Are my contents covered if I take them outside?
Cover for contents outside your home varies depending on which level of cover you have:
- Essential Care Contents provides no cover for contents outside the building
- Quality Care Contents provides limited cover for contents outside but within the boundaries of the site, for loss or damage caused by the insured events
- Premier Care Contents covers your contents at the site and while temporarily removed elsewhere in Australia, including for accidental loss or damage
- Personal Valuables cover provides cover for various defined valuable items or your own specific items depending on what you arranged, for theft or accidental loss or damage anywhere in Australia and even overseas for up to 90 days.
Is my home covered while I'm away on holidays?
Your building and contents will be covered while your home is unoccupied for up to 60 days. During this time you must take all reasonable care to ensure that:
- All windows and doors are securely locked
- The home is under the supervision of a responsible person
- Newspapers and mail are collected regularly
- Lawns and gardens are kept in a tidy order.
However, call us to advise if your home will be unoccupied for more than 60 consecutive days and we'll advise you if your cover can continue.
Is my home covered during renovations?
You will need to inform us before the building work commences so we can advise you if your home will be covered and whether there is any change to your policy. Building renovation is defined as altering or moving all or part of any wall, floor, foundation, roof or structural component. It includes a new bathroom or kitchen, or extensions such as additional rooms, outdoor entertaining areas, or a second storey.
Am I covered for legal liability, and what is it?
Legal liability means your legal responsibility to pay compensation for causing:
- Injury, illness or death to someone else
- Loss or damage to property owned or controlled by someone else.
Legal liability cover is automatically included in all building and/or contents policies and covers you anywhere in Australia up to $20 million. It also covers others named on your policy or certain relatives who normally live with you.
Is my whole home covered?
If you have building cover, it covers residential building(s) on the site which includes structural improvements, fixtures and fittings. See the table below for more information.
Building cover includes
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Building cover doesn’t include |
The basics:
- Walls, doors, windows, fences, gates, decks, patios, balconies, paths and driveways
Fixtures and fittings:
- Permanently fixed domestic items, fixtures and fittings e.g. dishwashers installed in a cabinet, wall-mounted air conditioners
- Equipment permanently connected to gas, plumbing, sewerage, drainage or electrical systems, or communication installations, in all instances for which you own or are legally responsible for e.g. light fittings, alarm systems, kitchen and bathroom fixtures
- Fixed wall and floor coverings e.g. carpets, wallpaper and tiles
- Floorboards, including floating floorboards
- Fixed internal and external window coverings, including curtains, blinds, awnings and screens
- Equipment permanently connected to gas, plumbing, sewerage, drainage or electrical systems, or communication installations which you own or are legally responsible for e.g. light fittings, alarm systems, kitchen and bathroom fixtures and fittings
- Solar panels.
Home office rooms:
- Rooms within your main residential building(s) used as a home office.
Other structures:
- Structures such as garages, carports, sheds and other domestic outbuildings
- Permanently fixed swimming pools, saunas, spas and tennis courts, including their fixed fittings and fixed accessories
- Wharves, jetties and pontoons located within the insured site or where the structure begins or terminates on the insured site, provided that the wharf, jetty or pontoon is not publicly accessible by land, and,
- Tanks that store heating oil, gas or water.
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Greenery and outdoor decorations:
- Lawn, landscaping, plants, shrubs, trees or potted plants – unless you have Premier Care cover and they’re covered in Additional benefits
- Outdoor decorations, water features – unless you have Premier Care cover and they’re covered in Additional benefits.
Business, farming, or blocks over 40,000 square metres:
- Buildings or structures used for business, trade, professional, occupational or commercial purposes (other than use as a home office, for tutoring or for ad hoc babysitting)
- Buildings or sites used for farming activity
- Buildings located on sites exceeding 40,000 square metres.
Other structures:
- Display homes, guest houses, boarding houses, houseboats, caravans or mobile homes (fixed or freestanding) or shipping containers.
Strata property:
- Common property where the home is part of a strata, group, company or community title plan.
