Renters Insurance is also known as Contents Insurance for Renters. This cover offers protection for your household and personal belongings against loss or damage from an insured event. As an insurance provider to so many Australians, we understand that renters have just as much to protect as homeowners and investors and we're here for your peace of mind too. Our Renters Insurance offers the same trusted cover as our Contents Only Insurance policy. Get a quote for Contents Insurance and let us know you’re renting to see what cover is available for you.
What's Protected by Renters Insurance
While you're renting, we can cover the cost to repair or replace your furniture, whitegoods, appliances, clothing and personal items., if they are damaged by an insured event.
What's Covered by Renters Insurance
Budget Direct Renters Insurance covers loss or damage to contents you own within your rental caused by the following insured events:
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Storm and rainwater (does not cover any loss or damage caused by flood). If this doesn't meet your needs, you can add optional flood cover§.
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Fire (including bushfires and grassfires)
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Lightning
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Theft (or attempted theft)
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Escape of liquid (e.g. burst pipe)
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Impact at home (e.g. fallen tree)
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Breakage of glass, ceramic and sanitary fixtures
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Malicious damage, vandalism, riot or civil commotion
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Explosion
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Earthquake or tsunami
What's Not Covered by Renters Insurance
Budget Direct Renters Insurance does not cover you for loss or damage for every circumstance. There are exclusions such as:
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Action of the sea, high water or underground water
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Asbestos
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Breaking the law
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Business activity (not including Home Office)
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Communicable disease
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Contamination or pollution
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Defects, structural faults, or design faults
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Hacking or cyberattacks
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Loss of data (including access denial, recovery, reinstallation or replacement of data)
Terms, conditions, limits and exclusions apply. Please read the Product Disclosure Statement (PDS)
Benefits Included in Renters Insurance
We can cover additional costs for temporary accommodation for up to a year for your family and pets if your house is damaged and unfit to live in. Whether you'll be staying in a hotel for a few days or you need a long-term rental, we'll help make sure there's a roof over your head while your home is restored.
Legal liability is included in your Renters Insurance cover up to $20 million. Legal liability can cover you for the death or physical injury to other people, or for loss or damage to other people’s property caused by an accident. Renters Insurance provides legal liability cover anywhere in Australia.
When you make a claim on your Contents Insurance policy, we guarantee the quality of all authorised repairs, including the materials and workmanship provided. With the help of our trusted partners, you can rest assured that all authorised repairs will be performed properly.
Removal and disposal of your damaged contents and storage of your undamaged ones during the time it takes to repair your rental property.
To ensure your belongings remain secure, we will pay up to $1,000 to replace stolen keys, locks and key codes.
You’ll be covered for up to 90 days for loss or damage for up to 20% of your contents sum insured caused by an insured event within Australia when you are staying away from the insured home as detailed in the PDS. Rest assured that some of your contents may still be protected whether you’re at the coast on holiday or visiting family.
We'll cover loss or damage to unattached equipment, spare parts or accessories (e.g. for motor vehicles, trailers and caravans) up to $500.
To help keep pace with rising costs due to inflation, each year we’ll automatically increase the sum insured amounts of your contents and adjust your premium accordingly. This means your cover will reflect more current replacement costs than when your contents were first insured.
We do not automatically increase the sums insured for specified items or personal effects items. So, it’s important to review the sum insured value of these items regularly to make sure they are sufficiently insured for the cost of replacement.
Terms, conditions, limits and exclusions apply. Please read the Product Disclosure Statement (PDS)
Compare Contents Insurance Savings
Price Comparison Figures
Award-Winning Australian Home Insurance
After comparing the cost and features of 67 products offered by 49 providers, Canstar presented us with the National award for Outstanding Value Home & Contents Insurance for the eighth year in a row in 2024.
We’ve also won Money magazine’s Insurer of the Year title eight years running (2017–2024); and Best of the Best title for Home & Contents Insurance (2022-2025).
