ChCh 'EQ Fix' Team Heading to Kaikoura to Help Residents
A group of Christchurch earthquake campaigners is heading for Kaikoura.
On Thursday March 23, eqcfix.nz is holding a community meeting to present observations and lessons learned from the Canterbury earthquakes, from a legal, homeowner and community perspective, in a bid to help people navigate what can be a confusing path to insurance and EQC claim resolution.
Organiser Mel Bourke says there’s still a lack of independent information for property owners and the learnings from Christchurch offer a significant opportunity to help the North Canterbury claimants.
“We are completely independent,” she says. “eqcfix.nz came about because of a need and that continues now as up to 15,000 homeowners deal with remedial repairs following shoddy work after the Canterbury earthquakes. We have experienced and knowledgeable presenters including likes of lawyers Peter Woods, and Dr Duncan Webb, insurance expert Dean Lester and insurance analyst Cam Preston.”
Bourke says eqcfix.nz has heard that claimants are confused, that they are frustrated by delays and some don’t understand why they are receiving multiple assessment visits.
“That will sound very familiar to those of us who have been through it all before,” she says.
eqcfix.nz‘s main focus is on helping claimants understand what their entitlements are, and what should be considered a timely and effective process for resolution. Mel Bourke says the paradigm shift is understanding that people have to grab the reins back and manage their own claim process.
“What we didn’t know in 2010 and 2011 was, that to get our homes repaired or rebuilt the right way, we had to take control of the process ourselves. We had to become ‘experts’ in understanding our insurance policies, standards of repair, building code, settlement process, land reinstatement and so much more. We had to take control,” she says.
Bourke adds that many earthquake claimants had to stop trusting a system they had always thought would look after them – “the umbrella that goes up as the rain around us falls, you know the one, we’ve all seen the TV ads,” she says. “We had to trust ourselves, our gut, and learn as much as we could about a system that was not delivering on its promise. Many owners, using that approach have been successful. They have achieved good outcomes, and are able to move on with their lives. What we have learnt is the sooner you know this, the earlier you can apply that rationale, then often the sooner you can get your life back.”
eqcfix.nz also believes that, if Kaikoura claimants can learn the Christchurch lessons about how repairs should be carried out and how scopes of work should be completed, then more property owners may be spared the stress of remedial repairs, an issue thousands in Canterbury are now having to deal with.
ENDS
For more information, please contact Ali Jones on 027 247 3112. www.eqcfix.nz
Details of visit to Kaikoura – 23rd March 2017
What: Community Meeting
Where: Kaikoura Memorial Hall
When: Thursday 23rd March 2017 / 5:00pm to 7:00pm
THIS IS A FREE EVENT
There is capacity for only 300 people at the Memorial Hall. Therefore, we ask that you register for this FREE event by going to Eventbrite www.eqclaims.eventbrite.co.nz or via www.eqcfix.nz.
Community Meeting Format (DRAFT)
The purpose of the meeting is to discuss the process people need to follow to progress their claims.
Mel Bourke:
- Open and Intro. Will include an overview of the process the homeowner needs to follow.
Peter Woods:
-
Understanding your Policy and the EQC Act? Talk about the meanings of things like ‘as when new’ and the standard in the EQC, what that really means for people.
Cam Preston:
- Understand the scoping process, where land issues fit, and the kinds of decisions involved.Cover things like, do I have to let them on my property. I don’t like their scope, what do I do? Where does land fit in all of this?
Dean Lester:
- What should the homeowners ‘team look like’? The roles that make up the homeowner team, who is in / out and why you may not want to do a DIY approach.
Duncan Webb:
- They want to settle? What do I do? Understanding the difference between cash settlements, managed repairs, discharges and the importance of advice.
Mel Bourke:
-
The jargon unpacked: a walk through the jargon from a lay person’s point of view.
Mel Bourke – 15
Link to the Kaikoura event:
Additional information on EQ Fix:
EQCfix.NZ is an independent public justice project whose overarching goal, in a post-disaster environment, is to ensure that EQC meets its obligations under the Earthquake Commission Act 1993 (the Act).
The project intends to achieve its goal by working with central and local body representatives such as legal, insurance, land, engineering, surveying, and quantity surveying professionals; as well as building-industry practitioners and tradespeople, all of whom are demonstrably motivated to ensure that the interests of the homeowner are protected. Our aims are:
- to provide information, and if appropriate education programmes, for homeowners that better enables them to navigate, understand, and manage the EQC process(es) from claim to reinstatement,
- to co-ordinate and support groups of homeowners to work collectively to address EQC's failures to meet its statutory obligations, when a potential EQC performance issue is identified by interested groups / individuals,
- to investigate and, if possible,
- to provide homeowners with access to a group solution which is affordable and realistic to advocate for an independent inquiry into EQC’s performance, handling and management of Canterbury earthquake claim and reinstatement processes,
- to review and monitor EQC procedures and processes to better ensure that EQC learns from past experience and changes accordingly.
TO FIND OUT MORE GO TO www.eqcfix.nz