After a week of rumour Vero Insurance have confirmed that they have adopted the Gluckman Report level of 15 micrograms per 100 cm2. Vero’s communications team have released the following 3 paragraph statement to me.
Vero has introduced changes to our policies that make cover for meth contamination available to customers if the amount present is greater than 15μg/100cm2. This level was recommended by the Gluckman Report, immediately adopted by Housing NZ, and subsequently adopted by the Tenancy Tribunal. At the same time, we are increasing the amount of cover available to customers whose claims are accepted.
The Gluckman Report provided very strong evidence that the previous standards (NZS 8510) for meth remediation were unnecessarily low. The report indicates that contamination is not normally dangerous unless there has been manufacturing of meth, which usually creates contamination at much higher levels that we are currently covering (around 30μg/100cm2 rather than the current level of 1.5μg/100cm2).
Vero wants to ensure that we provide appropriate levels of cover to those customers whose health and wellbeing are most at risk due to meth contamination damage. We also want to reduce unnecessary claims and the associated premium costs for our customers.
We recommend that Policy Holders review the wording of their Policy before its annual review.
We are in communication with other Insurance companies to see if they have had policy adjustments. We will let you know in due course.