Insurance and the Resilient Homes Fund

The Resilient Homes Fund aims to increase the resilience of as many eligible homes as possible, so it is available to both insured and uninsured homeowners.

For insured homeowners, insurance repairs usually involve ‘like for like’ replacements (e.g. replacing damaged plasterboard wall linings with new plasterboard). The Resilient Homes Fund finances flood resilient design and materials (e.g. replacing damaged wall linings with flood-resilient wall linings such as fibre cement sheeting).

If you have received a cash settlement or have insurance repairs underway or completed, you can still apply for any of the programs available through the Resilient Home Fund, provided you meet eligibility requirements.

However, you are not able to access public funds to complete works that have been, or could be, funded from other sources (these are known as overlap works). More information about overlap works is provided below.

Making an insurance claim

You need to make a claim with your insurer before applying for funding if:

• you are seeking funding through the Resilient Retrofit program or to demolish and rebuild your home and
• your home insurance policy covers inundation by floodwaters from one of the 2021-22 disaster season events.

If you are insured and a claim is not made, we cannot progress your funding application.

Overlap works

Overlap works are where another funding payment, such as an insurance cash settlement payment, is available for eligible resilient repair works or demolition and rebuild works.

Example 1:

A homeowner received an insurance payment relating to damaged walls, and they are seeking funding for eligible works to repair the walls using resilient materials.

In this case there are overlap works and the Fund would only pay for the cost difference to upgrade to resilient materials for the insured damage area – this includes materials and labour costs.

Overlap works do not include repairs that have already been completed.  If you had previously repaired your home with standard materials and now wish to replace the walls with resilient materials, this is not considered an overlap and the eligible works will be fully funded.

The following would be considered overlap works:

• wall lining materials
• labour to install the wall linings
• labour and materials to paint the walls
• labour and materials to reinstall the skirting board and cornice.

However, the following would be considered eligible works and funded:

• upgrade of materials to a flood resilient material, such as fibre cement sheeting, and
• activities not covered by insurance, such as material and labour costs involved with painting the frames behind the walls with a water- resistant paint.

You will receive funding for eligible Resilient Retrofit works not covered by your insurance payment (up to the value of $50,000 and any co-contribution).

Example 2:

A homeowner received an insurance payment for a damaged hardwood door. The Fund will not pay as the existing door is already resilient (being hardwood material) and the insurance funds would cover the replacement of the door.

Claim details

The difference in the insurance and resilient repair scopes of works must be clear in order to determine if there is an overlap in your funding application. For this reason, we require some claim details to assess your application.

Resilient Retrofit or demolish and rebuild works

If you received a cash settlement payment, you will need to include the following with your funding application:

• the Cash Settlement Fact Sheet relating to any damaged elements of the home that are included in your application; and
• the related detailed insurance builder scope of works that the insurance builder prepared, and that informed the insurer’s cash settlement payment.

If you are having works completed by your insurance builder at the same time as works funded by the Resilient Homes Fund, we ask that you provide us with a detailed scope of insurance repairs.

We need this information to help determine any overlap works and assess your application.

Where works do overlap, we will determine the funding you receive based on the details you provide to us.

Where possible, the scope of works should itemise the works and the cost of each item. For example:

Works	Costs
Supply and install new air-conditioning unit	$5,000
MDF kitchen cabinets	$12,000
Hygiene treatment	$5,000
TOTAL:	$22,000

Other Scenarios:

1. Costs are not listed with scope of works

If an insurance scope of works is provided, but the costs are not listed, a standard rate will be applied to the overlap works to estimate the insurance payment towards these works.

You will receive funding for eligible Resilient Retrofit works not covered by your insurance payment (up to the value of $50,000 and any co-contribution).

It is common for some insurers to not include itemised costs, so please provide us with the scope of works information you received to support your application. Your application will still be assessed.

2. No scope of works

If there is no insurance scope of works provided, the Resilient Retrofit funding will be reduced by the cash settlement amount, minus any amounts that don’t overlap (e.g. contents or accommodation).

3. No information about insurance payment

If you have a relevant insurance policy but have not provided details, unfortunately, your application will not be accepted, and no funds will be provided.

