Another great presentation from Duncan Webb. Make sure you review as this is really important if you own property in ChCh.

1. EQC Cover for Land
Duncan Webb
Lane Neave

2. Land
• The “Land Holding”
• underneath the building
• within 8 metres of the building
• the land holding—
• the main access way (within 60 Metres)
• bridges and culverts
• all retaining walls and their support systems (within 60 metres and
necessary for the support or protection of the building or land)

3. Damage
• Adverse change affecting usability.
• EQC categories (as per Cam Preston’s presentation)
• Can be:
• Obvious damage
• Adverse chance - exacerbation (flooding liquefaction)
• Cannot be
• stigma
• actual flooding
• pre existing vulnerability (some mass land movement)
• risk from adjacent land (Kraal).
• change to drains rivers (EQC Flooding Case)

4. The Amount of Land Insurance
• The value of the damage up to the value of the insured land
• Not all land is insured
• For retaining walls , bridges & culverts - indemnity value.
• Loss of value where repair unlikely due to:
• No intention to repair;
• New owner;
• Not feasible;
• Not permissible;
• Disproportionate or unreasonable to repair.
• Value of land lost where total loss.
• Indemnity value where no actual repair.

5. Land Damage vs Building Damage
• Work “on the building” such as raising it above
flood levels is building remediation and not land
remediation (EQC Flooding Case).
• Building damage requires a:
change to the physical state or integrity of the structure or
materials that comprise the body of the house erected on the
land including its foundations (EQC Flooding Case)
• No damage simply due to building subsiding
with land (that is land damage)
• “Punching” into land problematic

6. The EQC Land Claim Assignment
Problem
• What is building damage / what is land damage
• Insurer insured the house on the land as it was pre
earthquake
• If there is a land payment it may relate to land other
than that under foundations
• If the site is damaged the insurer can require the
owner to provide an undamaged site to build on
• The insurer is obliged to repair the house to modern
legal requirements (e.g. Code compliant)
• Some land payments are likely to be very small

7. Some Issues
• Insurer’s offering cash settlements often require
assignment of land payments where enhanced
foundations required
• EQC tortuously slow
• Land payments very modest in general
• EQC difficult to deal with
• Land information is technical
• EQC constrains itself by internal policies

8. Strategy
• Be pro-active
• Provide your own information (or other information e.g.
CCC)
• Get all of EQC’s information
• Potential to revisit EQC payments - especially if land
repairs actually undertaken
• Do not be overwhelmed by technical
information
• Your own experts may be useful (but expensive)
• Be clear on your own positon (repair / retreat /
ignore).
• Be alert to any payments based on valuations.