Insurance- who pays?

[beachgurl]

Following my rental loss thread I'm now trying to get an assessor in and make a claim for the damage in the unit. It includes sewage in the dishwasher, damage to kitchen cupboards, vanities, built ins, doors to bedrooms etc. strata says their responsibly lies only with the integrity of the walls and ceilings while my landlord/contents insurers says they are responsible only for the damaged carpets and everything else is the responsibility of strata.

Any tips on where to go from here? Understandably the tenants have given a no notice notice to vacate so I have an empty IP with noone prepared to assess/repair the damage.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Scott No Mates]

You have to claim damage to your fixtures/fittings (eg kitchen) with your home/contents insurance - some LL insurance cover these items but in other cases you need to take out this insurance with another insurer eg: NRMA/GIO/AAMI have a buildings/contents insurance for units.

If you don't have insurance, I would be pointing the finger back at the Body Corporate's building insurance as it may cover consequential damage (if the damage wasn't caused by the tenant or from within the unit).

 

[beachgurl]

Thanks Scott. I have landlord and contents insurance with Aami for this property but they are claiming that the kitchen is not part if contents insurance. Will call them again tomorrow. And thanks for your tip on the strata insurer, much appreciated.

 

[sydprop]

Thanks Scott. I have landlord and contents insurance with Aami for this property but they are claiming that the kitchen is not part if contents insurance. Will call them again tomorrow. And thanks for your tip on the strata insurer, much appreciated.

Not good news for your loss - this has always been a very grey area for me but my reading of the Strata policy (apartment in my case) includes fixtures such as this. It also covers loss of rent, your travel costs and remediation for insured events amongst other things. I would ask for the PDS and call the insurer direct to confirm. My strata is with CHU.

Hope that helps

 

[wylie]

Perhaps I'm naive and think that "right" will win through, but if you have insurance for the building and insurance for the contents, and if both these insurers are saying "not my problem - see the other insurer" then I'd be taking it up really quickly with the Insurance Ombudsman.

The only thing I'd be happy with is that it IS insured properly and let them slug it out between themselves.

If you threaten the ombudsman they might get their acts together and stop putting you off.

I've just involved the (electricity) ombudsman in an electricity dispute (where an empty house used more power over a five week period than our own house full of people). It was settled in two days, to my benefit. My provider waived the total account, whereas if the original call centre staffer had tried to help me rather than treat me like some sort of idiot, I would have been happy to pay them what was fair.

 

[brettc]

Perhaps I'm naive and think that "right" will win through, but if you have insurance for the building and insurance for the contents, and if both these insurers are saying "not my problem - see the other insurer" then I'd be taking it up really quickly with the Insurance Ombudsman.

In the end that might be required. As a general rule (although there are exceptions with some Body Corporates / Owners Corporations) the kitchen would form part of the Strata Building policy, not your landlord/contents insurer, providing it is the original kitchen and has not been replaced at some stage. If it has been replaced (renovated for example) then it may very well need to be covered by the contents insurer.

 

[marg4000]

Usually unit owners take out building insurance to cover the internal fixtures that are not covered by body corporate insurance. Kitchens usually fall into this category.

Contents insurance only covers moveable items. You are lucky they are covering the carpets as this is often considered part of the building (as you don't take them with you when you move).
Marg

 

[turk]

If your insurance does not cover the damage you make a claim against the owner of the pipe that burst, be it another owner or Body Corporate.

It will be then up to them to either pay you or make a claim on their insurance if they have cover.

 

[s0805]

are you with AAMI on Strata Title Landlord policy, do you have tenant protection as extra ( I've this)? Not sure the cause of the damage, but if that was caused by tenant i think it might be covered with AAMI....

I'll be checking with AAMI and my strata (CHU) about this as well, if I've the same scenario who will cover the costs...

someone has mentioned that unit owners needs to take out building insurance as well on top of strata building insurance...this is such a grey area how do you know by how much building insurance you need then...pls keep us posted how you go...

 

[beachgurl]

Thanks for your comments everyone.

The problem was due to a major pipe bursting just under my unit. The tenants of the shop below we're complaining of a leak from my unit a few weeks back and strata repaired it. I expect it was that not so great repair job which damaged the shop below and at least 3 units on the same floor. Strata has admitted that it was their issue and they repaired it but nothing inside the unit is theirs or their insurers responsibility to fix/clean. Aami has stated that they need a letter from the strata insurer stating they won't cover anything and Aami will then decide what they will cover. An assessor will be out there in a few days to check it out. Hoping the insurer will cover loss of rent for the duration of the to and fro-ing. At $720 a week it will start burning my pocket soon.

 

[SuiCid3]

are you with AAMI on Strata Title Landlord policy, do you have tenant protection as extra ( I've this)? Not sure the cause of the damage, but if that was caused by tenant i think it might be covered with AAMI....

I'll be checking with AAMI and my strata (CHU) about this as well, if I've the same scenario who will cover the costs...

someone has mentioned that unit owners needs to take out building insurance as well on top of strata building insurance...this is such a grey area how do you know by how much building insurance you need then...pls keep us posted how you go...

I believe CHU will cover renovations and such under their Residential Strata plan.
There was up to $25k cover for these when I last checked a number of years back.

 

[beachgurl]

Thanks for the info on CHU. I've contacted the strata manager and asked for the insurer details and it's CHU so I've put a call into them. Looks like the strata managers were acting as gatekeepers and flatly stating there's no coverage. Will come back with an update. Pity the neighbours as I expect there'd be an awesome stench coming from the unit by now.

