Maybe you’ve decided to take a job in another city for a year and are planning on leasing your house while you’re gone. Or perhaps you’ve just bought an investment property and listed it with a local real estate agent to find a tenant. You might even be thinking about renting out the granny flat in your garden to help cover your mortgage.
Whatever you’ve planned, if tenants are involved, there’s a chance you might also be starting to wonder about insurance and making sure you have the right cover.
For example, will your existing home insurance policy be enough to cover the change in circumstances if tenants are moving into a property you own and have been living in up until now? Does an investment property in an apartment building need a dedicated insurance for landlords policy? What about if you’ve decided to Airbnb your place – or that granny flat – occasionally? And what’s the difference between home insurance and landlord insurance anyway?
To help you work out what type of insurance you might need, for whatever type of rental property you have, we’ve put together this handy guide.
Landlord insurance vs home insurance – what’s the difference?
The short answer is that landlord insurance is essentially an adapted form of home insurance.1 Youi’s Home insurance, for example, offers cover for either owner-occupiers or landlords, with some benefits tailored for the specific needs of each. But, for starters, it can help to understand what home insurance is in a broader context.
What is home insurance?
Home insurance is designed to cover you financially if an insured event, such as a storm, burglary, kitchen fire or bushfire, causes loss or damage to your home.2 It generally includes these types of cover:2
- Building insurance – covers the building itself
- Contents insurance – covers your personal belongings
- Building and contents insurance covers both the building and your personal belongings.2
“Depending on the insurer, in Australia the term home insurance can encompass different types of policies and cover options.” says Mervyn Hartley, Youi’s Head of Product – Home and Small Business.
“At Youi, home insurance includes building and contents policy options, which you can either take out separately or together. There are options for Owner-occupiers, Landlords and Tenants.”
What is insurance for landlords?
Insurance for landlords typically includes cover for most of the events generally covered by a traditional home insurance policy – but it also has some additional features that are applicable to landlords.1
Depending on the policy, these may include cover for loss of rent if an insured event leaves the property uninhabitable, or if a tenant defaults on their rent or intentionally damages the insured property.1
Just like general home insurance, insurance for landlords can cover the property’s building, your contents at the premises or both, depending on the cover you require or decide to take out.1
Do I need insurance for landlords or owner-occupier insurance for home owners?
If you’re renting out an investment property that you’ve bought but never lived in, the answer is pretty clear cut. Because this is considered to be income-producing activity, it’s not usually covered by a typical home insurance policy.3
In this case, you’ll probably need insurance for landlords instead.3
But what about some other common scenarios? For example, if you…
- Turn your home into a rental property: If you start renting out a home you own but have moved out of, this is also classified as an income-producing activity and so isn’t usually covered by a standard home insurance policy.3
- Start renting out a granny flat: Even though you’re renting out a part of your home or property, you may still need dedicated insurance for landlords.3
- List your place on a short-stay holiday rental site: Even if you only move out to let holiday-makers stay for a few weeks, months or a year, as soon as you add tenants to the mix, it becomes an income-producing situation.4 As well as investigating what’s included in the rental platform’s insurance, it’s worth checking with your insurer to see if you’re covered by your existing home insurance policy, or whether you’d need to organise landlord insurance for holiday rentals.4
Do I need landlord insurance and home insurance?
No. Because insurance for landlords is basically home insurance with a few added extras, if you’re renting out a property that you own, you don’t need both landlord insurance and home insurance at the same time.2
How does landlord insurance work at Youi?
“At Youi, you can choose to insure a property that you own and are renting out to a tenant with either building insurance, contents insurance, or both, depending on the level of cover you need,” says Hartley.
