cover, meaning the policyholder could be covered if a tenant or their guest is harmed in an accident at the landlord’s building. Without legal liability cover in place, a landlord could potentially be leaving themselves open to having to foot significant legal or medical bills.

No, landlord insurance is not compulsory in Tasmania. However, not having a landlord insurance policy in place could leave you open to significant out-of-pocket costs if something were to happen to your building or contents, or harm came to a tenant or their guest at your building.

That being said, landlords who bought their rental property using a home loan will typically be required to have at least a building insurance policy in place. This is usually a condition imposed by the home lender, in order to make sure the property attached to the loan is insured against damage or loss.

According to the Australian Taxation Office (ATO), landlords across the country are allowed to claim a deduction for the costs of insuring their building and/or contents.¹ Landlords are allowed to claim an ‘immediate’ deduction for these costs, meaning they can make a claim for them in the same financial year they arose.

Standard landlord insurance policies taken out in Tasmania (or anywhere in Australia for that matter) will typically provide cover for things like:

• Storm, lightning and rainwater damage
• Damaged caused by an explosion
• Fire damage
• Water damage (with the exception of water damage caused by flooding – for most policies flood damage is an optional extra)
• Malicious damage, vandalism, theft and attempted theft

The above is not an exhaustive list of inclusions on any given landlord policy available in Tasmania, so be sure to check the PDS of any policy you’re looking at for a full list of what’s covered. Depending on the policy and provider, you may be able to add additional optional cover for other events and types of damage.

Much like a landlord insurance policy taken out anywhere in Australia, landlord insurance products in Tasmania generally won’t provide cover for damage to tenants’ contents or belongings, building defects, general wear and tear, damage caused by insects or rodents, or damage caused by tenant repairs.

Check the PDS to see the full list of exclusions on a given landlord insurance policy.

Cover for loss of rental income (also known as rent default) tends to vary by policy and provider, regardless of where in Australia you are. Some landlord insurance policies will provide cover for loss of rent by default, and others may list it as an optional cover that you’ll need to pay an additional premium for.

It’s important to note that a standalone landlord contents policy typically won’t provide cover for loss of rent, so if that’s something you want cover for, you may need to take out a higher level of landlord insurance.