Upgrade Your Cover
Need more cover? For an additional premium, you can customise your Renters Insurance policy by adding one or more of the following optional covers:
If you take out optional Flood Cover, this can cover you against loss or damage caused by flooding rivers, creeks, lakes, dams and other bodies of water.§
Learn more about Flood Cover
§ The addition of Flood Cover to a policy is subject to our underwriting criteria.
Accidental damage is loss or damage caused by a sudden, unintended and unexpected event that is not the result of a deliberate act – useful if you want to be covered for some damage that’s not automatically included as part of your Home Insurance. For example, spilling red wine on a carpet by mistake, or unintentionally dropping and breaking a fragile item, such as a vase.
Learn more about Accidental Damage
Motor Burnout Cover covers you for loss or damage to electric motors that are less than ten years old if the motor burns out due to an electric current or power surge. Electric motors are commonly found in home appliances like fridges, freezers, or washing machines. If you have Contents insurance, we can also pay for related food spoilage as a result of motor burnout.
Learn more about Motor Burnout
Personal Effects Cover insures the personal belongings you take with you away from your home (such as jewellery, sunglasses and cameras). This benefit is sometimes known as Portable Contents Cover.
Learn more about Personal Effects
With Commercial Storage Cover, you’ll be insured for loss or damage by an insured event to your belongings while they're stored in a commercial storage facility.
How do I add an optional cover to my Renters Insurance policy?
You can add one or more of these optional covers when you get a quote and buy a policy.
Or – if you've already bought a policy – add optional cover by contacting us or logging into your online account and editing your policy.
Get a Quote Online and Save 15%^
If you get a quote and buy a new Renters Insurance policy online, we'll give you a 15%^ discount on your first year's premium.
How much cover do I need?
When you buy Renters Insurance, it's up to you to determine how much it would cost to replace your contents if they were destroyed, for example, by fire. This is known as the ‘sum insured’.
These are the maximum amounts we’ll pay after an insured event, so it’s important that the sum insured you nominate is sufficient to replace all of your contents at today’s prices.
To simplify your insurance journey, we have some calculators to help you work out how much home insurance you might need.
If your property and/or contents suffer loss or damage, or are destroyed by an insured event and you need to make a claim, we’re here to help.
24/7 Claims
With Budget Direct, you can conveniently make a claim online or over the phone at any time of the day or night, 365 days a year.
Budget Direct customers can make a claim, view and edit their Contents Insurance policies, and buy more insurance online.
The information on this page is a summary only. For more details about Budget Direct Contents Insurance, including the terms, conditions, limits and exclusions that apply, please read the Product Disclosure Statement (PDS).
Renters Insurance FAQs
Among other things, a Budget Direct contents insurance policy covers loss or damage to:
furniture and furnishings
electrical appliances
kitchenware
clothing and shoes
valuables like jewellery (limits apply), sunglasses and cameras (if you want your portable items to be insured when you take them with you away from your home, you’ll need to get extra Personal Effects Cover).
fitted carpets and rugs
internal blinds, curtains and window coverings.
Note that benefit limits apply to certain contents.
If you’re a renter or tenant, you do not have to worry about getting a landlord's insurance policy to cover the unit, apartment, flat, townhouse, detached or semi-detached house you’re living in – that’s your landlord’s responsibility.
However, if you want to be covered for the cost of repairing or replacing your belongings if they are damaged from an insured event (e.g. furniture, whitegoods, electrical appliances, clothing, and personal effects), then you’ll need to get contents insurance for renters.
We offer Personal Effects cover as an optional extra to your Contents Insurance policy. This can cover a wide range of categories of belongings, including:
bicycles
clothing
jewellery/watches
musical instruments
photographic equipment
sporting equipment
medical aids
mobile phones (Specified only)
laptops/tablets (Specified only)
e-scooters.
To find out how much this coverage might cost, you can get a quote online.
Yes – the minimum amount of cover we provide for home contents is $20,000.
The cost of renters insurance will depend on factors such as your sum insured amount (the overall cost to replace your contents if they were totally destroyed by an insured event such as a fire), your location, the cost of building materials and more.
