Insurance Crisis for Home Owners with Defective Plumbing
Summary
Homeowners in Victoria, Australia, are facing significant challenges getting insurance payouts for defective plumbing work, despite a ministerial order mandating coverage. Insurance companies are often denying claims or limiting payouts to $50,000, a figure that doesn’t cover the actual repair costs and may contravene the 2002 insurance order designed to protect consumers.
Key Points
- Regulatory Failure: The 2002 Licensed Plumbers General Insurance Order is poorly understood, outdated, and allegedly exploited by insurers to deny or limit valid claims.
- Homeowner Hardships: Cases like Cathy O’Connell’s and Nik’s show people living in uninhabitable or damaged homes for years, facing severe financial and emotional distress.
- Inadequate Payouts: Insurers frequently cite a $50,000 cap for defective work, ignoring the order’s requirement for at least $5,000,000 coverage per occurrence and completed work liability.
- Lack of Enforcement: Attempts to reform the order have been ignored, and no legal precedent exists as no plumbing insurance case has reached a final court judgment.
- Government Response: The Victorian government replaced the old regulator with a new Building & Plumbing Commission, but experts say the core insurance issues remain unaddressed.
水管问题房主的保险危机
总结
澳大利亚维多利亚州的房主在为其有缺陷的水管工程申请保险赔付时面临重大挑战，尽管有一项部长指令强制要求承保。保险公司经常拒绝索赔或将赔付金额限制在5万澳元，这个数字无法覆盖实际维修成本，并且可能违反了旨在保护消费者的2002年保险指令。
关键点
- 监管失灵：2002年的《持牌水管工一般保险指令》未被充分理解、已经过时，并被指控遭保险公司利用以拒绝或限制有效索赔。
- 房主困境：像Cathy O’Connell和Nik这样的案例显示，人们多年来居住在无法居住或受损的房屋中，面临严重的财务和情感困扰。
- 赔付不足：保险公司经常引用5万澳元的缺陷工程赔付上限，无视了指令要求的每次事故至少500万澳元的承保范围和已完成工程责任。
- 缺乏执行：改革该指令的尝试被忽视，并且由于没有水管工保险案件进入最终法庭判决，缺乏法律先例。
- 政府回应：维多利亚州政府用新的建筑与管道委员会取代了旧监管机构，但专家表示，核心的保险问题仍未得到解决。
Original Article Link: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-11-20/plumbing-insurance-claims-fail-despite-ministerial-order/106017148