A family of seven are living in an overcrowded caravan and shed after insurance company Suncorp worsened the damage to their home.
What started as a leaking toilet turned into a mold disaster after proper remediation was delayed for months.
The Balzan family’s five children, including a one-year-old girl, have not slept in their bedrooms since October and do not know when renovation work will begin.
“Ten months after this lawsuit was filed, we are still living like this and we have uncertainty because we were never told when or how long this lawsuit would take,” Father John Balzan said.
John and Lani Balzan say delays in the lawsuit have caused significant stress for their family. (ABC News: Jasmine Hines)
Contents are cross-contaminated
In September, the Balzans’ home in rural Woardong Heights, Queensland, experienced an accidental leak from one of the toilets, causing sewage to spread into several rooms of the house.
The Balzans immediately notified their insurance company, with Suncorp estimating that the restoration will be completed by the end of October.
But delays by Suncorp contractors meant that renovation work did not begin properly for several months as mold quickly grew throughout the house and its contents.
When contractors did test the contents in November, cross-contamination occurred because they placed contaminated items in originally uncontaminated areas.
The Balzan family have been sleeping in a shed and van since October while they wait for Suncorp to begin restoration work on their home. (ABC News: Jasmine Hines)
“We just don’t know what to do… we’re trying to get answers and (Suncorp) is just brushing us off like we’re nothing,” Mr Balzan said.
In a statement to the ABC, a Suncorp spokesman said: “We recognize this has been an extremely difficult and distressing situation for the Balzan family.”
“This is a complex claim and we continue to work with the family to complete restoration and repair work as a matter of urgency,” the statement said.
The insurer admits guilt, but does not specify a time frame for elimination
In February, Suncorp apologized to the Balzan family, admitting the insurer was liable for secondary damage to the family home and its contents.
John Balzan says it’s difficult to find housing for his family of seven with limited assets in rural Queensland. (ABC News: Jasmine Hines)
In a letter to John Balzan and his wife Lani, Suncorp said it acknowledged that “the initial process of reinstating your claim could have been conducted more efficiently.”
“The restoration had to be completed as quickly as possible to minimize the impact on the water damaged contents,”
it said.
“In addition, intact contents had to be stored outside and not in the living room to prevent cross-contamination.”
The Balzan family cannot return to their home until Suncorp repairs the damage. (ABC News: Jasmine Hines)
Lani Balzan, a prominent Indigenous artist, said $480,000 worth of her work was damaged due to the delays.
“It’s even hard to put into words, because my art. It is not just something that looks beautiful and attractive or is appreciated by someone. It’s part of who I am, my personality and my culture,” she said.
The family said contractors were told to throw the artwork in the trash without acknowledging or respecting the cultural traditions involved.
“So we preserved them and disposed of them properly, culturally, in the country so they weren’t just thrown into a landfill,” she said.
Lani Balzan, a renowned Indigenous artist, says $480,000 worth of her work was damaged due to insurance delays. (Attached: Lani Balzan)
A Suncorp spokesman said: “It is not our policy to remove content without customer approval and our process supports remediation decisions where possible.”
In emails to the family, Suncorp confirmed that its contractors were responsible for secondary damage that destroyed much of the contents of the Balzans’ home.
The Balzans have provided the insurer with a detailed schedule for replacing all contents affected by the damage, but the claim has not yet been settled and Suncorp has told them it is being reviewed by a team of specialists.
The contents of the house were destroyed. (ABC News: Jasmine Hines)
Insurers responsible for the actions of contractors
Prue Monument, general manager of the General Insurance Code Management Committee, said insurers must accept responsibility for damage to a client’s home, even if it was caused by an interested party they have hired.
Prue Monument argues that insurers are liable for damage even if it was caused by a contractor they hired. (Includes: Prue Monument.)
“If they use repairers or experts to support claims, then the insurer also remains responsible for ensuring that they comply with the code and ensure the quality of the work and that the work is done in a timely manner to avoid similar occurrences,” she said.
The Balzans have filed an open complaint with the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA). and Suncorp offered to pay them $6,300 in non-financial losses to resolve the complaint in addition to the required remediation work.
As they continue to wait for an update on the renovation work, Mr Balzan said the stress on the family had been devastating.
“It affected every part of our lives. We can’t live like a normally functioning family.”
– he said.
A Suncorp spokesman said: “We have offered alternative accommodation throughout the claim and this offer remains available at all times as we agree that the family’s current living arrangements are not a suitable long-term solution.”
But Mr Balzan said the offer only came in in May and it was virtually impossible to find accommodation in rural Queensland that could sleep seven people unfurnished.
Lawyers see delays too often
Financial Rights Advisory Legal Center director Erin Mulally said too often families face delays from the insurance company, often resulting in “harm for consumers”.
“Part of the methods we see for settling substandard damage claims is that insurers bring in experts who make substandard repairs that then need to be corrected,”
she said.
She has sometimes seen delays as long as two years.
“In our practice, (we see) specialists who make poor-quality repairs, make claims, delay the process of reviewing claims without any clear explanation. This is something that needs to be dealt with,” she said.
ABC News reported in May that an elderly Western Sydney woman was stuck in a nine-year battle with the same insurer Suncorp after contractors aggravated a minor claim.
The latest CHOICE survey found that trust in general insurers has been at an all-time low of just 17 per cent since the survey began 11 years ago.
Ms Monument said that as insurance premiums continue to rise, transparency with members has never been more important.
“Through our work with financial advisors and consumer advocates, we also know how important transparency is. But it’s not just transparency, it’s clarity and accessibility,” she said.
Insurance code is under review
A review of the General Insurance Code of Practice has been underway since 2023, and public consultation on the latest draft closed yesterday.
Drew McRae says key aspects of the Insurance Code have been removed from the new draft. (Contributed by: Drew McRae)
Financial Rights Law Center policy development director Drew McRae is concerned that the new draft would eliminate dozens of consumer protections.
“There is a current code, it contains about 235 articles. About 65 of them, or just under 30 percent, have either disappeared or gone backwards in some way,” he said.
The new draft code now means key insurers’ obligations will be enforceable in consumer contracts, a move welcomed by Mr McRae.
“But it really shouldn’t come at the expense of weakening the code,” he said.
“They have weakened some previous commitments to their investigative practices and this needs to be addressed.
“And this issue of delay, they have expanded the range of reasons why insurers may delay decisions on claims in a way that, in our view, acts as a get-out-of-jail-free card.”
Mr McRae led a joint submission on behalf of 10 consumer organizations to the Insurance Council of Australia for feedback on the project, recommending additional support for vulnerable customers, premium hardship support and standardized expert reporting.
An Insurance Council of Australia spokesman said the changes to the code had raised the bar for consumers.
“The revised code will be contractually enforceable, strengthening all of the obligations insurers undertake and providing consumers with new avenues for redress if they fail to meet those obligations,” they said.
“It strengthens support for people experiencing vulnerability, expands domestic abuse protections to include financial abuse, and raises the standard of care people can expect when making a claim.”