Insurance Question about Terri Scheer - from a novice.

When looking at landlord insurance it is worth looking at who the major players in insurance are, the 3 major covers are offered by -
Terri Scheer ( owned and underwritten by Vero Insurance who are in turn owned by Suncorp Insurance), Terri Scheer was and is an insurance broker but the business was sold to Vero;
EMB (who are an insurance broker whose cover is underwritten by QBE), EBM are specialist insurance brokers ;and
Aon ( is an insurance broker whose cover is underwritten by CGU), Aon are specialist insurance brokers,
of the 3 it would seem that Terri Scheer is the most used, that is not to say the others do not offer comparable covers.

There is sometimes some confusion here as the underwriters, the insurance company, also offer their own separate cover.

You have mentioned TICA, they are not a specialist insurance broker, they are a defaulting tenancy data base who are paid a commission to offer a rebadged product as an add on, that means that they use their client base to market to, you can buy this cover direct from St George Underwriting who is the specialist broker/ underwriting agency.

The other landlord protection cover, which is quite unique in the market place, is offered by a company called Barclay MIS Protect and Collect, a company I am involved with, this is in essence a prepaid Prevention Plan that includes debt recovery.

The landlord pays an annual subscription of $55 per property in the event that a tenant owes a landlord money for rent or damages. Your property manager then obtains a tribunal order and Barclay will then look to recover the money from the tenant on your behalf, in the process the landlord pays no commissions, no percentages or legal fees all you pay is your annual tax deductible subscription of $55.

However the initial focus of Barclay is to work to prevent the problem from occurring in the fist place as we think it makes more sense to stop the problem from occurring, as compared to having a debt then having to process a claim.

Barclay, as part of the $55 cover, also have available a complete eviction service for the landlord, where should the tenant need to be evicted Barclay control the whole process from execution of the warrant to packing, storage and disposal of tenants goods.

Regards
David Banks
CEO Barclay MIS Protect and Collect
 
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David, do you include all the same services as the other LL insurance's, what do you offer that the other LL insurances dont and how exactly do you 'prevent the problem from occurring'?

On a side note one of my PM's sent me notice about your services. It said I was already on your insurance books, something I never signed up or commissioned your services for, and if I didnt post back a slip to tell you I didnt want your services then you would start charging me. wtf?

I find this very arogant and I for one will not be entertaining any thoughts of utilising your services (no matter how good or bad it may be) simply because of your bull dose it through take it for granted actions. :mad:

I see from your post count you have just joined SS and from my observations (your posts recorded) it appears only joined to peddle your business marketing ventures.
 
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Rick, your comments are noted.

What happened in fact was that your agent considered that the cover offered was of value and as such they gave you the cover for 6 months, at no cost to you, all they asked was that if you did not want to continue on with the cover, after the FREE period that they gave you, could you simply please return the non renewal slip in the post paid envelope so that they had a record for your file of your decision. That form merely informed your agent that while you were happy to have the agents subsidised cover you do not want to continue on with the cover after the FREE period. Hardly a request that you would expect any reasonable person would react to as you have.

In relation to "peddling our services" I joined this and other forums to read the comments that are posted, we do not need and do not seek to use this or any other forum for "peddling our services".

In dealing with property management on a national basis we see and are involved in a whole range issues and as such have a broad experience base to draw on when making comments rather than making emotive based comments.

{edit}

As was mentioned in my last post and in all the information sent to you by your agent this is NOT an insurance product.

{edit}

Regards
David Banks
CEO Barclay MIS protect and Collect
 
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What happened in fact was that your agent considered that the cover offered was of value and as such they gave you the cover for 6 months, at no cost to you, all they asked was that if you did not want to continue on with the cover, after the FREE period that they gave you, could you simply please return the non renewal slip in the post paid envelope so that they had a record for your file of your decision. That form merely informed your agent that while you were happy to have the agents subsidised cover you do not want to continue on with the cover after the FREE period. Hardly a request that you would expect any reasonable person would react to as you have.

As far as it being unreasonable well thats simply a matter of opinion. What I find unreasonable is how you can make that assumption for others on their behalf. Only the landlord can answer that one.

