House Insurance FAQ

If your home or business has been damaged, do whatever you need to do to secure the premises and make it safe and comfortable for your family or employees.

The sooner you contact us, the sooner we can help. For example, we may be able to arrange quicker repairs.

Do what you can to prevent further damage - like boarding up windows or removing water damaged property. Try not to throw anything away, but if you have to, take photographs first.

Photograph any damage or other evidence, before anything is moved or cleared up if it’s safe to do so.

Talk to us, or your broker or adviser before admitting liability or entering into a settlement agreement.

Before you start, make sure you have:

1. Your policy number
2. The details of what has been lost, damaged or destroyed

If you’ve lodged your claim online or via email, we’ll review the information you’ve provided. If anything essential is missing, we’ll contact with you within two business days to progress your claim.

If you’re claiming over the phone, we can talk you through what you need to do.

No, it’s important to keep damaged property so we can inspect it.

If you need to dispose of items urgently for health and safety reasons, take plenty of photos and/or get an inspection report from an independent, qualified professional like a plumber or builder.

If you’ve already disposed of the items, please give us the full details of what you have done to dispose of the damaged property and any costs you have incurred.

When you claim, we’ll ask you questions about what or who caused the loss. You’ll also have the opportunity to provide us with any extra information that you think will help.

For example: if your claim is related to water leaking from a pipe and you recently had some work done by a plumber, or your claim is for a damaged letter box which was knocked over by your neighbour, let us know.

Sometimes we may need a loss adjuster to come and look at the damage, so we can get a better understanding of your claim and how to best resolve it.

A Loss Adjuster is someone who has experience in building and construction and will be able to assess the property damage.  They will provide a report which identifies what needs fixing and can arrange for quotes to be completed by an appropriate ‘tradie’.

We will determine if a Loss Adjuster is required and arrange for one to contact you.

Yes, you can, and if they are one of our Vero-approved suppliers we provide a guarantee of the workmanship.

If your builder is not a Vero-approved builder, we will pay you the assessed cost of repairs, allowing you to arrange repairs directly with the builder of your choice.

Generally, the water damage caused by a burst pipe would be covered by your policy.

It would depend on what caused the pipe to fail, as to whether the burst pipe is also covered.

Please contact our claims team who will help determine what is covered.

Gradual damage is damage that has been occurring over a period of time, commonly caused by water.

As such, many insurance policies exclude cover for gradual damage.

Some Vero policies provide limited cover for this type of damage, which is outlined in your policy wording. Please refer to your policy for more details.

If your home is determined to be unsafe to live in due to damage covered by your policy, there may be a temporary accommodation benefit, which will contribute to the cost of accommodation for you to live elsewhere while your repairs are being completed.

Talk to our team who will be able to advise you on what to do next.