Home raising or relocation

If you are applying for financial assistance to raise or relocate your home, you do not need to provide any details of your insurance claim.

This is because the damage from flooding will still exist and you will need to use your insurance to contribute to the cost of repairs (whether that’s before or after the raise or relocation ).

Voluntary Home Buy-Back

If you have received an offer for Voluntary Home Buy-Back, you will need to provide details of your insurance claim outcome prior to signing a contract of sale.

If you have opted to take the pre-flood market value offer and have accepted a cash settlement from your insurer, the pre-flood sale price will be reduced by the total amount of insurance paid out against the insurance claim.

If you have used an insurance pay-out to make your home liveable, and have receipts for the work, this will be taken into consideration when determining the offer price and whether or not any part of the insurance payment will be deducted.

Any repairs undertaken by your insurer will not affect the sale price calculation if you opt to take the pre-flood market value. This work would be considered as part of a post-flood valuation.

If you have accepted a post-flood value, your cash settlement will not affect the final amount.

Insurance repairs

If insurance works have been completed, we do not encourage homeowners to rip out ‘like for like’ works. There may be retrofit solutions that complement completed insurance repairs and include strategies such as raising power points, hot water systems and electrical switchboards.

A list of resilient retrofit strategies and materials covered under the program is in the Design Guidance for Flood Resilient Homes .

What comes first, repair or raise?

If you have chosen to raise your home using money from the Resilient Home Fund, your insurance may still arrange for insurance repairs unless you agree to cash settle.

The order you choose to repair and raise your home is something you should discuss with your insurer and your builder. This would be determined on a case-by-case basis.

What if my insurer won’t arrange resilience works?

If upgrading to resilient materials is not an option through your insurer, you may consider accepting a cash settlement and making an application to Queensland Rural and Industry Development Authority (QRIDA) for funding for resilient repairs.

If you are unhappy with a decision made by your insurer, you can ask for your claim to be reviewed. You will need to lodge a complaint with your insurer directly.

If you are unsatisfied with the outcome of your complaint you can lodge a dispute with the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA).

Strata titles (apartments, etc)

If you live under a strata title (e.g. apartment, unit, townhouse), common areas of the property, such as communal laundries, carparks and BBQ spaces are not covered by the Resilient Homes Fund.

You may still be eligible to apply for retrofit works within your home if you meet the eligibility criteria.

You should contact your body corporate to confirm whether an insurance claim has been made and what benefit your property is considered to have received under that claim. You will need to provide details of any insurance claim decisions relating to the claim for damage (whether through your own insurer or the body corporate’s insurance provider) where it relates to any damaged elements of the home that are included in your application.

Insurance delivery partners

We have partnered with a number of insurers to streamline the funding process for the Resilient Retrofit program.

Our current delivery partners are:

• Suncorp whose brands include AAMI, Apia, Shannons and Vero
• RACQ
• QBE
• IAG whose brands include NRMA Insurance, CGU and WFI.

For some insured homeowners, it may be possible for your insurer to deliver the resilience repair and retrofit works under the Resilient Retrofit program at the same time as insurance repair works.

These arrangements also do not apply to home raising.

If your insurance claim is finalised this option is not available to you.

Homeowners are contacted by their insurance provider to invite your participation.

If you have received your Home Assessment Report, you have an open claim and your insurer is a delivery partner, you can contact your insurer directly to discuss your interest in your insurer completing resilient repair works.

Your insurer manages the process from funding approval to arranging works on your behalf.

With these arrangements, financial assistance for eligible works is capped at $50,000, with no dollar-for-dollar co-contribution available.

Homeowners may only receive funding under one of the programs, and only one grant of financial assistance per home.

Reimbursement for eligible retrofit works carried out or arranged by you directly are not possible with these delivery arrangements.

Test and refine

A funding program of this size and complexity has not been undertaken in Queensland, so we have identified a small number of properties as test cases to refine the partnership model.

Test and refine arrangements provide an opportunity for selected homeowners to have their insurance builder complete Resilience Retrofit works at the same time as insurance works.

The trial, which is currently in its test-and-refine phase, is set to continue until 30 June 2024.