Southern Response - temporary repairs to houses

Southern Response have updated their website with information for those awaiting either rebuilds or repairs, and wishing to stay in their existing damaged property until then. The following is from the new section (here) :

What should you do if you need temporary repairs to your house?

We are sometimes asked to do temporary repairs to a customer's home to make it more habitable and comfortable, before the main repairs are done, or before the house is rebuilt.  This might cover things like cladding or roofing, insulation, drainage or removal of liquefaction.

If you believe your property needs temporary repairs for you to be able to remain living there, please contact us to talk about your situation.  We look at each request individually, taking into account all circumstances.

We need to ensure our customers live in weathertight, secure homes that they are able to heat, and that their home is structurally safe to live in. 

Temporary Repairs for Rebuilds

If your home needs repairs so that you are able to remain living there until it is rebuilt, the cost of doing these repairs will most commonly come from your temporary accommodation allowance or, if you choose, or from the funds allocated to rebuild your house. 

We will ask you to enter an agreement that the cost of the repairs will:

• Come from any temporary accommodation allowance you may have through your policy with us, or
• Be repaid to us by you if you choose to take a cash settlement rather than build with us, or
• Come from the rebuilding funds if you choose to rebuild with us, or
• Be funded by an advance from us, which will be repaid by you before your rebuild begins.

We also need the agreement of any financially interested party (bank etc) before we can proceed with a temporary repair agreement.

Customers will need to have a clear understanding that if they proceed down this proposed temporary repair path using rebuild funds, they will have less settlement funds from Southern Response to finally repair or rebuild their home.

Temporary Repairs for Repairable Houses

If you need repairs done so that you can stay in your house until the main repairs are done we will see if we can bring forward some of those repairs to enable you to remain living there. 

We will only pay for repairs to any part of your house to be done once.  If temporary repairs would have to be redone as part of the main repairs, we are likely to choose to cash settle your entire claim so that you can manage the repairs in your own timeframe.

.