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A Christchurch couple put their hearts into restoring their historic bungalow and were excited to put it on the market. Unfortunately, they soon learned that the property may be unsellable because insurers are reluctant to provide coverage.
Four years ago, John and Raewyn Waldron bought their daughter’s bungalow – a historic property built in the 1930s. The house was covered by IAG-owned insurer Lumley. However, after spending large amounts of time and money restoring the home, the Waldrons found that insurers were hesitant to write new policies for intending buyers – even if engineers had already confirmed that the house presented no structural or seismic issues.
“We had fantastic interest and we accepted an offer [and] several people were keen, but they couldn’t get insurance from anyone,” John Waldron told Stuff.co.nz. “We just hit a brick wall.”
According to Stuff, Waldron approached Lumley several times to answer all their questions about the house, but “…they’d [always] come back with something else.”
Waldron said he was at a loss as to why insurers were refusing to write new policies. However, Tim Grafton, chief executive of the Insurance Council of New Zealand, pointed to the bungalow location as the reason for the hesitance. Grafton told Stuff that, given the circumstances, reviews on a case-by-case basis were common in risky areas such as Christchurch.
“This means that each property will be assessed on an insurer’s underwriting criteria and a decision about cover and pricing will be made based on the results of that assessment and in line with the insurer’s appetite for risk,” he said.
An IAG spokesman told Stuff that they still required more information about the house and would continue to work with the Waldrons, “which is part of our standard underwriting approach for older homes anywhere in New Zealand.”
