Question: After heavy rain, we had a roofer come to repair the resulting leaks. In subsequent storms, several of the repaired units experienced further leaks. Would the damage be covered by strata insurance or the roofer’s insurance?
Answer: Make a claim on your strata insurance and have your insurer follow up or recover against the roofer.
Lodge a claim on your strata policy making sure the insurer is aware that the damage could have been a result of the roofer’s actions. The insurer will decide at the end of the claim whether it is appropriate to recover against the roofer for the claim.
You can go through the roofer and submit a letter of demand but that’s going to be a very prolonged process. It will go through the roofer’s liability insurance. The liability insurer doesn’t specifically have the same duty to you as the property insurer in that, they’re not bound by time to get a response back to you.
Unless it’s a really small claim that you’ve fixed and got paid for and you’re not waiting on anything, I’d firstly recommend making a claim on your strata insurance and having your insurer follow up or recover against the roofer.
This post appears in the September 2022 edition of The NSW Strata Magazine.
Tyrone Shandiman Strata Insurance Solutions E: tshandiman@iaa.net.au P: 1300 554 165
This information is of a general nature only and neither represents nor is intended to be personal advice on any particular matter. Shandit Pty Ltd T/as Strata Insurance Solutions strongly suggests that no person should act specifically on the basis of the information in this document, but should obtain appropriate professional advice based on their own personal circumstances. Shandit Pty Ltd T/As Strata Insurance Solutions is a Corporate Authorised Representative (No. 404246) of Insurance Advisenent Australia AFSL No 240549, ABN 15 003 886 687.