Home insurance in Tasmania (TAS)

Home insurance (also known as building insurance) is designed to provide the policyholder with financial protection against damage to their insured building. Building insurance generally also covers any garages or carports at the insured address.

Building insurance provides cover for the structural components of the insured building like walls, windows, and doors. If you only have building insurance and the contents of your home are damaged, you won’t be eligible to make a claim with your insurer.

If you’re looking to insure your belongings inside a building rather than the building itself, contents insurance (also known as renters insurance) could be appropriate for you.

Contents insurance is designed to provide financial protection against damage, theft, or loss of belongings at your insured address. This insurance can be a good option for renters (hence the name), and those who don’t own the building they live in.

Want insurance for both a building and the belongings inside it? A combined home and contents insurance policy might be for you.

Combined home and contents insurance policies are typically suitable for homeowners, as they’ll generally own both the building and the contents at the insured address.

Landlord insurance is a form of home and contents insurance designed for people who own an investment property (tenanted or not). Landlord insurance can provide cover for damages and vandalism to the owner’s building and/or contents. Some policies may also cover loss of rent due to tenant default.

Landlord insurance can also cover any furniture or fixtures belonging to the building owner at the insured address. Those looking to take out landlord insurance can opt for a standalone building or contents insurance policy or a combined landlord building and contents insurance policy.

If you own or manage a building with rental units or are part of a shared land strata scheme via a body corporate, strata insurance will typically be the most appropriate home insurance option for your circumstances.

Strata insurance is designed to cover an entire building or shared piece of land and can offer financial protection against loss of rent and temporary accommodation costs for unit/land owners if an insured event makes one or more units unliveable.

If you take out home and contents insurance in Tasmania (or anywhere in Australia), you’ll generally be covered for damages to your building and contents occurring as a result of one or more of the following insured events:

• Storm and rainwater damage
• Fire and smoke damage
• Theft or attempted theft
• Escape of liquid causing damage
• Lightning damage
• Explosion damage
• Earthquake or tsunami damage
• Breakage of glass

Additionally, depending on your home and contents insurance policy, you could add some or all of the following optional covers to your policy in exchange for a higher premium:

Always read the relevant Product Disclosure Statement (PDS) for any insurance policy you’re considering for full details on inclusions, exclusions and annual limits. The Target Market Determination (TMD) could also guide you on whether the product is right for you.

The cost of home insurance in Tasmania will vary based on a few different factors, including (but not limited to):

• Your chosen level of cover. Generally speaking, building insurance will cost more than contents insurance, and a combined home and contents insurance policy will be your most expensive option. You’ll also pay a higher premium if you add optional cover to your policy.
• Where the building is located. Different parts of Tasmania will have a higher insurance risk rating than others based on the risk of flooding, being damaged by a bushfire or the likelihood of a break-in or theft claim. If you live in an area with a high risk rating, your insurance premium will be higher.
• Your chosen sum insured. The amount you elect for your building’s sum insured will be the estimated cost to rebuild your home, and any structural improvements on the site, and for contents the sum insured will be the cost to replace all your belongings kept at the site.

If you take out home insurance in Tasmania or anywhere in Australia, you’ll typically have cover for damages or loss caused by bushfire as a standard inclusion on your home insurance policy. If your home is adjacent to bushland or bushland is nearby, it is likely that your premium will be higher.

Make sure you find a policy that provides you with adequate bushfire damage cover, and select an insured amount that will fully cover your rebuilding and replacement costs.

It’s not compulsory for you to have cover for floods in Tasmania, but many insurers offer this as a standard inclusion on home and/or contents insurance policies. However, if your area has an above-average risk of flooding, you may pay more in premiums.

Your policy may offer you the option to forgo flood cover to reduce the cost of your home insurance premiums – also known as ‘opt-out flood cover’.