Question: A claim for a unit’s water damaged vanity was refused because the insurer couldn’t differentiate between the existing and the new damage. If fixed items like this in a unit are damaged, who covers these items?
Our strata insurance assessor said there was existing water damage and new water damage on a unit’s vanity from a huge amount of water entering the unit’s bathroom from the ceiling. He was unable to differentiate between the existing and the new damage and the claim for the new vanity was refused.
The lot owner has landlord insurance, however, the insurer states they do not cover things like vanities, stoves cooktops, etc. If they are damaged, who covers these types of fixed contents that belong to the owner?
Answer: Try to locate the insurer at the time of the first amount of water damage.
This is quite a tricky question. There are potentially two claims here.
Insurers don’t always get claims right. We have disputed a number of claims over the years. Don’t always take what an insurer says as being verbatim and correct. Sometimes you do need to challenge insurers.
How long has the insurer been on risk here? Have they been the insurer for the last 10 years and were they likely the insurer at the time of the first incident?
I wouldn’t let the insurer off the hook in this instance. I would first try to locate the insurer at the time of the first amount of water damage. What you could do here is get a builder of some sort to inspect the property, have a look at the water damage and give their view on how old that water damage is. Then you might look to lodge a claim on the first insurance policy when the first claim happened. That may cover off on repair of all damage, except for if there was extra water damage that applied to the second claim.
You really need a good insurance broker in this claim because this is a very complex matter. But first, you should look at the first claim and try to make a claim under the policy. There’s no time limit under insurance. Then you would go back to the second insurer on the second claim and try to make any additional claim thereafter.
Who covers fixed contents that belong to the owner?
It is the strata insurance that does cover it but if there’s an exclusion in the policy it obviously doesn’t apply in that case.
Tyrone Shandiman
Strata Insurance Solutions
E: tshandiman@iaa.net.au
P: 07 3899 5129
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 Advisernet Australia AFSL No 240549, ABN 15 003 886 687.
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