However, this is the part where its not gelling for me in relation to the information received via post and what you're stating here now..

So to clarify things, are you saying it's my PM who's paid you for your services to cover me for 6 months? And the slip is to inform my PM, and placed on my IP management file located at their office, stating that I did not want to continue your services when renewal time came round?

A simple yes or no will suffice in reply.
 
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Hi Rick
Yes

Hi David,

Thanks for your clarification on this matter.

The main issues I have with it is as follows...

You state the form is to notify my PM NOT to renew the cover and go on my Management File at their office here in Perth. Why then is the slip & envelope addressed to you in Wynnum Qld?

I think you may also find that what you are doing in relation to automatically charging a renewal to someone for a product/service that they have not/never requested, is in fact illegal and in breach of the trade practices act. Have you researched into this?

I will be strongly advising my PM to seek legal opinion also before automatically debiting anyone else's account.

Lastly the question needs to be asked of my PM, why are they divulging my confidential business affairs without my authorisation, for you to record and initiate policy coverage on me?

I look forward to your response.
 
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Hi Rick
I will address for you now the comment re your " confidential information", non of your information is passed onto us, all communications to landlords are forwarded from the agent we have no contact details at all.
Please feel free to call me or send me your contact details and I will call you so we can hopefully resolve your concerns rather than this back and forth.
Regards
David Banks
 
David, I'm sure everyone else here would like to hear your responses to the issues raised.

A lot of Somersoft members here will be in same position as myself, totally unaware of being on your database without commissioning any of your company's services.
 
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Back on topic, to the OP, did you read the Terri Scheer PDS? When I considered them a few months ago they only covered $500 for malicious damage minus your excess of $500, which equates to ZERO cover!
 
I had AAMi and never again.

Moved to Terri Scheer. From what I checked it seemed the best. I think they have 52 weeks cover for all.

We went landlord and contents with them and yes it cost a lot more but in the end we reckoned to have with one insurer means there is no issue with what is what, as in the end it is all the same money pit.

After being screwed by AAMI three times over 10 years we are glad to pay twice for the peace of mind. The time I lost arguing with them their own rules cost me so much more.

FYI and sorry if this is old as i didn't get to read the whole thread, Peter
 
I had AAMi and never again.

Moved to Terri Scheer. From what I checked it seemed the best. I think they have 52 weeks cover for all.

Note that Terri Scheer is a competitor of ours so take this as you wish, and by all means I would encourage you to check for yourself, but I wouldn't like you to have a misunderstanding in case of a claim.

This statement is certainly not correct. Like any landlord policy that I am aware of there are limits on what is paid depending on circumstances. Something like fire or storm (defined risks) may pay up to 52 weeks but any otehr circumstances are far less. On the Terri Scheer policy for example there are limits for absconding tenants of 6 weeks, eviction by court order of 15 weeks, death of a tenant 15 weeks and hardship 4 weeks. There are other limits as well.

It also depends on whether it is a self managed property or through an agent as they have different policies for each, from what I understand there is less cover on some things under the self-managed policy.

By no means am I suggesting the Terri Scheer policy is no good, it is certainly better in my opinion than some others on the market, but I wouldn't like you to have the wrong impression about the cover in case of a claim.

Importantly, whichever policy you are looking at read the Product Disclosure Statement and be comfortable that it suits your personal circumstances.
 
Importantly, whichever policy you are looking at read the Product Disclosure Statement and be comfortable that it suits your personal circumstances.

Dear Brett

Great, to see an actual insurer online.

Can you advise on this please :

Do you cover cleaning in the following event. Tenant evicted, on inspection they have left garbage, dirty sink, dishwasher, broken furniture, piles on junk in the back yard and marks on the walls.

Does EBM or Terri Scheer cover that. AAMI does not.

Regards Peter
 
Dear Brett

Great, to see an actual insurer online.

Can you advise on this please :

Do you cover cleaning in the following event. Tenant evicted, on inspection they have left garbage, dirty sink, dishwasher, broken furniture, piles on junk in the back yard and marks on the walls.

