When Your Home Is Unliveable After a Fire, Flood or Storm
What to do in the first days after fire, flood or storm damage, how alternative accommodation cover usually works, and how to plan a stay that lasts the whole repair.
A fire, a flood, a storm or a burst pipe can make a home unliveable in an afternoon. The first night is usually a hotel, arranged in a hurry. The harder question comes a few days later, once the damage has been assessed: where will the household live for the months the repair or rebuild will take?
This guide sets out what usually happens next and how to plan somewhere to live that lasts the whole repair, not just the first week. It is general information, not advice. Your policy and your insurer decide what applies to you.
The first few days
- Make it safe, then document it. Once it is safe to do so, photograph and video the damage, and keep receipts for anything you have to buy, including that first night of accommodation.
- Lodge the claim early. Tell your insurer as soon as you can, and ask directly whether your policy includes temporary or alternative accommodation. The government's Moneysmart guide to making a home insurance claim suggests asking about temporary accommodation if damage has made your home unliveable.
- Write down who is handling it. Note the name of your claims manager or loss adjuster and the claim number. Everything about your accommodation will run through them.
How alternative accommodation cover usually works
Many Australian home building policies include some form of cover for somewhere to live if an insured event leaves the home unliveable. It may be called temporary accommodation, alternative accommodation or loss-of-use cover. It usually applies once the claim has been accepted, and it usually has limits on time, amount, or both. Those limits differ from policy to policy, so read your product disclosure statement (PDS) or ask your insurer to confirm them in writing.
Useful questions to ask your insurer:
- Does my policy cover temporary accommodation, and from when?
- Is there a limit on how long it covers, or on the total amount?
- Does the cover extend if the repair or rebuild runs late?
- Can I choose where we stay, or do you arrange it?
- How will accommodation be invoiced: to me, or to you?
Why the length of the stay matters more than the first night
Repairs after water damage can take months. Rebuilds after fire or flood often take much longer, especially where approvals, heritage requirements or trades are in short supply. A hotel room is fine for a week. For three, six or twelve months, most households need:
- Space for everyone, including room to work and study.
- A proper kitchen, so daily life doesn't turn into takeaway.
- Pets kept with the family.
- The same neighbourhood, so school runs, work and routines stay intact.
Planning for the realistic length of the works from the start saves a second move halfway through.
Staying close to home
Where you stay shapes how the whole claim feels. Staying close to the damaged home makes it easier to meet builders and assessors on site, keep children at the same school and stay near family and neighbours. When you speak to your insurer or claims manager, tell them the suburb you need to be near, not just the city.
When the repair runs late
It is common for works to run past the first estimate. Check two things early: whether your cover extends, and whether your accommodation can extend with it. A stay that can simply carry on, without packing up and moving again, is worth a great deal to a household that has already moved once.
How Westprecinct helps
Westprecinct provides temporary accommodation after an insurance claim in Sydney and Melbourne as a genuine furnished home rather than a hotel room. Each residence is matched to the household and its suburb. Stays extend as the works move, and one contact handles the stay from start to finish.
We can invoice the insurer, the claims manager or the policyholder directly, whichever is preferred, with itemised invoices on every stay. We work alongside claims managers, loss adjusters and brokers. We are an accommodation provider, not an insurer or adviser.
If your home has been damaged and you are planning the months ahead, tell us the suburb and your household and we'll let you know what is available nearby.