How Tower compares, feature by feature
If your home is uninhabitable after a claim, this pays for somewhere to live while it's fixed — but only up to a cap, and a rebuild can take a year or more.
Check your limit, and ask whether a higher-tier product lifts it.
Slow leaks behind walls are a common and expensive claim — usually capped low, if covered at all, and finding the leak often isn't covered.
Check your hidden-water sub-limit and budget for the gap; ask if a higher limit is available.
Retaining walls are costly to rebuild and usually sit under a low sub-limit, separate from the house sum insured.
If you have retaining walls, ask for the specific limit and whether a higher one is offered.
Gardens, plants, paths and driveways are usually capped well below what they'd cost to redo.
Note the cap if you have significant landscaping.
Re-keying after lost or stolen keys is capped — small, but often overlooked.
Minor — just know the limit.
Meth clean-up is expensive; cover is capped, often carries a large excess, and can be void if you or a tenant caused it.
If you rent the property out, ask about the meth limit and excess.
Natural-disaster claims (quake, storm, flood) often carry a large EXTRA excess on top of your standard one.
Find out your natural-hazard excess — here, lower is better.
Covers you if you're legally liable for injury or damage to someone else — the largest, rarest claims.
Higher is better; check yours runs to at least a few million.
Documented traps in Tower's wording
Sum-insured (capped) policies pay out only up to the dollar figure on your schedule. If that figure is too low to actually rebuild your home or replace your contents, you cover the difference yourself.
Use a professional rebuild calculator or get a registered valuer/quantity surveyor estimate, and review your sum insured every renewal so it reflects current build costs including demolition and fees.
In Tower's own words
“The maximum per event that we'll settle your claim for is the least of: 1. the actual cost to repair your house 2. the actual cost to replace the actual square metre area of your house before the loss... 3. the sum insured shown on your certificate of insurance.”
Loss arising from faulty design, defective workmanship, poor materials or inherent/structural defects is excluded across insurers, including weathertightness failures.
Get a building inspection before buying, address known defects, and pursue builders/warranties for defect-related damage since insurance won't cover it.
In Tower's own words
“the cost of remedying or repairing any structural defect, inherent fault, defective, substandard or faulty workmanship”
Rot, mould and slow leaks are largely excluded. The small 'hidden gradual damage' benefit that remains is capped low (often $1,000–$10,000) and won't pay to find or fix the actual leak.
Check your hidden/gradual damage limit and compare insurers (they range widely). Inspect plumbing and wet areas regularly, and act on any leak immediately to avoid it being called 'gradual'.
In Tower's own words
“We do not cover: 1. the cost of locating and repairing the leak 2. a leak in a shower base, shower recess or shower cubicle.”
Even with a big contents sum insured, individual categories like jewellery, cash, bicycles, cameras and drones are limited to a low per-item or per-category amount unless you specifically list them.
List (specify) high-value items on your schedule and check each category sub-limit. Keep receipts/valuations for jewellery, bikes, cameras and collections.
In Tower's own words
“jewellery per item or set (including watches) $2,500”
If nobody sleeps in your home for a set number of consecutive days (60–90 depending on insurer), cover is stripped back to only a few named perils – and an extra excess applies.
Tell your insurer before the home will be empty beyond the limit (often 60 days) and ask about unoccupied cover. Have someone stay overnight periodically or arrange specific vacant-home cover.
In Tower's own words
“When your house is left unoccupied for more than 90 consecutive days, cover is limited from day 91 to loss, damage or liability arising from: 1. a natural hazard 2. a fire resulting from a natural hazard 3. a fire that is not related to or started by any deliberate or intentional act 4. a storm or flood caused by weather events.”
Retaining walls, paths, pools, bridges and similar features are capped well below their real replacement cost – and often carry an extra natural-hazard excess.
Find the retaining-wall and 'recreational features' sub-limits on your schedule, get a rough replacement cost, and ask to increase the limit if your walls or features are valuable.
In Tower's own words
“garden retaining walls up to $15,000 in total.”
“We apply an additional $5,000 excess for claims for damage caused by a natural hazard to any driveway, path, fence, swimming or spa pool.”
Every insurer excludes wear and tear, rust, corrosion, rot, mould and gradual deterioration. Insurance pays for sudden accidents, not for things that develop over time.
Maintain the property and keep dated records of maintenance and repairs. Report sudden damage promptly so it isn't reclassified as gradual, and know your policy's narrow gradual-damage benefit.
In Tower's own words
“gradual deterioration including damage arising from or involving action of micro-organisms, atmospheric or climatic conditions, corrosion, fungi, rust, rot, mildew, mould, smoke or particles.”
When you move house or put contents into storage, cover is limited to a low cap or excluded altogether – and only for a short window.
Before moving or storing, tell your insurer, check the transit/storage limit and time window, and arrange specific removals or storage insurance for high-value contents.
In Tower's own words
“Your stored contents are covered for a maximum of $20,000 per event.”
When a damaged home is sold or you choose not to rebuild, settlement drops to the difference in market value before and after the loss, not the cost to rebuild.
Understand that full replacement cover usually requires you to actually rebuild or repair. If you may sell instead, ask your insurer what you'd receive before deciding.
In Tower's own words
“The market value of your house at the time of the loss less the value of the land it is situated on as a vacant site, or your sum insured, whichever is the lesser.”
When you first take out a policy, natural-event losses (storm, flood, landslip, bushfire, volcanic, tsunami) are excluded for the first 48 to 72 hours – and some insurers exclude an already-named cyclone entirely.
Arrange cover well before any forecast severe weather. Don't leave switching or buying insurance until a storm is imminent.
In Tower's own words
“any cyclone or ex-tropical cyclone that had been named before the start date of your policy.”
Claims are declined if you (or anyone covered) acted recklessly or in a grossly irresponsible/negligent way, or failed to take reasonable care.
Take obvious precautions: lock up when out, address known hazards promptly, and document that you acted reasonably. Don't assume 'accidental' always means covered.
In Tower's own words
“take reasonable care to protect and maintain your house and to avoid legal liability, and b. ensure that your house is securely locked, including all windows and doors, when unattended.”
If your home is uninhabitable, the policy pays your alternative accommodation only up to a fixed cap. After a major disaster, rebuilds can take years and the cap is quickly exhausted.
Check your temporary-accommodation/alternative-accommodation limit and whether it's a dollar cap or time-limited. Ask if a higher limit is available if you live in a high-hazard area.
In Tower's own words
“We'll pay your reasonable costs up to a maximum of $15,000 for each event.”
Policies exclude the cost of repairing, stabilising or supporting the land itself – even where it's needed before your home can be rebuilt.
Understand the government natural-hazard land cover and its limits, and be aware land stabilisation is largely your cost. Factor site risk into buying decisions.
In Tower's own words
“14. trees, shrubs, plants 15. land, earth or fill.”
Contents used to earn income or for business are excluded beyond a small 'home office' benefit, and home-business activity can void wider cover.
If you earn income from home, tell your insurer and arrange proper business cover. Don't assume home contents cover extends to work equipment or stock.
In Tower's own words
“any activity for financial return (other than rental income where your house is occasionally rented out) whether for profit or not other than the cover provided under the benefit – Home office equipment”
Insured with Tower? Have your own policy read.
The free register shows how Tower compares in general. The personal scan reads your exact PDF against every insurer.
Drawn from Tower's published New Zealand policy wording held in the Inuio corpus and refreshed monthly. Limits and tiers change and vary by policy and cover level — general information to help you read your own policy, not financial advice. Always verify against your current wording.