Renting your house for rugby? Don’t get offside with insurer

24 August 2011

Renting your house for the rugby? Don’t get offside with your insurer

With just over two weeks to go before rugby’s World Cup kicks off in New Zealand, State Insurance is advising homeowners to speak with their insurer if they intend to rent out their home to visitors.

State executive general manager Mary-Jane Daly says State’s home and contents policies would typically continue to offer cover on homes being rented out through the tournament because of the one-off nature of the event.

Home owners, however, need to advise their insurer of “any change that may increase the chance of a claim” and that would include notifying of any period when they rent out their home. Not doing so could jeopardise their cover and ability to make a claim.

“We don’t want anyone to find themselves caught short. Insurance is there to help, which is why we want everyone to be aware of what needs to be considered,” Ms Daly said.

Ms Daly highlighted that though State’s home insurance policies do not cover intentional damage by a tenant, this can be easily arranged to cover the duration of the World Cup tenancy.

“In order for homeowners to protect themselves, we recommend that they take the same precautions as they would for a normal tenancy,” Ms Daly said.

State’s other advice includes:

• Obtain satisfactory written or verbal references about a tenant prior to selecting that tenant
• Have a written tenancy agreement stating the terms of the tenancy including the rental period, rent payable and bond.
• Collect a bond in advance in case there is a loss not covered by insurance that needs repairing at the end of the tenancy.
• Conduct a pre- and post- tenancy property inspection with the tenant present.

State also recommends that the tenancy agreement includes a provision to 'contract in' to the Residential Tenancies Act, as short-term holiday tenancies are otherwise not covered by this legislation.

Ms Daly said that customers should also give special attention to their favourite things: the stuff that they love and would miss most if it were to be damaged or go missing.

People should consider storing their favourite things, especially items with high sentimental or monetary value, securely - perhaps even off-site while their home is tenanted. They should also make sure these items retain cover under their policies, and that the cover is adequate, by talking with their insurer.

“The Rugby World Cup is going to be a magnificent event, with a lot of opportunities for people. We want everyone to be able to sit back and enjoy the New Zealand team taking on the world, without having to worry about things going wrong,” Ms Daly said.

About State

State has been providing New Zealanders with an extensive range of personal and business insurance services for more than 100 years and manages over a million policies on behalf of more than 460,000 New Zealanders. State is a business division of IAG New Zealand Limited, New Zealand’s largest general insurer.

ENDS

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