CGU Landlord Insurance

Despite 52 photos showing every single room full of rubbish following an eviction - my claim has been rejected because it is an unmaintained property.

An unbelievable amount of stress at an already stressful time.

I have no choice but to pursue through to FOS.

Significant damage to rental property on flooring and bathroom plus water damage. Did not cover any loss and were really difficult to deal with. Road block everywhere. Paid insurance for years and 1st claim made. Thousands of dollars out of pocket with no assistance plus additional stress. Will never go with CGU again

Carpet cigarette burns classed as carelessness, no leaking pipes but water damage again carelessness. That kind of damage is deliberate. So much not covered, not worth their insurance. Ombudsmen next.

-Took more than a month to get assessment done
-Delayed assessment by requesting required reports one by another
-CGU made 4 different categories for one claim, charging for 4 different excess fees totalling $3400
-Put many damaged items into un-claimable categories to reduce payout
-House was left un-rentable condition & claim for rental loss was ignored

Never ever with CGU again anymore!

When you try to make a claim they make every excuse of why it will not be paid out. Would not discuss and the claim was just denied. 5 years of no claims and when it is time to make a claim they will not pay out. Would not recommend to anyone

CGU underwrites HBF landlord insurance.
Both HBF and CGU failed to give valid reasons for claim denial on damage caused by tenant except to say that they believe they are not liable, we then used their review process and again got no straight answers as to why the claim had been denied.

They took over a month to send an assessor to the property to look at it.

Basically really poor customer service and very poor review process.

We would never use either company again.

Mark Colecliffe

Made a claim and was very promptly dealt with and paid out, through my property manager. Not sure if having multiple policies with them made a difference but I would like to think not.

After 2+ years as policy holders, we are now in the unfortunate situation of needing to make a claim after some bad tenants ran out on our property, leaving us with rental arrears, a filthy place to clean up and damage...we call up CGU and who gets treated like the criminal in this situation? Us!
This company is going out of its way to make legitimate claims difficult and to get out of reimbursing you in every way possible. For example - the place left in the filthy state that it was - no one would want to rent it until it gets cleaned up. We were supposedly covered for "loss of rent" but CGU says this is only if the place is "uninhabitable" being defined as no power & water or toxic fumes. So the place could be covered in excrement & still not meet their definition!
Also all the damage - needs to be deemed as "malicious damage" - if they decide that it is not, then too bad - you're not covered for that either! oh and if they *do* decide it is malicious damage - you'll be slugged a hefty excess fee if you dare to proceed with the claim.
A note on the excesses - your claim will be treated as separate events, not a single claim - so you will be slugged with huge excess costs at every turn. For us, after paying $900/yr in premiums, the excesses could come up to a further $1800 - more than the bond on the property!
It seems to me that this company is not interested in providing a genuine insurance service - only collecting premiums and discouraging or fobbing off claims. The policy is not worth the paper its written on - you'd be better off saving the $$ spent on premiums in your own account.

Beware - CGU underwrite policies from other providers. If you see that CGU are affiliated in any way with your policy - ask for a refund and look elsewhere! We will never use this company again for any kind of insurance.

I went with CGU landlord insurance on my brokers advice... Our tenants damaged our kitchen cupboards, accidentally. CGU supposedly cover accidental tenant damage... Apparently NOT if they deem it carelessness!! I would imagine that ANY accident could easily be deemed careless and therefore CGU could use this "line" to evade EVER paying out the damage... $1500 later my repair is done AT MY EXPENSE. I will NEVER use or recommend CGU again for ANY type of insurance - not worth the paper the policy is written on. Our broker is also disgusted as they feel this as a simple claim. They (one of QLD's largest brokers) will also NEVER be recommending any CGU product in the future.

I have just transferred over 8 investment properties to another insurer due to the fact that we had 2 separate claims with CGU and they found an excuse not to pay out even 1 of those claims! People please be smart, the one time you need help is when making a claim and CGU were horrendous, they did everything to avoid paying any money and took 5 months with our investment property vacant to decide they weren't paying our claim out, we disputed, so they grudging threw us a couple of crumbs, then they didn't want to pay more than 40 days loss of rent and wanted a $900 excess for each bit of damage that the tenant did, this would have cost us more than $6,000 for malicious damage in Excesses. Worst insurer we have dealt with in 43 years of business. Help yourself and get the hell away from them, before you need to make a claim, we have made claims with another insurer in the past and it was so easy and they were extremely helpful, the total opposite of can't give u insurance!!!

Having Landlord insurance, I made a claim when the garage ceiling collapsed causing damage to the garage door. When lodging the claim, was instructed faulty workmanship was covered. Supplied all the relevant documentation and reports and property checklists however, kept getting emails from different employees asking for the same documentation. Clearly poor coordination and customer service so far. After receiving a request yet again for the same documentation I rang up and spoke to CGU directly. They then called back stating my claim isn't covered for faulty workmanship, contradicting what they advised when I lodged the claim. Having been with CGU for 13 years and not making a single claim, I feel duped. I would of been better off keeping the money I've paid to them to cover my repairs. I'd hate to see what would happen in a more serious situation.

