EQC confirm stance on assigned claims.

In July 2019, the Supreme Court in Xu v IAG confirmed that EQ insurance claim assignees are only entitled to be indemnified under the assigned insurance claim. This means that assignees of private insurance house claims are only compensated for their actual loss; usually the reduction in market value of the property due to the EQ damage or depreciated replacement or repair costs, which allows for the age and condition of the property. This latter measure can be significantly less than the full replacement cover generally allowed for in the original house insurance, depending on the age of the property.

Because of this, we have been predicting another wave of litigation arising out of the 2021/2011 Canterbury earthquakes, when new homeowners find themselves with no access to the original home insurer and out of pocket to undertake further earthquake repairs.