Assisted Living Residence Insurance PDS
At Apia, we always look for ways to improve our insurance products to meet the evolving needs of our customers. That’s why we’ve updated the Apia Assisted Living Residence Insurance Product Disclosure Statement (PDS) to incorporate more plain English principles (like more descriptive headings).
We’ve also adjusted the policy’s coverage. This involved changing or adding covers, conditions and exclusions. We have listed some of these changes below. Know these changes relate to policies starting or renewing on or after 21 June 2025.
The information listed below is just a summary and not an exhaustive list of all changes. So, we strongly encourage you to read the PDS in full to understand your cover.
A PDS is an important legal document that covers the details of the cover you’ve purchased. As it’s a legal document, it’s important you read it carefully.
Apia is committed to ensuring its products are not used for any form of financial abuse. You’ll see we have made clear our position that the use of our products for financial abuse is unacceptable.
We know sometimes your circumstances might mean you need additional support or assistance in dealing with us. If you’re comfortable, you can tell us about your situation, and we’ll work with you to arrange support.
This section has changed. We’ll let you know when and how you need to pay your excess. Rest assured knowing we’ll always communicate when you need to pay any excess(es) to us. Alternatively, we’ll deduct the amount of any excess(es) from any cash payment we make.
There is no longer any scenario in which we’ll waive your excess.
Please make sure to read the ‘General exclusions’ section of your PDS. General exclusions also apply to legal liability, but this isn’t always the case. Your PDS will outline when a general exclusion also applies to legal liability.
We want to be upfront about things we don’t cover for loss or damage under your policy. There are some new and updated exclusions in the ‘General exclusions’ section of the PDS, such as:
- hacking, cyber-attack, or cyber incident (this used to be called computer virus or computer hacking),
- rust or corrosion (this used to be part of wear, tear and deterioration exclusion); and
- new exclusion for Escaping Liquid. There is no cover for loss or damage caused by any of the following:
- rust or corrosion unless the rust or corrosion wasn’t easily visible to a reasonable person in the circumstances
- liquid from a portable container, such as a pot plant, vase, terrarium, fishbowl (however, not an aquarium), beverage container, saucepan, bucket, or watering can
- liquid from a watering system, garden hose, agricultural pipes, or overflow drains or pipes
- loss or damage to, or caused by, liquid escaping from a shower floor or base, shower cubicle walls, shower glass screening or doors, open shower floor areas
- the cost of repairing or replacing the item from which the liquid escaped, for example, a cracked aquarium.
There are also new Legal Liability exclusions.
We don’t cover legal liability due to silica in any form. Please read the exclusion in full for more detail on page 29 of the PDS.
We don’t cover legal liability for or caused by, connected with, or arising from riding any battery driven or electric scooters, skateboards, e-bicycles, unicycles, hoverboards, one-wheels, or segways.
Please read the General exclusions and these new and updated exclusions.
Some terms and words in the policy have a special meaning (definition) which applies to them.
It’s important to read this section of the PDS because it gives the meaning which applies to those terms and words which can impact how your policy is interpreted.
There are new definitions in your PDS, including changes to existing ones such as:
We’ve updated this definition to mean sudden loss or damage that you didn’t intend or expect to happen.
This means physical damage, unless stated otherwise in your policy.
