Home Design and Distribution Obligations
Home insurance updates
We’ve been busy making updates to our home insurance cover to help make things a little clearer for you.
See what's changed
This table is a guide and lists the main changes to the Home Insurance Product Disclosure Statement (PDS). The information in the table does not replace or vary our PDS so please read the entire PDS for details of features and benefits and to ensure that this product is right for you. You can also read our Contents Key Fact Sheet (KFS) or Buildings Key Fact Sheet (KFS) that set out some of the events covered and not covered by Youi buildings and contents insurance policies.
| PDS section | Buildings | Contents | Page # | Update type | Change in the PDS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Important information | 4 - 12 | ||||
| Cancelling your policy | Covered | Covered | 4 | Benefit | Cancellation fee reduced to $22, with clarity on when this will apply. |
| What if I have a complaint? | Covered | Covered | 5 | Clarification | Updated details regarding our complaints process. |
| Your duty of disclosure / When answering our questions | Covered | Covered | 6 | Clarification | The Duty of Disclosure has been replaced with the duty of an insured “to take reasonable care not to make a misrepresentation when answering our questions”. |
| Your responsibilities | Covered | Covered | 6 - 8 | Clarification | Improved transparency with expanded section on the requirement to maintain a valid email address. |
| Covered | Covered | 8 | Clarification | Responsibility to take "Take reasonable precautions" has been changed to a responsibility to "Take care of the insured property". | |
| What do these words mean? | 9 - 11 | ||||
| Business item/s | NotCovered | Optional | 9 | Clarification | Updated for clarification that business items do not mean your home office equipment. |
| Home office equipment | NotCovered | Covered | 10 | Clarification | New definition included and clarification that your contents includes home office equipment. |
| Storm surge | Covered | Covered | 11 | Clarification | New definition included. |
| You / your / yours | Covered | Covered | 11 | Clarification | An updated definition to remove “any person acting for the policyholder or for a householder member”'. |
| About your cover | 13 - 30 | ||||
| Fire | Covered | Covered | 13 | Benefit | Increased cover for soot or smoke. |
| Earthquake | Covered | Covered | 14 | Reduction | Landslip only covered within 72 hours of earthquake. |
| Escaping Water | Covered | Covered | 15 | Benefit | The $7,500 limit for slow leaks has been removed. |
| Impact | Covered | Covered | 16 | Clarification | Updated to confirm what is and what is not covered. |
| Animal Damage | Covered | Covered | 16 | Benefit | This is a new Insured Event, covered up to sum insured. |
| Legal Liability | Covered | Covered | 18 | Clarification | Exclusion relating to renovations clarified with examples. |
| Temporary Accommodation: Insured Events | Covered | Covered | 18 | Benefit | Increased pet accommodation limit to $3,000. |
| Covered | Covered | 19 | Benefit | Up to 1 month for temporary accommodation cover for a policyholder who is renting. | |
| Storage of Undamaged Contents | NotCovered | Covered | 20 | Benefit | This is new Extra Cover for up to 10% of contents sum insured. |
| Locks and Keys | Covered | Covered | 21 | Benefit | Increased locks cover limit to $1,000 and reduced excess of $100. |
| Clean Up and Professional fees - Contents | NotCovered | Covered | 21 | Benefit | This is new Extra Cover for up to 20% of sum insured cover for removal of contents debris. |
| Contents Outside | NotCovered | Covered | 22 | Benefit | Increased limit for contents outside to 10% of sum insured, up to $20,000. |
| Cover While You Move | NotCovered | Covered | 22 | Benefit | Cover provided at any new permanent address. |
| Food Spoilage | NotCovered | Covered | 23 | Benefit | Removed excess for food spoilage. |
| Damage From Injury or Incident | Covered | Covered | 23 | Benefit | This is new Extra Cover for up to $10,000. |
| Vehicle Spare Parts and Accessories | NotCovered | Covered | 23 | Benefit | This is a new Extra Cover for up to $500. |
| Uninstalled Buildings Fixtures, Fittings and Materials | Covered | NotCovered | 24 | Benefit | This is a new Extra Cover for up to $1,000. |
| Counselling Services | Covered | Covered | 24 | Benefit | Removed 6-month limit to commence counselling. |
| Guests' Contents | Covered | NotCovered | 24 | Benefit | This is a new Extra Cover for up to $1,000. |
| Lessee/Tenant Default and Damage | Optional | Optional | 26 | Reduction | Limit Rental Arrears cover to 2 weeks for periodic leases for absconding, default, or death of the tenant. |
| Fixtures and Fittings Upgrade | NotCovered | Covered | - | Benefit | Previously an Optional Cover, now automatically included. Contents sum insured adjusted accordingly with renewals for existing customers who had the Optional Cover. |
| General exclusions | Covered | Covered | 28 | Clarification | The exclusion relating to the buildings not being compliant with the building codes in place at time of construction has been updated for transparency. |
| Covered | Covered | 28 | Clarification | Exclusions relating to poor or faulty design specifications, material, planning or workmanship, or a defect have been updated to improve transparency. | |
| Covered | Covered | - | Benefit | Removal of exclusion for occupancy by more than 3 unrelated people at the premises. | |
| Covered | Covered | 28 | Reduction | A new exclusion for professional, expert, legal, consulting or valuations costs incurred without our prior written consent. | |
| Covered | Covered | 28 | Reduction | A new exclusion for water-facing retaining walls and sea walls. | |
| Covered | NotCovered | 29 | Clarification | A new exclusion to clarify that we only cover 50% of dividing fences. | |
| Covered | Covered | 29 | Reduction | A new exclusion relating to tree works. | |
| Claiming | 30 - 35 | ||||
| Authorised persons on your claim | Covered | Covered | 30 | Clarification | Updated section describing (1) how to add an authorised person and (2) conflict of interest. |
| How we settle your claim | Covered | Covered | 31 - 33 | Clarification | Updated section providing clarity on how we settle claims. |
| Covered | Covered | 32 | Clarification | Clarity on which Extra Covers are paid in addition to or within policy limits. | |
| Matching materials | Covered | Covered | 33 - 34 | Clarification | An expanded section noting examples of when we will pay extra to create a uniform appearance for undamaged areas of the buildings or contents. |
| Excess | Covered | Covered | 34 - 35 | Clarification | Clarification of how and when an excess applies. |
| Unoccupied excess | Covered | Covered | 35 | Benefit | Where the premises are unoccupied for more than 60 days, an additional excess will be applied. This additional excess replaces the current exclusion for unoccupied premises. |
| Actions of others | Covered | Covered | 35 | Benefit | New section describing circumstances where cover may not be limited by the actions of other people. |