As a landlord, ensuring the safety of your tenants and property is paramount. Fire hazards pose a significant risk, but with the right precautions, their impact can be greatly reduced. From an insurance viewpoint, fires accounted for approximately 1% of the total claims we processed in 2023. Although not… Learn more
Staying informed about the risks that severe weather events, especially flooding, pose to your property is becoming increasingly important. With the increase in these types of events in recent years, understanding flood zones and their implications has never been more crucial. Let’s look into these challenges and the tools… Learn more
Picking the right insurance excess can be tricky. Excess is the money you pay when something goes wrong, like a broken window or water leak. Let’s make it simple. High or low excess? If you pick a high excess, you pay less money every year… Learn more
At Initio Insurance, we require an agent or a trusted representative physically present at the property for inspections. This ensures a thorough evaluation of the property’s condition and facilitates real-time reporting, serving as your on-the-ground resource. Advantages of having an in-person representative include: Real-time condition verification and data reporting… Learn more
Navigating the intricacies of insuring a home with an attached flat in New Zealand, especially one that is rented out part-time, can be overwhelming for landlords and property investors. At Initio, we are dedicated to helping you make sense of these complexities, equipping you with the tools needed to make… Learn more
Landlord insurance is different to normal house insurance. Landlord insurance covers both the house itself and the additional risk added by having a tenant in the property. All homeowners are exposed to common risks such as fire damage, flood, and earthquake, but as a landlord you face… Learn more
Landlord Insurance is different to standard house insurance. It covers the house itself, and the extra risks you face being a landlord. Homeowners are exposed to standard risks such as fire, floods, and earthquakes. Landlords are exposed to these standard homeowner risks, as well as the risks associated… Learn more
Your policy will cover you for sudden and accidental damage caused by a pet. The main areas to consider in regards to any claim for pet damage. The damage must relate to a “sudden” and “accidental” event. For example, if your tenant’s dog… Learn more
There can be unfortunate scenarios where you may have to pay your excess more than once when you make a single house insurance claim. We try to make insurance transparent for everyone, but there are insurance conventions that we have to work with. Applying an excess per incident can… Learn more
The answer is, it depends. There are circumstances where a tenant is considered liable, but this can be a little murky. Let’s have a quick look at some key parts of the 2019 Residential Tenancies Act for insights into how you may experience it as a… Learn more
To be self-contained a premises must contain the facilities necessary for day-to-day living on an indefinite basis. There must be somewhere: • to cook; • to sleep; • to live; • to wash; and • to carry out ablutions. The facilities needed to live in a self-contained… Learn more
Any rental property under our landlord insurance cover automatically includes loss of rent protection. This can also be included in our holiday home cover if you also rent your bach to guests. There are two different scenarios where this cover applies. a) Damage to the property Loss of rent applies… Learn more
If there are two self-contained rental units at one address, they can only be insured collectively under our multi-unit cover if they’re connected. The multi-unit cover is cost effective way of insuring two connected units under a single policy and payment. If the two units or houses are… Learn more
If your property is left empty, vacant or unoccupied you don’t need to tell us but there are some things to be aware of. Unless we’ve agreed with you otherwise, the below standard conditions will apply to your cover. Rental Property Cover stays unchanged if your rental property is… Learn more
There needs to be an inspection done every three months and in between tenancies to meet our landlord obligations. This can be done yourself or by the person who manages your tenancy (e.g. property manager). The inspection will need to confirm the interior and exterior condition of the property… Learn more
It’s common for older houses to have un-consented garages. Usually this is because a garage was added to the house without a full code of compliance being approved. This doesn’t necessarily mean the garage isn’t up to standards and can’t be covered. To cover an un-consented garage it will need… Learn more
In a boarding house, each tenant rents a room rather than the whole house. They then share facilities such as the kitchen with the other tenants, and in many cases each tenant has their own bathroom. We can insure boarding house’s with five or less rooms (tenants). If your boarding… Learn more
Regular meth testing isn’t a condition you have to meet, but we do recommend it. We cover up to $30,000 for meth cleaning under our landlord cover. You won’t need to test between tenancies to have meth cleaning cover, but regular tests can come in handy when you want to… Learn more
There’s broken glass cover under all our house policies. Windscreen and glass damage can also be covered on your car. The excess that applies depends on the policy that’s in place. Home Insurance – Owner Occupied/Usual Residence (Own Home policy) Our home insurance cover has a lower $250 excess for… Learn more
We can not insure properties that are owned under a Body Corporate. Our cover is designed for domestic residential houses that have a single owner. Under a Body Corporate their is a manager that collectively is responsible for insuring all the units on behalf of each owner. This is common… Learn more
In most cases insurers won’t provide cover for houses that were sold under a mortgagee sale. This is because of the increased and known risk associated with this type of property sale. However, we know that all mortgagee sales are different so can consider cover on a case by… Learn more
Renovations may or not be covered by our house insurance depending on whether it involves structural or cosmetic work. Cosmetic Renovations Cosmetic renovations with no structural changes to your house are covered, and you don’t need to disclose this. Examples of cosmetic renovations include re-painting, installing new carpet or… Learn more
Meth Contamination is one of the largest loss leaders for landlords in New Zealand. Cleaning costs for a well contaminated house can easily cost over $10,000. When do we cover meth testing and cleaning costs? If you have our landlord cover and you get a positive reading… Learn more
What is a Multi Unit Rental Property? A Multi Unit Rental Property consists of two or more units, townhouses or flats that share the same roof or are connected in some way (e.g. car-port or deck). Each unit must be self contained and have the same owner. Some examples… Learn more