Landlord Insurance

Comprehensive all-in-one rental property insurance.

Cover for the house itself, and the risks of renting to tenants. Get a quote in seconds with New Zealand’s easiest house insurance.

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What does our Landlord Insurance cover?

We include, by default, the things you need as a landlord

Loss of Rent

Up to 12 months or $20,000 following damage to your house

Deliberate Damage

Up to $25,000 for damage or theft by your tenants

Meth Contamination

$30,000 of cleaning cover, and additional loss of rent

Landlord Contents

$20,000 of standard cover, with options to increase

More of our excellent benefits

 

  1. Replacement Cover

    Full rebuild cover for the house, up to your replacement sum insured.


  2. Legal Liability

    $2 million legal liability costs if an accident damages other property, or people.


  3. Excess-free Blocked Pipe

    Up to $1,000 to unblock underground pipe, with no excess.


  1. Hidden Gradual Damage

    $3,000 for gradual water damage from a hidden water or waste pipe.


  2. Excess free Keys & Locks

    $1,000 of cover for replacing keys and associated locks, with no excess.


  3. Loss of Rent - Tenant Eviction or Vacation

    Six weeks of cover if tenant’s are evicted for non-payment, or abandon tenancy.


Initio Dashboard Example

You're in control with the Initio Dashboard

  • Manage your insurance entirely online

    Every customer gets access to their own personalised dashboard login.

  • No more waiting on the phone!

    You can make changes to your policy, lodge claims, add and cancel policies or get documents all online on your smart device or computer.


New Zealand's Landlord Insurance Specialists

  • Used by the Best

    Insurance partner of the New Zealand Property Investors Federation. We insure New Zealand’s leading landlords.

  • Designed for Landlords

    Policy made specifically for landlords. We understand the cover you need, with a quick and easy platform for managing your insurance online.


Here's some of the many claims we've paid

A tenant's dog was left locked in the property.
Tenant's dog was locked in the property. The doors, walls and carpet didn't win the fight, but initio came to the rescue. We cover pet damage.
Leaking tap connection in the bathroom wrecked the vanity and particle board floor.
Leaking pipe behind the sink soaked the bathroom vanity and into the floorboards below. Tenant found the damage when their foot went through the floor. Claimed under hidden gradual damage.
Meth lab in attached garage.
Meth lab was discovered in garage. Police raided causing more damage. Initio picked up the tab for the damage, cleaning and loss of rent.
Wind storm blew over front fence
Wind storm blew the front fence over. Initio paid out for a nice, new replacement.

Here are some of the losses we don’t pay

Wooden window sills rot and needs to be replaced.
Wooden window sill rots and needs to be replaced. Wear and tear is not covered. This is a maintenance cost, and not insurable damage.
Tenants move out and leave the house untidy, including a large amount of rubbish to be disposed of...
Tenants leave your house untidy, with lots of rubbish to be removed. There is no damage, so there is no cover. Our policy covers physical damage.
Show tray leaks
Tenants leave the carpet worn, scuffs on walls and general wear throughout your house. Our policy covers outright damage to the property, not maintenance costs.
tenants hard on rental property
Shower tray leaks over time and the tenant doesn't inform the landlord about the damage. Gradual damage has to be from a hidden pipe.

This is not an exhaustive list and it doesn't imply all loss types described are covered or not. Claims are like butterflies, each unique with its own facts that we need to apply to our policy.


Why initio?

We use technology to save you time and money

100% Online

Instant online quotes in seconds, with the same approach to claims.

Support Focused

We're here to support you, not sell. Let us show you the way to better insurance.

Great Cover

We don't expect you to build your own policy. We include the things that matter, bells & whistles too.


You’re in safe hands

If disaster strikes, you’re in good hands. Initio policies are underwritten by IAG New Zealand Ltd. Standard & Poor’s has given IAG a AA ‘Very Strong’ Financial Strength Rating.

Learn more about our financial strength rating

Common questions about landlord insurance

You’ll need to choose a replacement sum insured that’s enough to fully demolish and rebuild your house to its existing size (using today’s building costs).

If you’re unsure what the rebuild costs would be, we recommend using the Cordell SumSure Calculator to help get an estimate.

See here for our full guide on choosing your sum insured.

We do not insure body corporate or apartment units.

We are only able to provide landlord insurance as part of a residential house insurance policy where we cover the house itself, and the tenant risks.

Unfortunately, we cannot provide standalone landlord insurance cover for tenant risks.

Landlord obligations apply to our policy which includes things like reference checks, and regular inspections.

You can see the full list of landlord obligations here.

Landlord obligations only apply to tenant related losses (e.g. meth contamination, intentional tenant damage). They don’t apply to non-tenant losses. If you don’t meet the obligations, and your rental property is flooded, you’re still covered for damage and loss of rent.

Meth testing between tenancies is not required for cover, but is recommended.

If you suspect there’s meth contamination at your property; and you then get a positive test, we will cover the test and cleaning costs. You don’t have to show us a record of past tests.

To learn more on when we recommend testing for meth see here.

An excess applies to each event that causes damage, so there are circumstances where multiple excesses can apply to a claim.

This applies so that insurance doesn’t turn into a property maintenance cover. If you could group multiple events of damage under a single claim (and pay one excess), landlords could include any small piece of damage around the house into a single claim.

To make sure premiums stay low and that insurance remains affordable for the major losses, an excess applies per event. To learn more see our guide here.

Changes to the Residential Tenancies Amendment Act 2019 mean you can only hold your tenant responsible in some circumstances (depending on whether the damage is accidental, careless or intentional).

For an overview of who is responsible see here.

If you have landlord insurance you are covered for damage whether it’s accidental, careless or intentional. There is no limit for accidental or careless damage caused by your tenants.

Intentional damage is covered up to $25,000. If your tenant causes  fire or explosion the cover is not limited.

The landlord policy automatically includes up to $20,000 of cover for contents you own at the property left for the use of the tenants.  So chattels in the home,  such as whiteware appliances, furniture, heaters, cooking appliances, cutlery and loose floor coverings.  It does not include items owned by the tenants or your own personal items.

Tenants would be expected to have their own household contents policy if they wish to insure their own personal effects.

As the landlord, if you wish to insure your own personal effects, you can do so with initio as an add-on to your owner occupied home policy with initio.

It covers the lost rent you suffer when is unliveable and can’t be damaged by an insurable event.

E.g. if your house was flooded and your tenants had to move out, we would pay the rent you would otherwise would have received while your house is repaired.

Loss of rent is essential if you rely on rents to cover things like mortgage payments.

We also include loss of rent cover when your tenant is evicted for non-payment of rent, or abandons the tenancy. There’s up to six weeks cover, or until a new tenant starts paying rent.


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