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Carpet is not insured when not gued on Posted by: Andy Holler 17 Feb 2010 10:52am

We had a fire in our rental property which destroyed the content 100%. Our policy is a full replacement.

The carpet was professionally installed. The insurance company will not compensate for the carpet because it was not glued to the floor boards. Therefore it is not a chattel and will be not covered by the house insurance.

Warning: all rental property owners - make sure you have a content insurance and coordinate your house insurance policy with the new content insurance. Even when you think your house is empty - often that is not the case and if its not glued or fixed to the house structure you will not have cover with your house insurance.

Andy NZ

Greater Detail PLEASE Posted by: John McCaffery 05 Dec 2009 3:57pm

Consumer reports in complex areas like insurance need to have an overview summary as above BUT ALSO a detailed report. NEWS SIS is about to impose a $250 excess on all its policies BUT is still advertising and selling them with a no- excess advertising and information to prospective policy holders. Yesterday they refused to reduce our insurance fron $60,000 on the grounds we appeared to be deliberately UNDERinsuring ? What is this?????

There are so many clauses and strategies they uses that we all do not understand that YOU need to alert us to them eg ; Full replacement up to 10 years -then nothing ? Replacement for some categories but not others ? Discounts for increased excesses -publish .Holiday home provisions are especially problematic- and often unfair as they DO NOT spell these out. The bands each compay uses eg : wont insure less that $10,000; $30,000- ban moves up significantly at $50,000? keep under this as approx 50% of all intems in household are worth less than $250. How opften does a total loss actually occurr ? Perhaps we should insure fror a 75 % loss as (95% of all claims are actually for this or less -Then we can assess the risk .. ALSO how to get past the GUARDS on the phones who refuse to allow us to speak to anyone else about matters- Ap[parently there are no Managers- Senior staff any more to who you cann appeal the decision of a phone JOCK !!! WEll why dont COSUMER RUN a what are your ecxperiences with insurance again and then tabulate the research it produces? -as you do with used cars

reagrsd

Yachtsail

Apartment above business Posted by: Lisa McArthur 03 Sep 2009 8:17am

My fiance and I moved into a rental apartment last night and I contacted AMI to change contents. After 30mins I was advised that because the apartments were above a commercial business cover could not be provided! Apparently it makes no difference that there are smoke doors, seperate entrance for tenants and customers, video survellance and individual key codes! This seems mad as most apartments in cities are above some kind of business! Are people just not being honest and not stating this when changing contents? But then wouldnt they be stung when making a claim? I contacted State who also advised they take the same stand. Meanwhile I have contents all around the countryside and in this new apartment uninsured - what does one do? Has anyone struck this before? Would be very interested to find out ways around this! Murphys Law - now that I dont have contents who knows..

Older Houses Posted by: NZBarry 06 Aug 2009 2:23am

I wonder if people have any experience with insuring older houses - mine is built in 1918, has new roofing and wiring but doesn't necessarily have new piles or linings. Any insurer particularly good in this market?

Reply 1: Posted by: lubblyjubbly 20 Sep 2009 8:16pm

We are about to move into a house that was built in the 1920s. AMI said an assessor would need to inspect the outside of the house before approving the policy. We were not charged for this and it was approved quickly and easily

Reply 2: Posted by: Caryn . 10 Oct 2009 9:35pm

Normally for any house prior to 1920 it has to be relined, rewired, re-piled and re-plumbed in order to be covered for the actual value (completely rebuilt regardless of cost), if all of these are not met than your house will only be covered for indemnity value - meaning the market value at the time of loss.

Reply 3: Posted by: Andy Holler 17 Feb 2010 10:43am

Hi Barry
AMI seems to have an assessor system in regards to old houses and will make a decision once the assessor has been on site and seen the property. This is a good system as it gives you also peace of mind once the assessor has seen it and approved it for insurance purposes. Or in an other scenario it gives you the knowledge what you have to upgrade to get an insurance on the house.

Andy/ andy_holler@yahoo.co.uk

Reply 4: Posted by: Clare Hewitt 08 Apr 2011 8:06pm

our house was built 1920 ish. When we first bought it AMI refused to cover it. It was very rough then, and FMG gave us full replacement cover from day 1. we have over 20 years replaced the roof and spouting. done up the kitchen and bathroom and replaced a lot of windows but never touched piles or interior linings except in the kitchen and bathroom.We did get the previous owner to rewire before we bought it and have re plumbed because the old galvanised pipes were sick but FMG never asked us to do any improvements to get cover. Unfortunately they are a rural company so this won't help city dwellers.

Limits on Jewellery Posted by: GemLab 09 Jul 2009 11:49am

As Jewellery Valuers we see many people with bad experiences with jewellery claims. We suggest that everyone checks their policy wording and limits on jewellery. Many people don't realise they might only be covered for the second hand value, or that to have a claim fairly settled they will need proof of the nature and value of their jewellery (including less valuable items). Best idea to avoid an unfair settlement is to get it all professionally documented and listed on your policy.

single events defintion Posted by: craig 08 Jul 2009 5:43pm

I have a rental property and a tenant locked a cat in the bedroom and in the end I had to evict the tenant. The urine smell was so bad that I could not rent the house out.

They clain that the excess applies to every time the cat weed so no claim.

I dont agree and could this be malicious damage.

Landlords insurance Posted by: Matt Frear 29 Jun 2009 3:58pm

How about comparing policies for a rental property?

INCREASED EXCESS Posted by: GrooveyMaze 15 Jun 2009 5:16pm

I have a contents only policy with Tower. After a recent (only) claim on this cover I was told my excess would increase from $250 to $2000 if I did not have deadlocks/window stays put in place. I have asked my landlord to do this but have not received any response about that. Who is liable if I happen to have another burglary before this is sorted and why is there such a huge jump? in my excess.