Yarra Ranges council in the Victoria state of Australia has asked insurers to help ensure customers rebuild to current standards two years after damaging storms felled large trees and caused widespread property damage in the ranges.
Yarra Ranges mayor Jim Child said some insurers have told some of the residents that they can only rebuild ‘like for like’, which will not meet current building standards or the requirements to access building permits and future insurance.
Mr Child said, “Yarra Ranges council is calling on insurance companies to do the right thing - support our residents with their rebuilding journey and continue to provide rental assistance and allow people to build to current standards and not like for like.” The severe storm with extremely high winds had struck the region in June 2021.
According to the Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) the catastrophe produced insured losses of A$313.19m ($214.8m) from 34,372 claims, of which just under half were domestic building claims. ICA says 94.5% of claims are now closed and CEO Andrew Hall has said 88% of claims were closed a year after the event.
The Yarra Ranges council in a two-year anniversary statement said insurance issues are still a major concern for residents. Almost 200 properties were damaged, 81 were uninhabitable, tens of thousands of trees fell, blocking roads and bringing down telephone and powers lines, leaving thousands without heating and phone or internet connection for weeks.
Mr Child said some Yarra Ranges residents were still unable to start the rebuilding process, “in particular due to insurance issues”.
Mr Hall has previously said claims closure rates “have been a little slower than we would normally like to achieve” in recent years due to problems with trade and labour supplies.
“Short-term accommodation is very hard to get, materials, trades and labour have been very difficult. I know sounds like we are giving excuses, I know things can be very difficult for people, and we try for that not to be the case,” he had said on the first anniversary of the Yarra Ranges catastrophe.
“In the overwhelming majority of insurance cases in this country ... we have largely responded the way we needed to respond and looked after the community.”
The general insurance code of practice states that when a claim arises from an extraordinary catastrophe, an insurer will make a decision in writing within 12 months of receiving a claim or explain internal complaints processes. M