|
|
Importance of home maintenance
Consumers should be aware of the importance of ongoing inspection and
maintenance of the home and of relevant construction standards.35 Most
of the insurers were lenient in not excluding claims on the basis of poor
maintenance after Cyclone Larry.36 Consumers should not rely on such a
flexible approach in the future.
The requirement to maintain the home in good condition is a common
feature of home building insurance policies. A review of policies offered
by 10 insurers showed that this feature was referred to in all policies
under the different headings of:
- 'Exclusion'
- 'Risk to cover'
- 'Precautions you need to take'
- 'General conditions'
- 'Your responsibilities'.
Failure to take reasonable care in the maintenance of the home may result
in non-payment or reduction of payment of an insurance claim. This duty
of care may extend to:
- maintaining the home in good or sound condition (i.e. keeping it
watertight, structurally sound and secure),
- ensuring compliance with statutory obligations relating to the safety
of the property,
- repairing faults and fixing defects such as roofs, gutters, drains, water
pipes and tiles, and
- informing the insurer immediately if the home has fallen into a state
of disrepair.
Consumers should carefully examine the wording of their policies to
check what they need to do.
35 Tropical Cyclone Larry CTS technical report TR51, September 2006,
recommendations made in the report, p. 76.
36 Information provided by the Cyclone Larry Taskforce, 26 October 2006.
|
