Family lives in caravan and shed after Suncorp delays worsen home damage

A family of seven are living in an overcrowded caravan and shed after insurance provider Suncorp exacerbated damage to their home.

What started as a leaking toilet has turned into a mould 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 have no indication of when the rectifications will start.

"Ten months into this claim and we're still living like this, and we have uncertainty because we've never been told of when or how long this claim would take," said the father, John Balzan.

Contents cross-contaminated

In September, the Balzans' property in the rural Queensland town of Wurdong Heights experienced an accidental leak from one of the toilets, leading to sewage spreading to multiple rooms in the house.

The Balzans notified their insurer immediately, with Suncorp estimating remediation would be completed by the end of October.

But delays by Suncorp's contractors meant repair work did not properly start for months as mould rapidly grew throughout the home and contents.

When the contractors did address the contents in November, cross-contamination occurred as they placed contaminated items into initially non-contaminated rooms.

"We just don't know what to do … we are trying to get answers and [Suncorp] just blow us off, like we're just nothing," Mr Balzan said.

In a statement to the ABC, a spokesperson for Suncorp said: "We acknowledge this has been an extremely difficult and distressing situation for the Balzan family."

"This is a complex claim, and we are continuing to work with the family to complete the restoration and repair works as a matter of urgency," the statement said.

Insurer admits fault, but no remediation timeline

In February, Suncorp apologised to the Balzan family, admitting the insurer was responsible for secondary damage to the family home and its contents.

In a letter to John Balzan and his wife Lani, Suncorp said it acknowledged "the initial restoration process for your claim could have been managed more effectively".

"Additionally, unaffected contents should have been stored externally, rather than in the living room, to prevent cross-contamination."

Lani Balzan, who is a renowned Indigenous artist, said $480,000 worth of her artwork was damaged due to the delays.

"It's hard to even put in words because with my art. It's not just something that looks beautiful and pretty or someone appreciates. It's part of who I am, my identity and my culture," she said.

The family said contractors were instructed to dispose of the artworks into a skip bin without acknowledging or respecting appropriate cultural practices.

"So we kept them back and disposed of them properly in a cultural way back on Country so that they weren't just thrown in landfill," she said.

A spokesperson for Suncorp said: "It is not our policy to remove contents without a customer's approval and our process supports restoration solutions where possible."

In emails to the family, Suncorp confirmed its contractors were responsible for the secondary damage destroying the majority of contents in the Balzans' home.

The Balzans provided the insurer with a detailed replacement schedule of all their contents affected by the damage but the claim is yet to be settled, with Suncorp telling them a specialist team is considering it.

Insurers responsible for contractors' actions

Prue Monument, general manager of the General Insurance Code Governance Committee, said insurers must take responsibility for damage caused to a customer's home, even if it was caused by a stakeholder they employed.

"If they're engaging repairers or they're engaging experts to support the claims, then the insurer also remains responsible for their compliance with the code and ensuring that the work is to quality, ensuring the work is timely to avoid these flow-on cases," she said.

The Balzans have an open complaint with the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA), and Suncorp has offered to pay them $6,300 in non-financial loss compensation to close the complaint on top of the remediation work required.

As they continue to wait for an update on the rectification work, Mr Balzan said the stress on the family had been devastating.

A spokesperson for Suncorp said: "We have offered alternate accommodation throughout the claim and that offer remains available at any time, as we agree the family's current living arrangements are not a suitable long-term solution."

But Mr Balzan said the offer only came in May and it had been near-impossible to find accommodation in rural Queensland that could house seven people with no furniture.

Lawyers seeing delays too often

The director of advice of the Financial Rights Legal Centre, Erin Mulally, said too often families struggled with delays by an insurance company, often resulting in "consumer harm".

At times she has seen delays blow out to two years.

"In our practice [we're seeing] experts who produce poor repairs, claims, delays in the claims process without any clear explanation. It's something that needs to be addressed," she said.

In May, ABC News revealed an elderly woman in Western Sydney had been stuck in a nine-year battle with the same insurer, Suncorp, after a minor claim was exacerbated by contractors.

The latest CHOICE survey found the level of trust in general insurers was at an all-time low of just 17 per cent since the survey began 11 years ago.

Ms Monument said as insurance premiums continued to rise, transparency with members had never been more important.

"We also know through our work with financial counsellors and consumer advocates, just how critical that transparency is. But it's not just transparency, it's clarity and accessibility," she said.

Insurance code under review

A review of the General Insurance Code of Practice has been underway since 2023, with public consultation on the latest draft closing yesterday.

The Financial Rights Legal Centre's principal of policy development, Drew MacRae, is concerned the new draft has removed dozens of consumer protections.

"There is a current code, it's got about 235 clauses. About 65 of those, or about a little under 30 per cent, have either disappeared or in some way have gone backwards," he said.

The new draft code now means insurers' key commitments will be legally enforceable in consumer contracts, which Mr MacRae welcomes.

"But that really shouldn't come at the cost of a weakened code," he said.

"They've weakened some previous commitments around their investigation practices, which needs to be dealt with."

Mr MacRae has led a joint submission on behalf of 10 consumer organisations to the Insurance Council of Australia with feedback on the draft, recommending extra support for vulnerable customers, premium hardship support and standardised expert reports.

An Insurance Council of Australia spokesperson said the changes to the code raised the bar for consumers.

"The redrafted code will be contractually enforceable, strengthening every commitment insurers make and giving consumers clear new avenues for redress where those commitments are not met," they said.

"It enhances support for people experiencing vulnerability, broadens family violence protections to cover financial abuse, and lifts the standard of care people can expect when they make a claim."