Ex-tropical Cyclone Alfred made its presence felt across Southeast Queensland, with powerful winds and heavy rainfall leading to widespread damage to many strata properties. If your building has been impacted, knowing the right actions to take will help ensure a swift and effective recovery.
As we transition from a position of hazard identification and mitigation to one of repair and recovery it is important for owners to understand how the insurance claims process may work.
The Claims Process
The general process for lodging the claim is:
- Notify us of any damage caused to your lot by the event. You can submit a claim via our website using the following link. https://www.hbcm.co/resources-forms/insurance-claims/ Owners can also submit claims directly to the insurer or broker if preferred.
- If reported to our office, we will then lodge the insurance claim with the insurer/broker
An assessor may then be appointed to inspect the property and prepare a report. This report will recommend to the insurer what work is required and what may be covered by the policy. This report may also include a quote to rectify the damage.
- If the resultant the damage is minor, then the body corporate or lot owner may be able to obtain their own quotes to expedite the claim.
- It will also be necessary to identify and if needed address the cause of the damage. This may include arranging roofing repairs, gutter cleaning, poorly weather sealed windows etc. Insurers will require the cause to have been identified and if necessary repaired before they will authorise resultant damage repairs.
- The insurer will consider the claim once all documentation has been provided and advise of any outcome in writing.
Please be aware that following a major event such as a cyclone, the assessors and contractors are in high demand and therefore obtaining quotes and assessor inspections may take several weeks or longer.
Quotes
Once quotes have been obtained for repairs to the resultant damage these can be included with the claim or if a claim has already been lodged forwarded to our office and these will be provided to the insurer for review.
Some helpful tips on obtaining quotes:
- Where possible ask the contractor to specify that the damage was caused by the cyclone and what the likely cause was, for example strong winds, water inundation.
- In instances where damage has occurred to multiple properties within a scheme it is helpful if the same contractor can quote on all properties at the same time.
- Where possible, take photos of the damage. This may be helpful in allowing the insurer to review the claim without requiring an inspection by an assessor.
- If damage has occurred to fencing it is helpful to request the contractors to:
- inspect all fences if possible, and
- quote on all damaged fences and separate the quote into sections for each fence. Noting Boundary fencing may also need to involve a neighbouring property owner or insurer.
We understand major events can be a distressing time for those impacted. Our role as Strata Managers is to help support owners and Bodies Corporate in an administrative capacity to navigate the claims and repairs process. As Strata Managers we also rely on other stakeholders such as owners, Committees, insurers, assessors, and appointed contractors to help support those impacted. Owners can always be assured that each stakeholder is acutely aware of the impact major events can have on those impacted and will always work cohesively and with a shared commitment to delivering the best outcomes for those affected.
If your property has sustained damage as a result of Ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred and you have not already commenced the claims process please reach out to your appointed strata manager as soon as possible.
Please note this article is intended as a guide only and all advice is general in nature. Owners should contact the relevant insurer or broker and refer to the schemes insurance policy and PDS to determine what cover may be available.