The market

Who sells this direct

These insurers sell to the public without a broker. We are not affiliated with any of them, we place no business with them, and we are paid nothing by them. They are here because you are going to look them up anyway.

Direct only

Everyone on this page is listed, not recommended

“Direct only” means you buy from them yourself, on their website or over their phone. We do not have an agency with any insurer on this page, we cannot place business with them, and we receive no commission, referral fee or payment of any kind from them. Nothing here is a recommendation, a ranking, or a statement that one is better than another.

One exception is marked on its own card: Vero does not sell direct at all. It is included because AMP discloses that Vero underwrites AMP's insurance, and because Vero publishes useful guidance on how rental cover behaves.

If you would rather have someone read the wordings with you and place the cover on your behalf, that is what the broker route is for — and it is free to you.

Why there is no comparison table here

Because an honest one cannot be built from public information. Tower alone sells three renter tiers with different limits for the same named benefit — mobile phone cover runs from $500 to $10,000 depending which one you are on. Putting a single figure in a row labelled “mobile phone” would be a claim of comparability that is simply untrue.

The same problem applies across the landlord products, where a built-in benefit, an optional extra with a sum insured you choose, and a standalone policy all get sold under similar names. So instead of a grid, each insurer below gets its own published facts, attributed, with a link to the page they came from.

AA Insurance

Renters and landlord cover

Direct only

Sells a renters product built on its contents policy, and a separate landlord policy where landlord contents is an optional extra.

What AA Insurance publishes about its own product

Two renter levels: Contents, and Limited Contents. Limited Contents covers burglary, fire, storm, flood and natural hazard only, with phone and laptop theft or accidental damage as a paid upgrade.
Legal liability of up to $2 million where you are legally liable for accidental damage to someone else’s property.
AA’s own worked example is a renter staining the carpet: where the landlord claims, AA covers the difference between the landlord’s excess and the renter’s contents excess.
Contents are covered anywhere in New Zealand.
On the landlord side, landlord contents is an optional extra paid at repair cost or market value, up to the landlord contents sum insured.
Loss of rent applies where there is a current tenancy agreement and the tenants cannot live there after an insurable event.

Read it on AA Insurance's own site →

State

Renters and landlord cover

Direct only

Sells renters cover and three separate landlord products, including a contents-only policy aimed at owners whose building is insured by someone else.

What State publishes about its own product

Renters: legal liability up to $2,000,000.
Renters: temporary accommodation up to $30,000.
Renters: contents covered at two addresses for two weeks while you move within New Zealand.
Renters: bicycles and e-bikes up to $3,000 per item, with a higher limit available.
Renters: gradual damage from hidden leaks up to $3,000 a year; food spoilage up to $1,000; excess-free key and lock replacement.
Renters: away-from-home cover in Australia and the South Pacific up to $5,000 per trip, maximum three weeks.
Landlords: three products — Landlord’s Home and Contents, Landlord’s Home, and Landlord’s Contents. State positions the contents-only product for rentals where the building is insured by someone else, such as a body corporate.

Read it on State's own site →

Tower

Renters and landlord cover

Direct only

Sells renters contents across three tiers with materially different limits, and a landlord product it calls Landlord’s Plus.

What Tower publishes about its own product

Landlord’s Plus: deliberate damage by tenants or their guests up to $20,000.
Landlord’s Plus: meth contamination damage up to $30,000.
Landlord’s Plus: loss of rent up to eight months where the house is uninhabitable from covered damage while tenanted.
Landlord’s Plus: separately, up to eight weeks’ rent where the tenant was lawfully evicted for non-payment, left without required notice, or lawfully stopped paying.
Landlord’s Plus: whiteware and window coverings up to $20,000 — Tower’s stated point being that this removes the need for a separate contents policy for appliances and curtains.
Landlord’s Plus: liability up to $20m, hidden gradual water damage up to $2,000, garden retaining walls up to $25,000, landscaping up to $2,000.
Landlord’s Plus: extended sum insured for fire of up to 20% above sum insured, excluding fire following a natural hazard.
Renters, by tier — mobile phone: Premium up to $10,000 per phone, Plus up to $1,000, Standard up to $500.
Renters, by tier — jewellery per item: Premium up to $10,000, Plus up to $2,500, Standard up to $1,000.
Renters, by tier — accidental damage anywhere in NZ: Premium and Plus up to sum insured, Standard up to $5,000.
Renters: contents covered at both addresses for 14 days from the day the move starts.

