Home insurance can protect you from financial risk if your home is damaged or destroyed, and can also cover your home’s contents if they are damaged, lost or stolen.
If your home and its contents were damaged or destroyed in a natural disaster or accident, or all your valuables were stolen, could you afford to replace them?
If not, home and contents insurance can help. Home & contents insurance can even protect you against legal liability if someone is injured or killed on your property.
916,353,639 was paid out in claims for domestic buildings and contents in 2018.
Flexible hoses bursting on washing machines, dishwashers, and other household appliances could mean 1,500 litres running through a house in an hour.
The number of burglaries on residential property across NZ in the year to July 2020.
Home and contents insurance can provide extensive protection if your home suffers loss or damage, with a number of additional benefits included automatically. You have a choice of options, with different levels of cover and inclusions available.
The exact cover you receive depends on the policy you take out. However, to give you an idea, here are some of the benefits a home and contents insurance policy may include:
| Potential benefits | |
|---|---|
| Covering your home for physical loss or damage during the period of insurance. | Coverage for alternative accommodation when you are denied access to your home following an emergency in your area. |
| Damage caused by natural disasters including earthquakes, landslips, volcanic eruptions, hydrothermal activities, tsunamis, and bushfires. | Cover for the cost of replacing keys or locks that provide access to the house following theft, loss, or unauthorized duplication of your keys. |
| If your home is uninhabitable following a loss, the policy will pay a reasonable cost for alternative accommodation. | Cover for your garden to repair lawns, trees, shrubs, hedges, and plants following a claim to your home. |
| Cover for gradual deterioration caused by water leaking from an internal source. | If a tree causes damage to your home, there is coverage to remove the fallen tree. |
| Liability cover for injury or loss of life to a third party, or loss of a third party’s property on a building you occupy or own. | Access to approved repairers, but you are also welcome to choose your own. |
Each policy is different, but generally, you won’t be covered:
There are other exclusions that your Steadfast insurance broker can outline for you. In addition, there is a deductible (or excess), and limits of liability (or sum insured).
During the 2017 Edgecombe floods, Michael’s family home and all its contents were severely damaged by floodwaters. Fortunately, Michael had taken out home and contents insurance. His insurance policy covered flood damage, so it covered the costs of repairing the damage that floodwaters had done to the walls and floors of his home. It also covered the cost of replacing his furniture and white goods. And, because he and his two children had to move out while his home was being repaired, his policy took care of the costs of living in rental accommodation during this time.