House Insurance

When buying your new house in Australia you will need house insurance.  Unlike in the UK, over here you need to have arranged insurance for your new house and contents BEFORE you move in!!!!  As soon as you sign on the dotted line on the contract you are in effect resonsible for the house and its contents.  It may be a month or two before the inspections are done and your mortgage is all arranged and finalised, but you still need your house insurance.

Please be careful with this, as the estate agents did not freely give us this information.  We found out this unusual case when we went to sign for the mortgage to be arrange and we were asked who we had arranged house insurance through.  Don't panic though, most banks will be able to sort out house insurance for you there and then.  Although it may not turn out to be the cheapest.  One welcome thing about the insurance companies was that they offered the insurance free during the house approval period and we only started actually paying for house insurance once we had moved in

Here are a few links to House Insurance companies around Australia

Now, we all know how much of a bunch of blood suckers insurance companies are in the UK and how they look for any possible way of not paying out when problems arise and how you have to prove everything to get your reductions on the premiums.  Here in Australia they are not so protective and seem far more trustworthy.  For example, if you have a security alarm installed in your house by a qualified installer, they simply take your word for it that it was installed correctly and give you the necessary reduction of your premiums.