“You’ll still be covered for events such as storm, fire and theft, but by specifying ‘landlord’ as the occupancy type on the policy, extra types of cover are automatically included as standard.”5,6
These provide cover for:
- Landlord’s loss of rent. Your rental income will be covered for up to 12 months if your property is not fit to be occupied after an insured event and where a claim has been accepted.7 This applies if you have building insurance for landlords. If your property is part of a strata title and a body corporate is insuring the building, then it comes with your contents insurance for landlords.7
- Landlord’s furnishings. Youi’s building insurance for landlords also provides up to $10,000 cover for carpets, furniture, whitegoods and other furnishings that you’ve provided in the property for your tenants.7
“Regardless of the type of landlord insurance you have with Youi, there’s also an optional cover that you can add for an additional cost,” says Hartley.8
It’s called Lessee/Tenant Default and Damage and provides cover for:8
- Rental arrears – loss of rental income is covered if your tenant defaults on their payments or vacates the property without giving notice.
- Theft or damage – theft or intentional damage to the property that’s committed by your tenant is covered.8
What’s the difference between home insurance and landlord insurance at Youi?
You can use the table below for a quick comparison to understand more about what the different policy types do and don’t include at Youi.
| Youi’s owner-occupier building and contents insurance | Youi’s landlord building insurance | Youi’s landlord contents insurance | |
| Theft5 | Covered | Covered (except when by a tenant or their guests, which can be covered under optional Tenant Defaults and Damage) | Covered (except when by a tenant or their guests, which can be covered under optional Tenant Defaults and Damage) |
| Fire6 | Covered | Covered | Covered |
| Storm6 | Covered | Covered | Covered |
| Flood6 | Covered | Covered | Covered |
| Escaping water9 | Covered | Covered | Covered |
| Intentional damage5 | Covered | Covered (except when by a tenant or their guests, which can be covered under optional Tenant Defaults and Damage) | Covered (except when by a tenant or their guests, which can be covered under optional Tenant Defaults and Damage) |
| Temporary accommodation10 | Covered | Not applicable | Not applicable |
| Landlord’s loss of rent7 | Not applicable | Covered | Covered |
| Landlord’s furnishings7 | Not applicable | Covered (up to $10,000) | Not applicable* |
| Lessee/Tenant Default and Damage8 | Not applicable | Optional | Optional |
*If you have a Youi policy for both buildings and contents at the premises, the Landlord’s Furnishings extra cover that is part of the buildings cover is not applicable because the same items, and more, are insured under the contents cover.7
Do I need landlord insurance for both building and contents?
It depends. If the property you’re renting out as a landlord is unfurnished or minimally furnished, then building insurance cover may be sufficient1 – bearing in mind that at Youi, building insurance for landlords does provide some cover for landlord’s furnishings, including rugs, furniture and appliances such as washing machines.7
However, if the property you’re renting out to tenants is fully furnished and you need a higher level of cover than what the Landlord’s Furnishings extra cover affords, you might want to think about taking out contents insurance for landlords as well.1
What can impact your landlord insurance policy?
Whenever you take out any type of insurance, you have certain responsibilities to meet in order to maintain the policy’s cover.11
If you have insurance for landlords with Youi, these responsibilities can depend on how long the tenancy agreement is for.12
For agreements that are three months or longer, you – or the real estate agent you’ve hired to look after your rental property – are required to do a few things, such as:
- Collect a bond –12 In most states and territories, this typically can’t be more than four weeks’ rent, and it must be registered with the relevant authority, either by you or your tenant:13
- Complete regular inspections – Internal and external inspections of the rental property are required at least once every six months during the lease period, or as permitted by law.12
- Monitor your rental payments – You must do this in line with the payment frequency and, whenever rent is 14 days in arrears, you need to send written notification to your tenant and carry out a visit to determine the property’s occupancy.12
Can you switch from owner-occupier home owner insurance to insurance for landlords?
“Typically, yes. If you’re a home owner and you have home insurance with Youi, switching to landlord insurance is simple. Just give us a call and we can look at updating your policy’s occupancy cover type to ‘landlord’ if you decide to rent the property to a tenant,” says Hartley.
“It’s important to notify us as soon as you start renting out all or part of your property, as failing to do so could affect your cover.”
FAQs about insurance for landlords
Now that you know the basics of landlord insurance vs home insurance, you might have some specific follow-up questions about insurance for landlords . Here are the answers to a few common questions we get asked.
Is insurance for landlords mandatory?