It is obvious to me that CGU are tactically & strategically wilfully avoiding payments. Personnel whom receive case queries are genuinely helpful and concerned. Case managers are probably hired specifically for being inept and lazy. Follow up personnel are 'want to be defence lawyers', skilled in bringing ambiguity to the meaning of every word. The perfect structure to defer accountability, process, and specifically designed to be a one way funnel for your hard earned cash. You will get guaranteed results, but the result will be you can not get appropriate service or value for money. I'll add my negative comment to the LONG list already on this web site.

Insurance is mandatory by the Government, but a trustworthy insurance company apparently is not. They polite the meaning of the word insurance.

Currently in the process of dealing with aggressive/rude/powertripping reps over the phone, regarding their rejection of my landlords insurance claim. For some silly reason I thought I paid my insurance fee to be covered by damages caused by tenants - CGU is claiming any scratch or dint on any surface as not a malicious or intentional damage so the apparent smashed plaster wall and broken wall tile to them clearly fits under 'a dint in the wall' and is due to tenant carelessness and not malicious damage.... seriously!!!!

if I was to go on with the list of damage caused by tenants in the house and CGU's ridicilous excuses to not cover them you would be appalled... not happy at all CGU!!! I don't even want to give you the 1 star in ratings, don't even deserve that!

I took out Landlord Insurance with CGU several years ago and of course the 'customer service' person gave me a glowing list of what 'Landlord Insurance' covered; however, because 'Rent Default' and 'Loss of Rent' was not separately defined by the 'spiel', I of course believed, as I was told that I was covered for loss of rent for the time it may take to carry out repairs damage caused by tenants. Of Course it wasn't, was it! 'Loss of Rent' was an 'option' that I had to 'choose' in the cover at the time I took it out! Of course it was! How stupid am I? After several years and thousands of dollars in premiums, I eventually had to make a claim, and guess what - CGU said I didn't have 'Loss of Rent' cover. Mind you, I was covered for the repairs to the 'damage', but alas, they didn't want to pay for the time the repairs were being carried out, hence thousands of dollars in lost rent was totally my liability, because I didn't 'choose' their 'option' of 'Loss of Rent' (a minimal additional cost). Well, what do you think of that? How ludicrous that an 'option' such as that would not be 'chosen' by a well informed Landlord in their cover for 'Landlord Insurance'. Really, what does 'Landlord Insurance' mean anyway? It means every event that would occur should tenants trash your property and leave you with the prospect of months to repair the place! THAT'S WHAT IT MEANS - CGU! That's why you make it so easy for 'Rent Default' and 'Loss of Rent' to be confused with each other - isn't that the truth? Never again!

Our investment property's hot water service was damaged after someone tried to steal it in February. We made a claim with CGU and it is May now, still haven't got a replacement yet.

They have first requested for a quote, then came back about a month later, saying quote was not detailed enough, need an itemised quote.
When we provided that, they never got back to us. I have to physically call them up asking for the progress. Asked some stupid question which I haven't got the answer for, had to contact the plumber to get the information, when they could have quite easily call him up themselves because the contact details was in the original quote anyway.

They then said they were happy with the response and will send out the cheque within 5 working days. But 2 days later, I got a call from them stating that after further review, they will not be paying the full amount because we are changing from electric HWS to gas (due to regulation, we are no longer able to get an electric one), and because there was no gas copper piping readily available where the HWS original was, they will only pay the amount as if there was piping there, and we have to pay the remaining amount to connect the copper piping from the front of the house to the back of the house (that's approximaly $1,100). They claimed that this is considered as an upgrade and therefore does not qualify for the claim.

I am still fighting to get this paid up... Highly discourage anyone that may be thinking about going with them because of the pricing... they are good until you have to make a claim... then they look for all sorts of ridiculous excuses just not to pay up!
Cheap
Refusal to make payment, slow to deal with

We have an investment property in Goodna QLD, which as most would know, was badly hit by floods recently. Thankfully, our property wasn't touched, so no claim was necessary. However that doesn't seem to matter to CGU. Our Insurance premium went from $900.00 to $4000.00. I have no time for a company that takes to red-lining through laziness and greed.

Now most customers would simply walk away, as we did - but this shameless bunch is hoping to catch a few dopes (usually vulnerable) in this 4K sting.

Disgusting.

Greedy and Lazy

Leak in unit bathroom - damage to floors, whole bathroom - carpet in bedrooms and structure..... CGU advised in Oct - assesers visited 2 weeks later (finally). Early Dec still no word from CGU as to what will be covered. Each phone is met with rude and agressive response... Because of the hold up no work is permitted by body corp during the peak season which in turns means cancelling a fully booked unit for 2 months - along with the 6 weeks it has already been out of action! Totally unhelpful - do not return calls.
Nothing except how clever they are to take your money.
Where do we start - - - Everything!

We are currently fighting a claim were tenant stopped paying rent and left house damaged and unlivable, requiring new carpet, painting and cleaning. CGU are refusing to pay loss of rent as state that we could have re rented house minus main bedroom not carpeted and in filthy state. They have also denied claim for malicious damage of carpets/walls. Also extremely slow and unhelpful claim started 3 months ago and we have to call each week to chase up.

everything!!