Getting your claim reviewed

Overview of the review process

There are separate processes and requirements for reviewing a settled Canterbury earthquake claim based on whether the claim was for building, land, or contents. This page will help you navigate the process and outline what circumstances might qualify for a review, and what won’t.

1. The first part of the claim review process will involve the following steps. Contact us to discuss your concerns. Provide us with as much information as you can. See below for the types of information that may be helpful to have on hand. 
2. A settlement specialist or claim manager will be assigned to review your concerns. 
3. The settlement specialist or claim manager will contact you to discuss the next steps.  

We’ll require you as the homeowner, to provide evidence that damage was missed or repairs to your home were substandard. 

If you’ve already had work completed by a private contractor and paid them, we may reimburse you to the extent liable under the EQC Act. 

Request a building claim review

To request a claim review contact us with your claim number or the address of your property, or complete our online Claim Review Form. 

Information you can provide

You may already have information that could help your settlement specialist or claim manager understand your concerns when you contact us.  

This information may include, but it is not limited to:  

• a list of the specific damages you’re concerned about and the rooms where it’s located  
• how you noticed the damage, such as doors not shutting, carpet being lifted, cracking on the wall, or a professional report 
• photos you’ve taken of the damage  
• reports or documents you think may be helpful during the review which provide  evidence of damage in the areas of concern.  

If you bought the property after the earthquakes, you must provide the sale and purchase agreement, deed of assignment and any pre-purchase reports.  

Your settlement specialist or claim manager can help if you have questions about the information required.  

Drainage claim reviews

One of the most common reasons for a request for a claim review is newly discovered damage to drains that a homeowner thinks was caused by the Canterbury earthquakes. If you believe you might have grounds to have your drainage claim review, see our page on drainage claims. 

Information from your building contractor

Ask your building contractor to complete the form below to tell us about the damage. They should provide detailed information about missed damaged or sub-standard repairs. Visit our building claim page for more details. 

It will be helpful for the contractor to include the claim number so please provide it to them. 

Contractor statement of damage [PDF, 89 KB] – Printer friendly PDF

Request a land claim review

If you have concerns about the decision made for your land claim, or you have new information that supports your concerns, you can ask us to review your claim. Contact us first to speak to one of our team about your concerns and the next steps.  

You can request a review if your concerns relate to the following:

• Visible land damage 
• Increased Flooding Vulnerability damage (IFV)
• Increased Liquefaction Vulnerability damage (ILV)

Depending on your concerns, there are different types of supporting information that may be helpful. We encourage you to contact us first so we can help explain what information may be required.

If you already have information that you think may support your concerns, you can send it to info@naturalhazards.govt.nz or post it to PO Box 311, Wellington 6140.  

Request a contents claim review

Many outstanding contents claims relate to homes that have been, or are to be, demolished because of the severity of the damage caused by the earthquakes. These claims are usually for carpets and drapes.

Information to support your contents claim 

You can provide any one of the following:

• confirmation from your private insurer that the home is to be demolished
• a demolition certificate
• other evidence that the house has been demolished or rebuilt.

Damaged items

If you have outstanding claims for items that were damaged at the time of the earthquakes and you would like to claim for these, complete a Schedule of Contents form [PDF, 337 KB]. You can also speak to one of our team about your concerns.

We may ask you some of the following questions when you get in touch. 

• Do you have photos of the damaged items?
• Do you still have the damaged items?
• Have the items been in storage?
• Why were your concerns not lodged at the time of the original claim? 

Reviewed claims need support by experts

Over time, the cause of damage to a home can become less clear. Given this uncertainty, an expert assessment is required to confirm that the damage was caused by the Canterbury earthquakes. If it is confirmed as earthquake damage it can be covered under the EQC Act. Damage from other causes is not covered. 

You may need one or more experts to assess your damage and write report(s). These reports will be given to your claim manager to confirm the cause, extent and appropriate repair strategy for earthquake damage.

Getting your property damage assessed

Your claim manager will advise whether and what expert reports are required to progress your claim. If expert reports are helpful and relevant, Natural Hazards Commission Toka Tū Ake (NHC) will generally meet the fair and reasonable costs of preparing them. If the reports don't provide information we need, NHC won’t meet the report costs.   

You need to make sure your expert has the skills and experience relevant to the information required for your report. Your claim manager may be able to help ensure your chosen expert has the relevant experience. 

Information we need to receive 

For NHC to accept an expert report, the report should address the following.

• Whether individual parts of your home were damaged by the Canterbury earthquakes. This must include a satisfactory explanation of the reason for, or cause of, that damage. Statements like "it can be assumed that the foundation cracking is earthquake damage" alone are unlikely to be accepted.   
• Experts are expected to consider, and note, alternative or non-earthquake causes of damage and explain why they consider that the damage was caused by the earthquakes.   
• If certain damage is historic and not earthquake-related, the expert should say so and explain their conclusion.   
• Where the expert decides that any previous NHC earthquake repairs have failed, they must explain why the failure has occurred. Statements like "the repair was not completed properly" without further explanation will not be sufficient. 
• Expert reports should note any uncertainty in assessing how the damage occurred.   
• If a property has historic floor level variation (dislevelment), the engineer needs   to confirm that the earthquakes altered the floor levels enough to have an impact on the usefulness or appearance of the property and, by how much.  Statements like "though there was some historic dislevelment, at least a portion of the dislevelment is likely to be earthquake damage" alone won’t be sufficient.   
•  The impact of any post-earthquake renovations or other work done to the property on the assessment of any unrepaired earthquake damage to the property.   
• If there are limitations preventing the expert from considering some of the above factors, the expert should explain why they can't reasonably consider them.   
• Your claim manager will advise which expert(s) should provide detailed repair costs in their report to help NHC understand the likely costs.

This information is summarised in our obtaining expert reports for a Canterbury claim factsheet [PDF, 770 KB].

You can see a flow chart of the claim review process here [PDF, 298 KB].