{"id":524357,"date":"2026-07-13T20:00:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-13T20:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/524357\/"},"modified":"2026-07-13T20:00:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-13T20:00:09","slug":"councils-natural-hazard-notices-may-leave-some-home-owners-without-insurance-cover","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/524357\/","title":{"rendered":"Councils\u2019 natural hazard notices may leave some home owners without insurance cover"},"content":{"rendered":"The association also wants people to be aware that their local councils can put s72 notices on their titles when they seek building consent to do a renovation.<\/p>\n
So, someone may have bought a property on the understanding everything was fine and it was entirely insurable, only for a building consent application to trigger a reassessment of the property\u2019s risks, a black mark to be put on the title and the property to become partially uninsurable. <\/p>\n
The NHC makes it clear that it has the right to fully or partially decline claims related to perils flagged in s72 notices (or the equivalents under older legislation).<\/p>\n
The commission covers a capped amount of damage caused by natural disasters. It leaves property owners\u2019 private insurers to pay for damage over and above this cap. <\/p>\n
However, private insurers won\u2019t necessarily top up a claim that has been declined by the NHC.<\/p>\n
The country\u2019s largest general insurer, IAG, will decide what to do on a case-by-case basis, whereas Vero and Tower typically won\u2019t top up claims declined by the NHC. <\/p>\n
Tower won\u2019t take on new customers with properties that have s72 notices on them.<\/p>\n
The Herald hasn\u2019t been able to get data that shows how often s72 notices see homeowners left footing bills related to natural hazards themselves. <\/p>\n
However, the number of properties that have had s72 notices put on their titles has risen in recent years, as natural hazards are increasingly being identified in council plan changes.<\/p>\n
According to Land Information New Zealand, 429 properties had s72 notices put on their titles in 2016. This number rose to a peak of 940 in 2022, before dropping back to 807 in 2025.<\/p>\n
IAG, which trades under the AMI, State, NZI, Lumley and Lantern brands, said: \u201cThe existence of a s72 notice, or a NHC claim decision based on that notice, is not by itself determinative of IAG\u2019s claim decision.<\/p>\n
\u201cEach case will depend on the specific circumstances, the policy coverage in place, and the underwriting information available at the time the policy was issued … It\u2019s also worth noting that the absence of a s72 notice does not necessarily mean a property is free from natural hazard risk.\u201d<\/p>\n
Vero, which is part of Suncorp, outlined its position: \u201cWhere the NHC declines a claim for damage to a home because of a s72 notice, Vero would generally do the same. Depending on the circumstances, we may still assist with items outside of the NHC\u2019s scope, such as driveways and swimming pools.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tower, which is a smaller NZX-listed company, said: \u201cHomes with a s72 notice would fall outside of our risk appetite, and we wouldn\u2019t offer cover; it\u2019s rare that we see this in our reviews \u2026 It\u2019s important that customers tell us about changes to their home, property title or Lim report that may affect their insurance.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tower said it would work with existing customers that had s72 notices put on their properties.<\/p>\n
The Insurance Brokers Association said the Government should create a freely available register of properties with s72 notices to increase transparency and improve access to information. <\/p>\n
It said that while property owners should know if their properties have s72 notices, subsequent purchasers may not have this information unless they pay their local councils for a LIM report. <\/p>\n
Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk wasn\u2019t keen on a register, saying it would be costly and was unnecessary. <\/p>\n
\u201cRegulations that came into effect last year also clarified s72 notices are required to be noted on a property\u2019s Lim, so I\u2019d encourage prospective home owners to undertake due diligence and request Lim reports on properties they are looking at,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cRecords of title that display a s72 notice are also available through the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act process.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jen\u00e9e Tibshraeny is the Herald\u2019s Wellington business editor, based in the parliamentary press gallery. She specialises in government and Reserve Bank policymaking, economics and banking.<\/p>\n
Stay ahead with the latest market moves, corporate updates, and economic insights by subscribing to our Business newsletter<\/a> \u2013 your essential weekly round-up of all the business news you need.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The association also wants people to be aware that their local councils can put s72 notices on their…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":524358,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[8038,682,138,2562,124,7558,16123,62240,95165,39509,96883,1345,17053,12514,440,7810,111,139,57981,69,9769,1356,7192,544,165,8222,1339],"class_list":["post-524357","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-natural","tag-being","tag-business","tag-claims","tag-could","tag-councils","tag-cover","tag-declined","tag-deem","tag-hazard","tag-hazards","tag-home","tag-insurance","tag-leave","tag-local","tag-may","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-notices","tag-nz","tag-owners","tag-properties","tag-risk","tag-some","tag-their","tag-warned","tag-without"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/524357","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=524357"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/524357\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/524358"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=524357"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=524357"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=524357"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}