We are seeing more residential landlord claims where damage has occurred over a number of separate incidents, rather than one clear event. In some malicious damage claims, there can be more than 10 events being claimed. That matters because each event may attract a separate excess.
This can come as a surprise to landlords who assume their policy will simply respond to the total damage at the end of a tenancy. In practice, landlord cover usually comes with responsibilities around tenant selection, inspections and record keeping.
Using the AMP Home Plan wording as an example, landlords or managing agents must select tenants with care, obtain satisfactory written references for each adult tenant before they move in, keep records of checks and references, inspect the property whenever the tenant changes, and inspect inside and out at least every 6 months. The policy also requires photos and written records of the property condition to be kept.
Those records are not just paperwork. They help show what condition the property was in, when damage may have happened, whether the damage was a single event or multiple events, and whether policy responsibilities have been met.