Does EBM or Terri Scheer cover that. AAMI does not.

Regards Peter

Hi Peter

Not wishing to be evasive but this situation is not easy to give a definitive answer on but I will try as best I can.

What you’ve noted may simply be classed as “cleanup” and there are pretty much no policies that are designed to cover this, but I will come back to that in a moment.

What you would firstly do, certainly with EBM RentCover and I would presume with Terri Scheer, is use your bond to do the cleanup and minor repairs. If there has been rent loss which is often the case in these situations you would not “use” your bond for that, rather you would claim it against the policy (freeing up your bond for the cleanup/damage).

This is the best way as with EBM RentCover there is no excess on loss of rent claims, the same goes for the Terri Scheer policy (for managed properties at least) except in Queensland where I believe they have a $180 excess.

Now to the cleanup/damage.

If it’s not possible to cover the cleanup/damage through the bond we (EBM) would look to see whether any of it could be classified as “Accidental Damage”, I would presume Terri Scheer would do the same as both these policies cover Accidental Damage (as opposed to Malicious Damage which is covered by most policies, and Deliberate Damage which is covered by some). I note that the AAMI policy covers accidental damage in relation to breakage of glass etc. but this is not what I’m referring to.

Accidental Damage under EBM RentCover can be far more extensive, it can include children scribbling on walls, oil stains on carpet, or even red wine stains from a party. It can get down to identifying the damage being caused by an “event” rather than just a build up from poor living habits. This may not be a perfect scenario but a line has to be drawn somewhere if premiums are to be kept at affordable levels, and the hope is that regular inspections will keep the “cleanup” down to bond levels.

The point being here is that I believe that both the EBM RentCover and Terri Scheer policies could at least consider the possibility of covering at least some of these costs (under Accidental Damage), whereas policies without this inclusion would presumably not even look at it as it is not Malicious Damage. Unfortunately quite a lot of the "off the shelf" policies with major insurers are quite limited when you really get down to what is covered.

That said, every claim has to be treated on it’s merits as they all vary, so that’s about as close as I can get to a definitive answer as I wouldn’t like to make promises that simply may not eventuate.
 
Thanks for your detailed reply Brett.

I can say from experience AAMI is no where near as generous in the assessment of damage and does not let you use the bond for cleaning but for rent loss.

FYI I looked at EBM and Scheer but due to time constraints went with Terri Scheer.

Thanks again, Peter
 
Thanks for your detailed reply Brett.

I can say from experience AAMI is no where near as generous in the assessment of damage and does not let you use the bond for cleaning but for rent loss.

Thanks again, Peter

No problem at all.

And yes, the way claims are settled makes a huge difference. Just for your info, one difference we have to possibly anyone else is that we have claim settling authority on behalf of the insurer. We still have to settle claims as per the policy of course but it makes it quite differnt from having your claim settled directly from the insurer, and can make a big difference on how long they take to settle (much quicker).

Unfortunately most people don't realise a lot of the differences until they go to make a claim, and find out the hard way. I've been saying for probably 20 years.... "Not all insurances policies are the same". And with landlord insurance, the statement is probably truer than with most other types.
 
Does EBM differentiate between privately managed and agent managed properties with your level of cover and/or excesses? As I pointed out earlier that is why I avoided Terri Scheer. I went with AAMI a couple of months ago for my first property, based on price (around $300 cheaper than everyone else) but after reading comments here may consider switching. The three grand I save over ten years could easily be lost in one claim if the insurer does not come to the party.
 
Does EBM differentiate between privately managed and agent managed properties with your level of cover and/or excesses? As I pointed out earlier that is why I avoided Terri Scheer. I went with AAMI a couple of months ago for my first property, based on price (around $300 cheaper than everyone else) but after reading comments here may consider switching. The three grand I save over ten years could easily be lost in one claim if the insurer does not come to the party.

No there is no difference in cover or excesses between agent managed or self managed properties, the policies can be used by either. As far as premiums go you only ever want to pay a fair price, believe me I feel the same way about insurance, but any savings need to be balanced against what may well be increased risk.
 
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