Know your Natural Hazards Commission (NHC) cover

The Natural Hazards Commission (NHC) Toka Tū Ake (formerly EQC) is calling on homeowners to know their cover - before they need it.

Why it's important

New research[1] shows that homeowner understanding of natural hazards insurance is often low, with only a third confident that they know what damage to their home would or would not be covered by insurance after a natural hazard event. This can make things confusing and frustrating when an event happens.

We're encouraging New Zealanders to prepare themselves by getting to know their cover and understanding where insurance starts and finishes.

The good news is that Natural Hazards Cover provides a first layer of cover for your home, and cover for some of the land under and around it, for a range of natural hazards.  Homeowners who have home insurance with fire cover automatically have Natural Hazards Cover to help them rebuild and recover from natural disasters.

Know your cover checklist: five things you can do

  1. Regularly check your private insurance policy to consider whether you are comfortable with the level of cover you have in place
  2. Understand which areas of your land might not be covered by natural hazards cover
  3. Learn about the risks to your property, and how the land around you might be affected
  4. Seek expert advice about how to reduce your risks from builders, engineers, or our website
  5. Plan for how you'd manage after an event; insurance claims and rebuilding takes time.

For more useful resources, please see NHC's website:

Get to know your natural hazards cover(external link) — Natural Hazards Commission Toka Tū Ake

Footnote

[1] Only one third of homeowners confidently understand their insurance - NHC urging people to ‘Know Your Cover’(external link) — Natural Hazards Commission Toka Tū Ake