FAQ?

P-Lab claims have been successfully paid under this policy – however each claim needs to be assessed on its own merits. It is the policy’s intention to cover accidental and unforeseen loss to your property. Always refer to the policy wording for full details of cover.

The property is covered for replacement (up to the sum insured) resulting from fire or explosion caused by the tenant.

Theft or deliberate damage is also covered for up to $25,000. A $500 excess applies to this unless a higher excess option has been selected by you.

Most queries can be sorted out over email but feel free to ring our offices if you would like to discuss anything. The contact us page has all the information you require.

Your rental property will be covered for REPLACEMENT up to the sum insured value you have identified. It is important to be accurate with replacement sum insured – the onus is on you to provide a sum insured you feel is an accurate reflection of what it would cost to replace your dwelling.  If your house is a total loss the policy will respond by building you a new house up to the sum insured you have selected.  There are also additional extensions/covers provided by the policy, please check the policy wording or summary for details of these.

Yes, this is not a top up cover.  The initio policy provides full replacement cover for the dwelling itself as well as providing additional cover for the risks associated with being a landlord.  To avoid double insurance it is recommend that you cancel your existing dwelling policy when you take up an initio policy.

Our policy provides automatic cover of $20,000 for landlord’s contents and chattels, which includes furniture.  As per the policy wording this is a PRESENT DAY value cover not full replacement cover.  Meaning that if the contents are damaged or stolen the cover will pay the present day value (i.e. depreciated value) not what it costs to replace the item for a new one.

You can increase the present day value cover to $40,000 for additional premium.

If you require full replacement cover for your contents you can choose either $60,000, $90,000 or $120,000 of replacement contents cover.  The total premium will change on the quote screen as you select the different cover options. We recommend that you seriously think about what it would cost to replace your contents, people often under estimate the amount of contents cover they require.

There are risks associated with being a landlord that normal dwelling insurance policies will not cover. As a landlord you could be exposed to liability for damage or injury to your tenants and their property; further you may lose rental income as a result of your property being damaged. This policy covers these eventualities and more – have a look at the ‘Cover & Prices’ page to see a summary of all the special features.

Historically in New Zealand, most Home policies provided rebuild cover up to the floor area specified in the Policy Schedule.

This has now changed.  Our Home policies will now provide cover for the cost to rebuild your home up to a Sum Insured, which brings New Zealand into alignment with the rest of the world. This means, in the event of a total loss (a loss that requires the complete rebuild of your house), we will cover your rebuild costs up to the Sum Insured specified in your Policy Schedule. It is important that you ensure your Sum Insured is adequate to cover all costs associated with rebuilding your home.

Whether you are a new customer or a renewing customer your property will default to $2,000 per square meter replacement.  This is only a default value, you must amend this value if you feel it is not an accurate reflection of the cost to rebuild your home.  We are not valuers and cannot advise you on the sum insured; to obtain an accurate replacement value we recommend engaging a valuer or quantity surveyor.  Online calculators are also available.  Click here for an online calculator

For more information on the change to sum insured click here

No. Our insurance policy covers you for when you are in the holiday home as well as when you have guests, family and friends. We cover you against sudden, accidental loss to Your Home during the Period of Insurance.

We do however advise you to consider the value of contents that are kept at the property, particularly if it is a holiday home, as the contents cover included in the policy is based on present day value replacement, on a depreciated basis.

When you put the size of your dwelling into a new policy or when you move through the renewal process, Initio will automatically default to a sum insured based on $2,000 per square meter. This sum insured is a default figure only and IS NOT an accurate representation of the amount at would cost to rebuild your home.

It’s very important to remember the following when deciding on the replacement sum insured:

1. Cost of Demolition,

2. Provision for Inflation

3. Cost of Compliance

Using the Cordell calculator or obtaining an insurance valuation is the best way to predict the right replacement sum insured for your home, particularly as the figure you are given may not be quite right.

It is your responsibility as the home owner ensure that the sum insured is accurate.

If you are doing structural work or removing cladding / roofing, then you must tell us. You will need a contract works policy if you want to insure the work being done and the dwelling for construction related risks (e.g. water coming in through exposed cladding or structural damage caused by the work itself).

For minor work like replacing carpets or re-painting, you do not have to let us know, though damage resulting from the work may not be covered. For further details please see the policy wording.

Unfortunately not – properties that are purchased at a mortgagee auction or through mortgagee sale are not able to be covered under the Initio cover.

Once a property has been owned and insured for 12 months or more without claims, it can then be covered under the Initio policy as standard.

