Landlord / Property
$5,000 Offer. $20,000 Settlement. Here's How We Got There.
$5,000 offer turned into a full replacement settlement
The challenge
A landlord client had a leaking shower in one of their rental properties. The loss adjuster assessed the damage and offered a $5,000 settlement, classifying the entire claim as hidden gradual damage - a policy extension with a defined cap. Left unchallenged, this would have left our client significantly out of pocket with a property still unfit to rent.
Our approach
We disagreed with the loss adjuster's blanket assessment and pushed back hard. Over the following month we worked through the claim piece by piece, arguing that the damage needed to be assessed on its own merits in each area of the property. We established that while the adjoining kitchen damage did qualify as gradual damage - attracting the $5,000 policy maximum - the shower itself was a separate matter: the failure was accidental and unforeseen, meaning the bathroom was entitled to full replacement cover.
The outcome
With that conceded, our focus shifted to how the replacement should be carried out. Rather than accept a like-for-like repair that would have left the property vacant far longer, we negotiated a settlement that got the property back to a rentable standard properly - a far cry from the original $5,000 offer.
The takeaway
A blanket assessment is not the final word. Assessed area by area, on the merits, the outcome changed completely - because someone was in the client's corner to argue it.