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Are all my contents covered?
If you have contents cover, it covers domestic items that you own or are legally responsible for and which you normally keep in a building at the site.
There are cover limits on a few contents items but you can cover some for higher amounts by listing them within your contents cover, or adding Personal Valuables cover.
| Contents cover includes: |
Contents cover doesn't include: |
General household items:
- Furniture, furnishings, household goods
- Food, kitchenware, towels, linen
- Appliances (including unfixed dishwashers) and electrical items
- Music and software obtained legally
- Mobile phones, other portable electronic and communication equipment, tablets, desktop and portable computers, and their accessories
- Clothing, jewellery, toiletries, books, toys
- Artwork, collections and collectibles
- Fixed and unfixed carpets and rugs (if you also have Building cover, payment for a benefit will be made under your Building cover only),
- Floating floorboards in a home which is part of a strata title plan,
- Internal window coverings e.g. blinds, curtains, (if you also have Building cover, payment will be made under your Building cover only),
- Sporting equipment including golf buggies
- Musical instruments
- Tools, registered firearms.
Personal aids:
- Wheelchairs, mobility scooters
- Personal portable medical equipment (e.g. insulin pumps, hearing aids, dentures, prosthetics) and medicine
Outdoor items:
- Lawn mowers (including ride-on)
- Mini-bikes (up to 50cc) that don’t require registration
- Items designed for use outside which aren’t permanently fixed (Quality Care and Premier Care only) e.g. above ground swimming pools, mobile BBQ, outdoor furniture
- Non-motorised watercraft up to four metres in length
- Surfboards, sailboards, surf skis, canoes and kayaks.
Fixtures and fittings, structural improvements:
- Fixtures and fittings installed by you as a tenant, with the approval of the landlord,
- Fixtures and fittings owned by your landlord at the site and for which you are liable as a tenant under the terms of a lease or similar agreement
- Structural additions and improvements to a home which is part of a strata title plan, which are not otherwise insured under the body corporate’s building insurance policy, e.g. new dishwasher or renovated bathroom or kitchen.
Guests’ belongings:
- Guests’ or visitors’ belongings that are in a building at the site (Quality Care only) or anywhere at the site (Premier Care only).
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Greenery and animals:
- Lawn, landscaping, plants, shrubs, trees
- Animals.
Vehicles:
- Motorised vehicles, go-karts, mini-bikes over 50cc, trail bikes, any registrable vehicles, caravans or trailers (unless stated otherwise)
- Motorised watercraft and all watercraft more than four metres in length (other than surfboards, sailboards, surf skis, canoes and kayaks)
- Aircraft, drones, micro-lights, hang gliders, or their parts and equipment (unless it’s a model or toy aircraft provided they are being used legally).
Business items:
- Trade stock and other contents relating to and to be used in connection with a commercial business, other than home office equipment.
Other:
- Any structure or property that is included in the definition of building (unless specified otherwise),
- Common property where the home is part of a strata, group, company or community title plan
- Bullion
- Records or data stored in a computer (unless you have Premier Care and they’re covered in Additional benefits).
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Do I need to keep an inventory or proof of my contents?
It's important to keep records of your possessions and any documents that prove their value, in case you need to make a claim. It's also a good idea to keep these records in a safe place away from your home, such as with a family member.
Who is covered by my policy?
You, your or insured means:
- Any policyholder,
- the policyholder’s family who normally resides with the policyholder in the home (excluding guests, visitors and boarders),
- in relation to Building cover, any person who has a legal or equitable interest in the property (e.g. a mortgagee), and
- in relation to Contents cover for a strata title property, any person who has a legal or equitable interest in the property (e.g. a mortgagee).
If you have Quality Care or Premier Care contents, it also covers property belonging to guests or visitors at the site.
Am I covered for accidental damage?
You're covered for accidental loss and damage when you select Premier Care. Accidental loss and damage means an event causing loss or damage to your property that was not intended and happened by chance without deliberate intent.
