The updated GIO Landlord Insurance PDS
At GIO, we always seek new ways to improve for our customers. That’s why we’ve updated the GIO Landlord Insurance Product Disclosure Statement (PDS) to incorporate more plain English principles (like more descriptive headings).
We’ve also adjusted the policy’s coverage. This involved changing or adding covers, limits, conditions and exclusions. We have listed some of these changes below. Know these changes relate to policies starting or renewing on or after 24 May 2025.
The information listed below is simply a summary and not an exhaustive list of all changes. So, we strongly encourage you to read the PDS in full to understand your cover.
A PDS is an important legal document that covers the details of the cover you’ve purchased. As it’s a legal document, it’s important you read it carefully.
GIO is committed to ensuring its products are not used for any form of financial abuse. You’ll see we have made clear our position that the use of our products for financial abuse is unacceptable.
We know sometimes your circumstances might mean you need additional support or assistance in dealing with us. If you’re comfortable, you can tell us about your situation, and we’ll work with you to arrange support.
This section has changed. We’ll let you know when and how you need to pay your excess. Rest assured knowing we’ll always communicate when you need to pay any excess(es) to us. Alternatively, we’ll deduct the amount of any excess(es) from any cash payment we make.
There is no longer any scenario in which we’ll waive your excess.
There are a few changes to this section of the PDS. Previously, we didn’t cover any building or part of a building which is legally part of a strata title building according to the applicable strata laws in your state or territory.
Now, we don’t cover any building (or part of a building) that’s covered under an insurance policy taken out by any owners corporation or similar body and/or is required to be insured by any owners corporation or similar body under the strata or community title laws applicable to that state or territory. Strata Insurance may offer this kind of coverage.
To see what else has changed regarding what we do and don’t cover as the property, go to the ‘What and where we cover – the basics’ section starting on page 19 of the PDS.
We’ve updated the coverage for when your landlord contents are insured in a unit. Previously, landlord contents also included the fittings in a unit if the fittings were not legally part of the building according to the relevant state law, regardless of whether they were insured through an owners corporation or similar body.
In the new PDS , when your landlord contents are insured in a unit, contents items include those permanently attached to the unit that you own or are responsible for and your tenants use primarily for domestic purposes, like an air conditioner. That is unless the item(s) is covered under an insurance policy taken out by any owners corporation or similar body and/or is required to be insured by any owners corporation or similar body under the strata or community title laws applicable to that state or territory.
This doesn’t include cover for items that are common property. Common property is any land or building (or any part of the building) at the insured address that is on a strata or community title which is required to be insured by the owners corporations or similar body under the relevant strata laws and/or is insured under an insurance policy taken out by them.
For example, if you have a bathtub which is permanently attached within your unit and the body corporate insures that item under the policy they have taken out, it will not be covered for loss or damage under this policy.
Make sure your landlord contents sum insured meets your needs by checking with your body corporate, owners corporation, or similar body to what is and isn’t covered by the policy taken out by them.
Please see further changes in the ‘What and where we cover – the basics’ section starting on page 19 of the PDS.
Please make sure you read the ‘General exclusions’ section of your PDS. General exclusions also apply to legal liability, but this isn’t always the case. Your PDS will outline when a general exclusion also applies to legal liability.
We want to be perfectly clear about things we don’t cover for loss or damage under your policy. There are some new and updated exclusions in the ‘General exclusions’ section, such as:
- building works (this used to be called building extensions, alterations or renovations)
- hacking, cyber-attack, or cyber incident (this used to be called computer virus or computer hacking), and
- rust or corrosion (this used to be part of wear, tear and deterioration exclusion).
There are also new Legal Liability exclusions:
We don’t cover legal liability due to silica in any form. Please read the exclusion in full for more detail on page 35.
We don’t cover legal liability for or caused by, connected with, or arising from any battery driven or electric scooters, skateboards, e-bicycles, unicycles, hoverboards, one-wheels, or segways.
There are many changes to the Escape of liquid clause, and we strongly encourage you to read this section of your PDS in full.
The changes include providing cover for sudden and unexpected loss or damage to the property caused by liquid escaping from a number of listed items.
We also now provide cover for loss or damage, caused by liquid escaping from the items listed in the PDS, that has occurred gradually when the loss or damage, that was occurring, wasn’t easily visible to a reasonable person in the circumstances.
There are also updates to things we don’t cover under Escape of liquid too. Please read the new PDS to see all these changes, starting on page 45.
There are some changes to when and under what circumstances you’re covered for loss or damage caused by impact (or by power surge caused by impact).
You’re still covered for loss or damage caused by impact from a falling tree or part of a falling tree including the roots. But when the tree, a part of it, or its roots are being carried in or by water or water is causing them to move, you aren’t covered.
For example, impact isn’t covered if a fallen tree damages your jetty while being carried in a river.
We also won’t cover loss or damage to the property or landlord contents caused by impact from any watercraft, aircraft, motor vehicles, or trailers that are stationary.
Please read the new PDS to see specifically what has changed.
There are changes to limits for some additional covers such as 'Loss of Rent – Tenant Default’. Please see all ‘Additional covers that come with your policy’ starting on page 50 for more information.
In our previous PDS, we had ‘Other repair/rebuilding costs’ and ‘Removal of debris’ as separate covers. We’ve combined them into one additional cover. Now on eligible claims, the most we’ll pay for any one incident if you have building cover is up to 15% of the property sum insured.
When you have landlord contents cover, the most we’ll pay for any one incident is up to 10% of the landlord contents sum insured for the reasonable and necessary costs to dispose of damaged landlord contents.
When you have building cover, the combined additional cover ‘Emergency repairs and other repair/rebuilding costs’ provides cover for make safe, and other repair/rebuilding costs (like architects’ fees and removal of debris).
Read the PDS for more details on this cover.
Some terms and words in the policy have a special meaning (definition) which applies to them.
It’s important to read this section of the PDS because it gives the meaning which applies to those terms and words, which can impact how your policy is interpreted.
There are new definitions in your PDS, including changes to existing ones such as:
We’ve updated this to mean any land or building (or any part of the building) at the insured address that is on a strata or community title at the insured address which is required to be insured by the owners corporation or similar body under the relevant strata laws and/or is insured under an insurance policy taken out by the owners corporation or similar body. For example, common property in a multi-dwelling development.
This refers to the timeframe from when the construction of a new building at the insured address begins until the time the building is ready to be moved into, electricity and water services are connected and there is no outstanding work or the only remaining work to be done is installation of floor coverings, internal painting or installation of light fittings.
This means physical damage, unless stated otherwise in your policy.
This term means a standalone wall that isn’t connected at either end to a building or other structure, and not restrained along the top, like a brick fence.
