What is home and contents insurance?

Whether you’re a homeowner or renter, your home and personal belongings are precious. Life can be unpredictable at times and the cost of repairing or replacing your important assets can be financially and emotionally distressing. Having the right home and contents insurance can help cover you against financial costs from unexpected events.

Home and contents insurance helps cover you financially in case something happens to the property you own and reside in (known as the building), or your personal belongings inside your home (known as the contents). There are two main types of Home Insurance:

Building insurance

Building insurance covers the physical structures that make up your home building. This includes the house itself, along with your garage, fences, paved driveways, and even fixtures like dishwashers, hot water systems and air conditioners. Learn more about building insurance.

Contents insurance

Contents insurance covers the belongings you have in your home. This includes your furniture, curtains, internal blinds and carpets, as well as electrical appliances, and even your clothes, shoes and handbags. Learn more about contents insurance.

Most insurers have the ability to combine home and contents cover under one policy. With Allianz, you can save up to 10% when you buy both Building and Contents cover and combine them under the one Home policy^1,2.

Home and contents insurance covers loss or damage caused by ‘insured events’ (Sometimes also called ‘defined events’). The list of insured events varies amongst insurers and policies which is why it’s important to check so you know what you’re covered for. 

Generally, most home insurance policies cover events such as:  

• Fire or smoke
  
• Theft or burglary
• Storm and cyclone, rainwater or run off
• Lightning
• Water or other liquid damage
• Impact damage
• Earthquake or tsunami
• Accidental breakage of glass or ceramic items
• Vandalism or malicious damage
• Explosion
• Riots or civil commotion

Your home may or may not be covered by flood damage under your policy, so it’s important to check with your insurance provider if flood cover is included within your policy, as well as if there are any exclusion periods for certain insured events.

If you are an Allianz customer, you can find a list of the everything we cover in the relevant Product Disclosure Statement (PDS) for your insurance type.

Here are some of the lesser-known inclusions, or details, you may not be aware of if you take Home and/or Contents insurance out with Allianz:

• If you can’t live in your home which has been damaged by an insured event like bushfires³, we’ll cover the cost of temporary accommodation for you up to 12 months, up to 10% of the buildings or contents sum insured (as applicable) and up to $500 for your pets⁴.
  
• If your keys are stolen, or you believe the keys have been copied, we’ll pay up to $1,000 to replace your locks or cylinders on any external doors or windows.
  
• If you’re found liable to pay compensation to someone because you’ve accidently injured them or damaged their property, you’re covered for up to $20m legal liability cover.
  

Did you know that under our Home Buildings insurance if your home is totally destroyed by an insured event such as bushfire³:

• You can choose to rebuild in a different location, or you can choose to not rebuild at all if we agree to cover the cost of rebuilding.
  
• We’ll help with the cost of environmental upgrades such as installing rainwater tanks and solar power systems up to $5,000 after deduction of any government or council rebates if your buildings need to be rebuilt⁵.
  

Did you know that under our Contents insurance:

• If you can’t live in your home because of damage caused by an insured event (such as a storm) we'll pay up to the remaining balance of the contents sum insured after payment of claim to move and store your undamaged contents for the time necessary, up to 12 months.
  
• If your cat or dog is injured in a road accident, we’ll pay up to $500 in any one period of insurance for related veterinary expenses.
  
• If your fridge or freezer breaks down and you lose your perishable food or medicine, we’ll cover the cost to replace it. If the spoilage is due to a natural disaster (declared by Allianz, the government or the Insurance Council of Australia), we’ll pay up to $500.
  
• You can also claim for loss or damage to property that belongs to your guests, visitors or domestic helpers caused by an insured event that you’re claiming for up to $5,000.
  

This is a summary only of some of the features and benefits available on Allianz Home Insurance, as well as some of the exclusions. Before deciding on a policy, carefully consider the relevant Product Disclosure Statement (PDS) and Supplementary PDS (where applicable) which set out the standard terms, conditions, limits and exclusions.

If a standard home insurance policy doesn’t quite meet your needs, you can choose to customise your cover by adding optional covers usually for an additional premium. Check your Product Disclosure Statement for what is available to be added as an optional cover.

Some of the optional cover Allianz provides include:

Flood cover³

If eligible, this covers your building and contents for loss or damage caused by:

• Flood
• Flood water, combined with run-off and rainwater

As well as loss or damage caused by or arising from the following, if it’s caused directly by and occurs within 72 hours of a flood:

• Soil movement, including erosion
• Landslide
• Mudslide
• Subsidence

Portable contents cover

Portable contents covers your portable items (e.g. wallets, glasses, jewellery, cameras and mobile phones⁶) from loss or damage outside the home. The loss could be caused by theft or an accident. This is valid Australia-wide or for up to 120 days worldwide when you’re temporarily outside Australia.

Accidental damage

This covers you for accidental damage caused by sudden, unforeseen and unintended events. This isn’t limited to specified insured events and automatically includes motor burnout.

Motor burnout

This covers you if an electrical current damages your domestic household electrical motors, such as your fridge, freezer or washing machine, up to 10 years old.

If you’re renting the property you live in, you won’t need building insurance, but you can insure your belongings with contents insurance for renters. Renters insurance is designed to cover the cost of replacing your contents (such as your furniture, electrical appliances, and even your clothing) if they are lost or damaged as a result of an insured event. Learn more about renters’ insurance.

While purchasing a property and intending to use it as an investment rather than a place to live is a great way to meet personal financial goals, investing in landlord insurance can help to reduce the risks that come with an investment property.

This type of insurance covers the costs of replacement or repairs needed due to damage by an insured event, as well as any contents you provide for your tenants use that you have paid for yourself. Learn more about the specific features of landlord insurance.

When you take out a new home insurance policy, calculating the ‘sum insured’ (cost to rebuild your property and replace the contents) can be beneficial. It’s important to be as accurate as possible, factoring in the actual cost to repair, replace or rebuild at today’s prices. This can help avoid underinsurance (not having enough cover) and overinsurance (too much cover or cover that doesn’t suit your needs).

Keeping receipts, photos and even serial numbers of your belongings, and storing them somewhere safe (e.g. digitally), is a great habit to get into. Not only will it help you work out how much to insure for, but it will also come in handy if you need to make a claim.

You can also use a home insurance calculator to help you estimate how much insurance you need. Using the latest replacement cost information, a good home insurance calculator will help you conveniently estimate the value of your home and contents without hassle.

Home and contents insurance can sometimes be tricky. Thankfully at Allianz, our team is available to make the process simpler. Contact us or get a quick home insurance online quote.