Tenants need to know about insurance

The Residential Tenancies Amendment Bill (No. 2), which makes tenants partially responsible for damage they cause to their rental property, received Royal Assent last week.

That means it is now law and REINZ is warning that means landlords and property managers have less than three weeks to communicate insurance details to new tenants to be compliant with the new legislation.

Under the changes, if a tenant causes intentional damage to a property they are now responsible for paying either four weeks rent or the landlord’s insurance excess (whichever is less) to cover the damage.

But for tenants to understand how much they would need to pay if they do damage, landlords have to provide their insurance information, including the excess details, to new tenants from 27 August 2019.