Have your EQC repairs been completed correctly?

The ten-year anniversary of Canterbury’s spate of earthquakes is just around the corner. There continues to be a lot of talk across town and in the media about the thoroughness of earthquake repairs. Was your home been assessed to have received no earthquake damage? Perhaps you were ‘under cap’ and EQC did the repairs? Maybe you were ‘over cap’ and your insurer got involved?

Whether or not you had repairs completed, now is the time to confirm you are confident that your home is not still suffering from 2010/11 earthquake damage. Why?

Well, for one thing, time is running out to have your claim reviewed.

According to their website, EQC will approach the six-year limitation period (per the Limitation Act) for each land, building and contents claim from each earthquake, as running:

• Where an EQC claim has been settled, from the date EQC settled that claim;

• Where an EQC claim has not yet been settled, from the date when EQC settles or declines that claim; or

• Where a claim is declined, from the date that EQC declines the claim.

For many Canterbury homes, especially those with claims settled quickly, the six-year period is likely to be getting close, if not already past.

What does this mean for your roof?

Many houses in Christchurch have concrete tile roofs and our teams are seeing more and more with cracking in the pointing (see pictures). This should not be happening if the earthquake repairs were completed properly, assuming any repair was done at all.