[Tecopa]

I rent, a few months ago half of the front verandah collapsed. The owners asked us to get quotes for repair and within 24 hours we had a half dozen quotes. The real estate has since said the owners are going through insurance with it. We haven't seen any insurance folk around the house, and I doubt insurance is going to pay because all of the builders said the issue was tiling over an existing wooden deck without actually making sure the wooden support could hold the tiles. The support was rotten, combined with the weight of tiles and then BANG. huge mess. Luckily no one was standing on it at the time.

Now we can't really use the front door as you have to walk around the collapsed bit to get to the door and that's not safe in case the rest goes.

How long do I wait before I start lodging with the CTTT - a notice to repair, and then I think it's bad enough we need a rent reduction too since we can't use front of the house area or front door!

Anyone had dealings to know if an insurance company really would take 2 months to decide on this? Can I force the owner to pay for it himself and then chase insurance? I have asked real estate for some sort of proof it's really going through a claim process but as yet no luck. Just keep ignoring me.

[blithely2]

As far as I'm aware, the insurance company just arranges payment to the builder, who takes photos and lodges the invoice for repairs and unless it's an outrageous claim you often don't hear from the insurance company.

I wouldn't have even be bothering with chasing quotes as that's the owner's job but wow they're brazen in asking you. How you pursue your rights in this will depend on what state you are in but as a landlord I'd be hotfooting it to make sure the tenants suffered as little inconvenience as possibe.

[casime]

Only ever had to make one claim. Had damage on Friday. Insurance assessor arrived Monday. Repairs done on Thursday.

They're taking the mick. Put in the complaint. It's not acceptable for it to drag on this long.

[solongsuckers]

As far as I'm aware, the insurance company just arranges payment to the builder, who takes photos and lodges the invoice for repairs and unless it's an outrageous claim you often don't hear from the insurance company.

I've only ever had two home insurance claims, both were no more than $3K and both times I had an assessor come to check out the damage before I was even told to go and get quotes.

Repairs did take a while to actually get done (about 4 months both times), but I had insurance people around quite quickly. It wasn't actually the insurance company that took it's time though it was the builders. I guess it is possible that being the front of the house an insurance assessor may have come to look at it without your knowledge..