House Insurance Policy Details

Your cover options

• Area Replacement
  Where your house is damaged by a covered event, we'll pay the reasonable costs to repair or rebuild the damaged parts of the house to a condition substantially the same as it was in when it was new. If your property is a total loss, we'll pay the reasonable costs to rebuild your house to the same floor area recorded in the policy schedule.
• Agreed Value
  You will have the same rights as under our Area Replacement cover, except that our liability will be limited to no more than the sum insured recorded in the policy schedule. In limited circumstances we may require your house to be insured on this basis (for example, if it is a very expensive property or if it has unique features that are hard to value).

House Insurance policy cover at a glance

Important cover sub-limits

Automatic additional benefits

• Accidental death
  If you are injured, and, as a consequence, die as the result of a sudden accidental event caused by your household contents at the property’s address covered by this policy, we will pay $20,000 to your estate.

• Alternative accommodation
  If your main residence is uninhabitable, we will pay up to $50,000 for the additional and reasonable costs for alternative accommodation while the property is being assessed and/or repaired. A $50,000 sub-limit applies.

• Emergency entry
  If emergency services cause damage to your property on entry, we'll cover it up to $10,000. A $10,000 sub-limit applies.

• Emergency evacuation
  We'll allow you to claim under the Alternative accommodation benefit when you are denied access to your house due to safety concerns or an emergency. A $50,000 sub-limit applies.

• Glass breakage
  Claims solely for accidental breakage of glass in windows, doors or screens of your house will not have an excess applied and your No Claims Bonus will not be affected.

• Hidden gradual loss
  In certain circumstances we'll provide up to $5,000 for hidden rot, hidden mildew or hidden gradual deterioration caused by water leaking from an internal source. A $5,000 sub-limit applies.

• Intentional fire or explosion by guests
  We'll provide cover for damage caused by a fire or explosion intentionally caused by any tenant, guest of a tenant or your guest. Sub-limit as per policy limits.

• Landscaping
  If we've accepted a claim, you'll also be entitled for up to $5,000 to replant or repair damaged lawns, flowers, trees, hedges or shrubs or to pay for other reasonable landscaping costs. A $5,000 sub-limit applies.

• Locks and keys
  We will cover the reasonable cost of replacing locks and keys (including electronic access cards and transponders and remote door openers) if they have been lost, damaged, stolen or duplicated. No excess needs to be paid for your first claim under this benefit. That first claim will not affect your No Claims Bonus. The most we will pay for any one event is $2,000.

• Natural hazard damage
  Your premium includes a levy which is paid to the Natural Hazards Commission under NHCover. NHCover provides cover for damage after a natural hazard, up to limits set by them, We provide natural hazards cover for your property not covered by NHCover and for damage in excess of NHCover limits.

• New building work
  If you're building a new structure we'll provide up to $20,000 to cover the new structure being built and any building materials that will be incorporated. A $20,000 sub-limit applies.

• Protection costs
  We'll pay up to $10,000 for reasonable costs incurred to protect a Member's property from loss, or following a loss, to minimise damage and prevent further loss. We will also pay the reasonable costs incurred to replenish your fire fighting equipment after it has been used to protect your house. A $10,000 sub-limit applies.

• Tree removal
  If we've accepted a claim, you'll also be entitled for up to $2,000 for the reasonable costs incurred for the removal of a fallen or partially fallen tree on your property. A $2,000 sub-limit applies.

• You choose your repairer
  You can select your own repairer.  If you select a repairer that we approve, we will guarantee the quality of their repairs completed under the claim. Sub-limit as per policy limits.

Measuring your home

For all house policies, it’s important that you provide us with an accurate measurement of the total floor area of your house. Check out our House Insurance Application Guide and the Area Replacement Fact Sheet to help you get this right. They also highlight other features you may need to tell us about.

Calculating your premiums

Government levies

About a third of the cost of your premium is made up of GST and levies we collect on behalf of government agencies. 

We collect a levy for the Earthquake Commission (EQC), which helps EQC fund the costs of recovering from major natural disasters. This levy was increased in July 2019, to cover increases in the amount of cover EQC provides for houses. 

We also collect a levy on behalf of Fire and Emergency New Zealand, which funds the costs of emergency services. 

Reinsurance costs

Just as you buy insurance from us, we buy our own insurance from global companies known as reinsurers. This helps us ensure we have enough funding to cover the costs of major disasters, while still being able to pay out on everyday claims. 

Traditionally, we've spread the cost of this reinsurance equally across all the house insurance policies we hold. In effect, the premiums paid by those in less risky parts of the country have subsidised the premiums for those in riskier areas. Natural disasters in the past ten years have seen the cost of this reinsurance go up and we need a fairer way to distribute these costs to our Members. 

After the Canterbury and Kaikōura earthquakes, insurers have more detailed and reliable data about seismic risk in New Zealand than ever before, and we can now differentiate between regions more fairly when it comes to setting insurance premiums. This pricing method is often referred to as "risk-based pricing".

In essence, risk-based pricing simply means we take greater account of the particular risks faced by houses in different regions around the country when it comes to setting premiums. 

It's the same principle we use when we set premiums for other forms of insurance. When you insure your car, for example, you'll pay more if it's an older car, or if it includes performance features.