Home airstrip and household insurance

[NT5224]

Hi folks!

 

Something I've raised here before - having an airstrip on your property and  how it impacts home insurance.

 

I'm keen to know from others who have an airstrip how and if it affects your insurance policy. 

 

Not looking for comments about "its just a  big fire break mate!" 

 

That won't help when your home burns down and the Insurance company want to get out of paying out.

 

So people who currently have airstrips, what if any accomodations have you made with household insurers?

 

Cheers

 

Alan 

[Kyle Communications]

None..I have farm insurance for public liability also on all the farm equipment and the hangar and the shed...will tell you later this year when I get the house build finished..but mine is about 2k per year now

 

[onetrack]

Alan, your current Home & Contents insurance PDS should be clear on what is covered, and what is not covered in the policy. Any aviation operations within the residential area are usually excluded from the cover.

I presume you're concerned about a possible increased risk to your home by operating an aircraft in the near vicinity. I would call your insurance company to find out their attitude towards such operations.

Unless the home was located close to the range of the normal airstrip clearances, I see no major problem with the airstrip posing any problem as regards holding a standard home insurance policy.

 

https://www.casa.gov.au/file/105066/download?token=aMdVb6EO

 

I don't know if you allow other aviators to use your airstrip, but if you do, you probably need airstrip operators liability insurance.

 

https://www.bentoninsurance.com.au/aviation-insurance/airstrip-operators-liability/

[NT5224]

Hi onetrack 

 

Thanks for your insights. I agree with all you have written. 

 

I am not concerned with household insurance covering the airstrip or aviation related activities and assets. 

 

Some insurance providers ( trying to ascertain the extent through this thread) see having an airstrip on a property as an additional risk ( even if the insurance does not cover anything aviation related). I guess they assume an aircraft might crash in flames into your house - or whatever (!!) Anyway, it either means they either refuse to cover or offer such extraordinarily high premiums as to effectively prohibit taking up insurance on your home.

 

Its likely that farm or corporate policies are different but domestic household insurance seems to be a problem. 

 

Somebody we know had their insurance cover revoked when it came to light that he had a strip on his block...

 

I'm guessing that some people in this site have airstrips on their properties and also have household insurance so I want to know about their experiences and or solutions with regard this...

 

Cheers

 

Alan

 

[KRviator]

We live within spitting distance of the threshold of a Council runway, that is both lit and has an instrument approach to that threshold.

 

Our home insurance I think it is with Allianz but would have to check, covers impact by aircraft, and also views our good-sized hangar as a typical workshed. They seem to view our property as a standard residential risk, notwithstanding the airport proximity or the fact we have private taxiway access to it.

[Bruce Tuncks]

Alan, you are doing the right thing by getting the issue up front. Just how they can say that your insurance is invalid if you made a claim that had nothing to do with the strip is beyond me.

Personally, I don't believe in insurance. I would rather pay the premium money out on building a fireproof etc house.But that's just me. I know of others who have had a great response from the insurers.  The Alice Springs Gliding Club comes to mind.

[NT5224]

3 minutes ago, Bruce Tuncks said:

Alan, you are doing the right thing by getting the issue up front. Just how they can say that your insurance is invalid if you made a claim that had nothing to do with the strip is beyond me.

Personally, I don't believe in insurance. I would rather pay the premium money out on building a fireproof etc house.But that's just me. I know of others who have had a great response from the insurers.  The Alice Springs Gliding Club comes to mind.

Bruce just to clarify, nobody is saying my insurance is invalid. My current policy was entered into before we had an airstrip (they did ask if we had one!)

 

I'm just concerned that if I have need to call upon my insurance (bushfire being our greatest threat) the insurer could try and renage on payment by saying we have an airstrip.

 

The actual strip is approximately 2 kilometres from my house through woodlands no chance it could have any impact on my residential risks..

 

It is only for our personal use, no other users.

 

My friend who had the issue had been insured five years with an airstrip  on his block when the insurers found out about it on a renewal - and said he would need to substantially increase his premium.

 

His property is much smaller than mine but I fear I would face similar issues. Waiting to hear from anybody with residential property and an airstrip on their block...

[skippydiesel]

General observations:

 

• Insurers are not charities, they will seek to minimise payouts/increase premiums where ever they can.
• Insurers can not legitimately invalidate a policy/claim, just because you have, say a private /your use only, strip, on your land. There must be a causal link between the activity/asset that resulted in the claim for it to be invalidated, in part/whole .eg aircraft fire destroyed insured house. Not saying the insurer will try for an invalidation but when push comes to (legal) shove if no link exists, they can not reduce/negate the claim eg presence of airstrip had no bearing on house fire.

[Thruster88]

I think your friend has to call the insurance companies bluff, "no problem I will shop around". Many farms, like mine have airstrip's. We can live in fear of some one in a million event or we can live free. 

[Thruster88]

It has just occurred to me that I should immediately inform my insurance company that I operate a high powered tractor with auto steer in close proximity to my house like a gazillion other farmers. It has happened on rare occasions that the operator has fallen asleep in auto steer tractors.  

[spacesailor]

I,m having problems with my residential insurer,  NRMA, they say we are old and not keeping up the property maintenance.

AND that cost $ 1870 for a standard brick veneer suburban home.

spacesailor 

[onetrack]

Spacey, how did NRMA discover your house maintenance was not up to scratch? Do they send snooping insurance detectives around to check? 

All insurance policies have a requirement that you keep the insured item in good condition. Failure to do so does result in lower payouts, if a claim is lodged and the company determines the item was in poor condition prior to the insurance event.

Failing to keep your car in roadworthy condition can lead to insurance companies refusing to pay out on claims. And "prior damage" is not covered, either.

 

We pay $566 annually for "unlimited value" home insurance for a 3 bedroom, double brick and tile, "heritage-classed" home (built in 1957), 5kms from the Perth CBD - with another $182 for $80,000 in contents value - all through AAMI.

Unlimited value means no upper limit to rebuilding the house, if it ends up in a level pile of crumbled masonry on the ground. It will be rebuilt to the original plans and building standard.

The house would probably cost well over $400,000 to rebuild, with raised jarrah floors and jarrah trim, decorative 9' (2.75M) and 9' 6" (2.9M) ceilings, and timber and tile window awnings.

We have only ever had one claim, about 20 yrs ago, a savage wind flattened the back fence (6' asbestos sheeting). It was fully paid out, and replaced with Hardifence fibre cement sheeting, and the company also disposed of the asbestos.

We do keep the house in good condition - the old saying "a stitch in time saves nine", is very applicable when it comes to house maintenance.

 

Edited June 28, 2021 by onetrack

[spacesailor]

We recently had a storm  & we ended up with bubbles in the front lounge room  'ceiling '. they sent their assessors One for inside  ( he said No worries ) but another stomped around On the roof.

Roof upgraded & painted 3 years ago. He said the roofer had not made the weep holes large enough and the whirlybird not installed properly.

So this Wednesday we pay another roofer to Drill all those little holes on the roof then check ' what the heck ' is wrong with the ten year old whirlybird.

That is what OLD ( in their paperwork ) people have to put up with.

At $ 1850 we can have the ceiling replaced with money left over. ( ceiling repainted two year ago ).

spacesailor