Property Insurance

Whether you’re taking out a Home Contents or Building Insurance policy with us, there are a few specific things we need to know about.

For Home Contents Cover, you need to specify any particularly valuable and expensive items. This usually includes artwork, electronics, appliances, and furniture, among others.

For Buildings Cover, you need to tell us if you have thatch on your property. We’ll cover it, but only if we know about it. You also need to specify every geyser, solar panel, and boiler in your home in order to have cover for them. If you only mention one geyser, but there are two on the property, we won’t pay your claim, even if it’s for the one we know about.

If your home is going to be unoccupied for more than 60 days in a year, you need to tell us about it so we can adjust your cover. An unoccupied home is at a much higher risk of various perils, so we need to adjust your premium to account for this. If you don’t tell us about it, you won’t be covered for theft of your contents, or malicious and accidental damage to your contents or your building.

Absolutely. Building costs go up annually and the value of your home contents decreases relative to inflation. So, it’s important to call us up once a year (we recommend on the anniversary of your policy) and update your sum insured. This is also a good time to take stock of any new possessions you’ve added to your home that you forgot to inform us about, so we can add them to your cover.

While we cover nearly every danger your home and its contents might face, we don’t protect you from time. It’s up to you to maintain your house and keep it in the best possible condition. If your home is damaged due to a lack of upkeep, we won’t cover you.

Similarly, we won’t pay for a new washing machine if yours decides to pack up. Especially if it’s the one your folks received as a wedding present 20 years ago. However, if it’s damaged because of an electrical surge, we’ll pay to repair or replace it.

At Budget, we don’t expect you to install the latest security tech in your home to keep criminals out – we know this can be expensive. But it’s important to keep it as secure as you can, which requires some basic common sense. Like make sure there are locks on all the doors and don’t leave your home unlocked when you go out. Having said that, the more secure your home is, the lower your insurance premium is going to be because it means you’re at a lower risk of being burgled.