 

[Jamie M]

Hi Beachgurl

We recently had some water damage to an IP due to the tenants not connecting their washing machine up correctly.

There was damage to a wall and carpets - about $5k worth.

The insurance company looked after it - and the tenants paid the excess.

However, the premium has now gone up by quite a bit - so ultimately we're out of pocket too.

Cheers

Jamie

 

[sydprop]

I had a similar issue with tenants (much higher cost) - this is exactly why tenants should have contents insurance to cover liability. I don't see it as a landlord liability although I do have insurance just in case.

We recently had some water damage to an IP due to the tenants not connecting their washing machine up correctly.
There was damage to a wall and carpets - about $5k worth.
The insurance company looked after it - and the tenants paid the excess.

 

[s0805]

Hi Beachgurl,

gr8 to know that AAMI is getting involved and hope all works out for ya. Not sure exactly which policy you are with aami.

Anyway, i called both AAMI (policy:'Strata Title Landlord Insurance with tenant protection') and body corporate after reading this forum to understand where do i stand if it happens....long story short body corporate advise how the pipe busted will be the key here for their claim and they will only fix the building part of it, AAMI confirmed that as well. However in this scenario AAMI mentioned damage to kitchen cabinets and let's say any other fitting fixtures due to pipe burst will fall under so called 'Contents' as per above policy...so if you've contents cover value of 10K then AAMI will cover that upto 10K with ofcouse their claim process....AAMI also mentioned that the above policy has so called 'Gap cover' basically anything not covered by strata will be covered by AAMI at max contents limit....they mentioned anything except outside walls and structure is landlord's responsibility to insure....but AAMI calls this contents not the building insurance as per above policy....

Jamie, interesting that you mention that tenants paid the access, wonder if all tenants will accept their fault and won't defend their actions for any reason...or do you have to put this as clause in tenancy agreement...

 

[beachgurl]

thanks s0805. I have the same policy with AAMI.

After 4 days of trying to speak to someone at CHU I find out that they will cover the majority of the works. Seems my strata manger was being lazy and a few other words I won't mention. When damaged is caused, the strata manager is supposed to contact the insurance broker who then submits the claim to the insurer.

The case manager at CHU stated that kitchen cupboards and internal doors are covered by their policy. they will assess the rest of the items once I submit my claim. I can then take that assessment to AAMI and they will cover the things that CHU won't.

So I guess the key is that if you have a dingbat of a strata manager, ignore whatever they say and go straight to the insurer. Once I have a copy of the plumber's invoice to prove the damage and that it has been fixed, along with a quote for the repair of the damage, I can submit a claim to CHU and they will get an assessor out.

Oh my head hurts. 2 weeks of s&itfighting just to get to this point. Think once the place is fixed up I'll sell it off. Shows how incompetent the strata manager is and that if anything else stuffs up in the future it will be a battle to fix.

 

[s0805]

Hi beachgurl,

That's great that CHU will cover the claims....hopefully they won't change their stand once they assess the damage.....

how much contents cover you have with AAMI with your policy...i've 20K with 2br,1bath,1garage

As per my query/response seemed that only AAMI will cover this sort of damages....so confused....as long as it is getting paid by someone you should be relieved

 

[vaughan]

We recently had some water damage to an IP due to the tenants not connecting their washing machine up correctly.

There was damage to a wall and carpets - about $5k worth.

The insurance company looked after it - and the tenants paid the excess.

However, the premium has now gone up by quite a bit - so ultimately we're out of pocket too.

Cheers

Jamie

Why didn't the tenants pay the whole cost of the damage THEY caused?

Did you discount their rent for the duration of the repairs as well?

 

[brettc]

Usually unit owners take out building insurance to cover the internal fixtures that are not covered by body corporate insurance. Kitchens usually fall into this category.

Contents insurance only covers moveable items. You are lucky they are covering the carpets as this is often considered part of the building (as you don't take them with you when you move).
Marg

That's actually not correct. In a rental unit generally the contents policy will cover things such as carpets, curtains, blinds and light fittings. The kitchen would normally be covered (with some exceptions) by the Body Corporate's strata building policy, but is likely not to be if the kitchen is not the original one (such as has been renovated). In this case it is the contents policy that should pick up the kitchen risk but you need to check that the policy you have in fact would, as some may not (but some certainly do).

It would be unlikely that you could take out a building policy to cover internal fixtures of any sort.

 

[s0805]

That's actually not correct. In a rental unit generally the contents policy will cover things such as carpets, curtains, blinds and light fittings. The kitchen would normally be covered (with some exceptions) by the Body Corporate's strata building policy, but is likely not to be if the kitchen is not the original one (such as has been renovated). In this case it is the contents policy that should pick up the kitchen risk but you need to check that the policy you have in fact would, as some may not (but some certainly do).

It would be unlikely that you could take out a building policy to cover internal fixtures of any sort.

spot on Brett. At least, that's what I've been advised by AAMI for above policy recently. They made it very clear that everything inside unit like kitchen cabinet, shower screen all the fixtures & fittings that can and can't move with you fall under contents...to make sure it is covered u should have enough contents cover...on top of that anything not covered by strata will be covered by Gap Insurance max to contents limit.

However....it wasn't long ago that when i was signing up with AAMI they advised that only things that can move with you will be considered under contents making me under insured.....I am planning to call again and confirm their latest advise....

why such contradictory advise from the same company? I hope some sort of legislation can make this insurance policy documents standardized across all providers....