Read it on Tower's own site →

AMI

Landlord cover

Direct only

Sells three landlord products, split by whether you need the building, the chattels, or both. We have only reviewed AMI’s landlord page.

What AMI publishes about its own product

Landlord’s Home and Contents — for furnished or partly furnished rentals, covering the home, garage and shed, and the landlord’s chattels and key furnishings.
Landlord’s Home — for unfurnished rentals: the home, garage, shed and other structures on the property.
Landlord’s Contents — AMI positions this for when the rental home itself is insured by a body corporate, covering the chattels and household goods tenants use.
All three reference cover for lost rent “in certain situations” and removal costs for belongings a tenant abandons.
AMI publishes no benefit limits on its landlord page, so we have not attached any figures to this entry.

Read it on AMI's own site →

AMP

Landlord cover

Direct only

Sells three landlord products. AMP discloses on its own page that its insurance (excluding travel) is underwritten by Vero Insurance New Zealand Ltd.

What AMP publishes about its own product

Legal liability up to $1,000,000 on the home product and up to $1,000,000 on the contents product.
Methamphetamine contamination up to $50,000 on both home and contents — covering testing, decontamination and repair.
Loss of rent is an optional benefit, and is available on the home product only.
Malicious damage is an optional benefit on both products.
Gradual damage up to $2,500. Lock replacement up to $500 where a tenant leaves without the required notice or is evicted and does not return the keys.
Retaining walls up to $50,000, or possibly more with a pre-loss valuation. Removal of debris up to 15% of sum insured.
Contents permanently fixed to common body corporate property up to $1,000. Storage of undamaged contents up to 10% of sum insured.
AMP states plainly on the same page that there is no legal requirement to have landlord insurance.

Read it on AMP's own site →

Initio

Landlord cover

Direct only

Online insurer selling landlord cover direct, and the most detailed publisher of its own limits of anyone in this list.

What Initio publishes about its own product

Accidental tenant damage covered up to your full sum insured.
Intentional damage, vandalism or theft up to $25,000 per event — with serious fire or explosion damage covered above that limit, up to the full property sum insured.
Cover extends to damage caused by the tenant, paying guests, or anyone occupying the home including their guests.
Loss of rent automatically included at $20,000, increasable to $40,000 or $80,000.
Loss of rent for property damage runs until repairs are complete, the selected limit is reached, or 12 months (52 weeks) is paid — whichever comes first.
Where a tenant is 21 days behind and is evicted through the Tenancy Tribunal, up to 6 weeks’ rent. Same limit where a tenant leaves without giving required notice.
Initio states directly that rent arrears before an eviction are not covered, and that normal vacancy between tenancies is not covered.
Meth testing and cleaning up to $30,000 — and loss of rent applies over and above that $30,000 limit.
Landlord contents included at $20,000 as a minimum that cannot be reduced, increasable to $40,000 or $60,000.
Landlord contents items five years old or less are replaced with new; items over five years are paid at present value.
Claiming under the landlord protection benefits requires you to be meeting your landlord obligations under the policy.

Read it on Initio's own site →

Vero

Landlord cover

Via a broker

Not a direct insurer — Vero sells through brokers. It is included because it underwrites AMP’s insurance (AMP discloses this itself) and because it publishes unusually frank guidance on how rental cover behaves.

What Vero publishes about its own product

Vero’s house insurance policy has an optional landlord extension, which covers malicious damage caused by tenants up to $30,000.
You must specify to your insurer that a property is tenanted rather than owner-occupied — Vero notes there may then be special conditions or excesses.
House insurance will not usually cover furniture you have provided or your tenant’s belongings: as a rule of thumb it covers what is permanently affixed, such as a fitted kitchen, a bathtub or the carpet.
Policies are designed to cover accidental damage; deliberate damage by a tenant generally will not be covered under a standard policy.
Each “event” of damage carries its own excess — several separate stains over months would likely incur a higher total excess than the claim is worth, unless they can be proven to be one incident.
Landlord obligations commonly required to keep cover valid include selecting tenants carefully, actively monitoring rent payments, and making regular property checks.
To recover an excess from a tenant for accidental damage, Vero says you will need to tell them what your excess is and give them a copy of your policy — and that claiming it back is between you and the tenant, because the insurer cannot get involved.

Read it on Vero's own site →

Where this comes from

Every figure above is the insurer's own published summary, retrieved from their own domain on 8 September 2026. Summaries are not policies — excesses, terms, conditions, limits and exclusions apply, and the policy wording is what governs in every case. We deliberately do not source product facts from comparison sites. How we source this site.

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