When do I need Home Insurance

I’ve had so many clients ask recently when they need to get Home insurance on the home they are purchasing, and in each state the rules are slightly different.

The best person to advise you, depending on your circumstances, is your Conveyancer or Solicitor.

When you become legally responsible for a property, doesn’t depend on where you live, rather where the property is you are buying. For example if you’re in Melbourne, and you’re purchasing a house in Townsville, then you need to know what the law is for purchasing a property in QLD, and so on.

Queensland Purchases

For an example, I will use Queensland because, that’s where most of my client purchase their properties.

Queensland, for most cases, you are legally responsible for the property by 5pm the day after your Contract of Sale is accepted.

That is, if you sign a contract to purchase a property, and that contract is accepted by the Vendor, (the person/s selling the home) then you’ll need to start shopping around for quotes to get that home protected.

Once you get a policy in place, it’s a great idea to email the ‘Certificate of Insurance’ through to your Broker, as they will need that prior to settlement to show the property is protected.

Given the short time frame, a lot of my clients will either, get a policy in place then, use the 48 hour cooling off period to shop around, and see if they can get a better deal, or go direct to an Insurance Broker such as Renee from MBJ Insurance Solutions so they can do the shopping around for you, and get you with the best product match for you.

Once you move into your property, you can then phone your Insurance Broker, or Insurance Company and add your Contents to the policy to take advantage of ‘combined policy discounts’

As a side note, if you are purchasing a Unit or Town house you will usually find there is already Insurance through the Body Corporate which means, you don’t need to worry about getting Contents insurance until it gets closer to settlement.

If you’re thinking about purchasing a home in the future but have no idea where to start then visit my Frist Home Buyer’s Program. Its aimed at First Home Buyers, from helping them save for their deposit through to purchasing their home and beyond.