If you are unsure about your property, you can email us to find out whether cover may be available.

If you are not happy with your claim or how it’s going, please let us know by either contacting us at claims@initio.co.nz or giving us a call on 07 929 4126 and we’ll work with you to resolve any problems.

If you are still not happy with your claim, please see our complaints procedure for further steps.

You can check the current status of your claim on your dashboard by logging in. If you have questions about your claim, you can always email  us at claims@initio.co.nz or call 07 929 4126

It’s easy, all you need to do is login to your initio dashboard and complete a few questions. Your claim will be lodged immediately with the insurer and you will be able to view its progress. In the event of a major claim such as a fire, an assessor will contact you and arrange to visit your property promptly. With most minor losses the claim can be handled and settled electronically. The insurer reserves the right to appoint an assessor or investigator to any claim they receive.

Unfortunately we will not be able to provide cover for properties built prior to 1945 unless they are referred to us for consideration and have been fully rewired, re-roofed and re-plumbed.

That’s fine, as long as you also intend on using the property yourself and you keep your own possessions/contents at the property.  Our policy is designed to cater for holiday homes that are also used for short term holiday rentals.  After all, we have teamed up with Bookabach to provide cover for exactly that.

“Is the property you intend to insure used for anything other than private rental purposes”. This is asking you whether you are aware of any business or non-domestic use of the property.  If your property is a domestic rental property, a holiday home, or holiday that you let out on occasion then the answer to this question is NO.

You sure can, Initio understands the nature of Bookabach.  So whether you rent out your bach/holiday home on occasion or rent it out often the initio cover remains in place

You will need to insure each on a separate policy through our website.  Once you have insured the first property you will be automatically logged into your initio dashboard where you will easily be able to add another property.

Due to Fire Service Levy and the Earthquake Commission Levy requirements it is important that a property with multiple living units pays for multiple fire service and EQC levies.

There are significant benefits in doing this;

1. Compliance with government imposed levy regulations
2. Each unit on the property enjoys the full policy benefits in respect of loss of rents, landlord’s contents, malicious damage and the like; as opposed to a shared limit that would be diminished under a shared policy.

Unfortunately no, Housing New Zealand uses the property it leases for the purposes of its business, which is housing state tenants. Housing New Zealand is in effect the tenant of the owner, not the state tenants that may be occupying the property.

Yes absolutely. DPS (direct payment systems), also known as PaymentExpress, process your payment on a unique SSL secure payments page. Once successful payment has been made you will be directed back to the initio site.

Unfortunately not, one of the reasons initio is competitive in the rental property / landlord insurance market is that we provide an instant online facility with annual payment by credit / debit card or Account2Account (online bank payment).  The efficiency in this process means we can keep prices down.  Other providers offer monthly payments however there is likely to be a charge for this.

Payment is made online using your credit/debit card or Account2Account (online bank payment).  This is an annual insurance payment.  Once payment is made you will instantly receive by email a policy confirmation, certificate and a copy of your receipt.  If you cancel your policy you will be entitled to a prorata refund as per our refund policy.

When logged in to your dashboard you can make changes by selecting “Modify Your Policy” and selecting from there. Once you have made the change, we will instantly email you an updated Certificate of Insurance for you or your bank should you need it.

You will need to log in to your dashboard.  On the top right side of your dashboard you can select ‘Update My Details’ to change your details including your name, postal address, email, phone numbers

You will need to log into your dashboard.  In the table which displays your insured property(s) there is a PDF document titled ‘Policy Schedule’, this is your certificate of insurance.  If you have changed the details of your policy (such as changing banks or the insured value), you can get an updated certificate by selecting “Modify Your Policy” and selecting the change (if any).  A new certificate of insurance will be instantly emailed through to you.

That’s easy; login to your dashboard and select ‘add policy’. After a few simple steps your additional property will be insured.

Prorated premium refunds (less a small admin fee) are always given. Just login to your dashboard and select ‘cancel policy’ for the relevant rental property. We will inform you of the refund amount and will put the money back onto your credit card. The policy will be cancelled from the date you choose.

No Problem, just click the login button on the top right of the screen and then click ‘forgot password?’.  Enter your email address and a new password will be emailed to you immediately

Give us a call on 0800 763 929. Hopefully our friendly team can alleviate any fears that you have. If you’re still unsure about insuring online, but want the great coverage offered by the initio policy wording, we will put you in touch with one of our exclusive broker partners who can arrange cover on your behalf.