No. Unlike owning a car where having Compulsory Third Party (CTP) insurance is legally required in order to register a vehicle,14 taking out landlord insurance – or home insurance for that matter – on a property you own isn’t mandatory.15
However, if you have a loan on the property you’re renting out, your lender may require you to take out landlord insurance as a condition of the mortgage.15
But, regardless of whether or not you’re required to take out insurance, landlord insurance can cover the cost of repairing or rebuilding your rental property if something goes wrong.1
Do I need landlord insurance if I own a strata title property?
It depends what type of landlord insurance you’re talking about – and what the property’s strata insurance covers, the cost of which is usually included in your building levies.16
The body corporate may be responsible for insuring the building your apartment or townhouse is part of, but not offer particular landlord protections such as loss of rent, so you might want to check before taking out building insurance for landlords.16,17
Also, household items and furnishings aren’t covered by strata buildings insurance,17 neither are certain fixtures and fittings.17 So, if you’re letting your strata title to a tenant, then yes, you might want to consider taking out a policy for contents-only insurance for landlords.1
Does a bond do the same job as landlord insurance?
No. A bond is the security payment your tenants pay at the start of a tenancy.18
You can only claim it at the end of the tenancy to cover the cost of any repairs or cleaning that’s necessary because of how your tenants have used the property.3 In other words, you can’t claim it to cover loss or damage due to other events landlord insurance might cover, such as a storm, a flood or another type of natural disaster.3
Whether you’re preparing to welcome your very first tenants or you’ve been a landlord for a while, this guide has hopefully explained the differences between landlord insurance vs home insurance – and why you might need to consider insurance for landlords whenever you’re collecting rental income on a property that you own.
And, if you’d like to learn more about the landlord cover offered by Youi’s building and contents policies, consider starting a quote with us online or by giving us a call on 13 9684.
Home Insurance issued by Youi Pty Ltd. Consider the Home PDS and TMD to decide if this product is right for you.
1 Source: Canstar – What is landlord insurance and what does it cover?, January 2024
2 Source: Canstar – What is home insurance and what does it cover?, April 2025
3 Source: TASALERT – Fact Sheet 10: Landlord insurance, n.d.
4 Source: CHOICE – How to make sure your home is still insured while you’re on holiday, March 2026
5 Limitations and exclusions may apply. See the PDS for full details.
6 Exclusions and limits may apply. Where you have increased your cover or reduced your excess within 72 hours of a flood, storm, hail or bushfire occurring, cover will be limited to the amount that was effective prior to the change. Loss, damage or legal liability caused by, resulting or arising from flood, storm, hail or bushfire during the first 72 hours of your policy first being purchased is excluded unless certain conditions apply. For full details see the PDS, TMD and your policy schedule.
7 Limits, exclusions and terms and conditions apply. See the PDS for full details.
8 Limitations and exclusions apply and there are waiting periods or additional fees for certain types of cover. Full details are in the PDS and TMD, which we recommend you consider before making any decisions regarding our products.
9 Cover available for loss or damage to the insured property caused by escaping water that occurred suddenly and without warning, or slowly over a period of time and you could not reasonably have been aware of it. Exclusions apply. See the PDS for full details.
10 For owner occupied homes, we will pay the actual cost you incur for temporary accommodation for up to 12 months if you cannot live at the premises after an insured event. The most we will pay for each claim is 10% of the buildings sum insured. Limits and exclusions apply. See the PDS for full details.
11 Source: Financial Rights Legal Centre – Understanding your Insurance Policy, January 2023
12 Exclusions, limits and additional fees may apply. For full details, see the PDS.
13 Source: Tenancy Skills Institute – Unsure about the amount of Bond you need to pay for your residential rental property?, August 2025
14 Source: Moneysmart – Choosing car insurance, n.d.
15 Source: Canstar – Do I need home insurance before settlement?, June 2025
16 Source: Insurance Council of Australia – Improving outcomes for strata residents, November 2024
17 Source: Moneysmart – Choosing home insurance, n.d.
18 Source: Tenants’ Union of New South Wales – Bond, February 2026
