Australia wide over the last year, Baptist Insurance Services has been asked to pay almost a million dollars worth of damage claims relating to rain / storm water coming through roofs, where it was subsequently found that correct maintenance had not been kept up to date. Propper maintenance could have avoided this damage. These claims are now funded by your money held in the Discretionary Mutual Fund, and every dollar we spend from the pool needs to be replaced through contributions.
While the DMF may assist with the cost of repairing resultant damage caused, it does not contribute to the maintenance cost which is just part of owning a building. It is far cheaper overall to fix the roofing issues early, before they cause resultant damage from water entry.
We have previously advised that claims for such damage need to be accompanied by a report from a qualified Roof Plumber to identify the cause of the water entry. This will continue, but we are now having to extend this in cases where there has been a water entry claim against the DMF and lack of maintenance is a relevant issue. In such cases we will be asking for an Annual report from a Qualified Roof Plumber who has inspected the relevant building to certify that appropriate maintenance is being kept up to date on an ongoing basis. This plumber may also actually do the maintenance, but that will not be required and remains at the discretion of the individual constituent.
This will not apply to every constituent. The requirement will only be put in place where claims history and lack of maintenance on an individual building warrants it – and you will be advised if this happens. In cases where multiple claims still occur for this same type of damage, BIS can and does reserve the right to adjust an individual constituent’s applicable excess for such claims.
Kind regards
Glen Thornley
Insurance Manager SA & NT
E: [email protected]
T: +61 8 8357 1755
M: 0412 055 832