Australia (Commonwealth Union)_ The State of New South Wales is the first jurisdiction in Australia to launch a new insurance package that provides 10 years of protection for apartment buyers. According to Victor Dominello, the Minister for Fair Trading, the NSW Department of Customer Service has accepted Resilience Insurance’s application to provide decennial liability insurance as a form of security under the Strata Building Bond and Inspections Scheme.
“This is a huge success for apartment owners and body corporates,” Dominello said. “Decennial liability insurance offers those living in residential apartment buildings with comprehensive consumer protection for building damages caused by substandard design and building work”. He further stated that it also offers consumers an insurance safety net, which is now absent in residential apartment complexes.
Moreover, decennial liability empowers purchasers and corporations, who will no longer be required to prove liability and will only be required to show the damage for assessment. Hence, this will ensure, for the first time in Australia, that building owners have access to a quick and uncomplicated remedy to rectify these damages. In the decennial liability insurance program, developers or builders would purchase a policy to cover any possible expenses incurred by a homeowner to repair major damage to crucial building elements for up to ten years.
A ten-year liability insurance coverage would protect the structure, fire protection systems and waterproofing of a building. This insurance is meant to serve as an insurance of first resort, allowing building owners to file claims as soon as a flaw is discovered. While this type of insurance is accessible in many global markets, it has not been made available in Australia.
According to David Chandler OAM, NSW Building Commissioner, “The launch of decennial liability insurance is the latest reform to the building and construction sector which will improve the design and construction of apartment buildings in NSW. These changes have come about due to the united commitment of government and industry to transform the NSW construction sector.”
