Every Aussie has the potential to help recyclable items stay out of our oceans, parks and landfill … and to donate their refund.

Keeping in line with our CHU Strategy for Environment & Sustainability, CHU WA have introduced a ‘Containers for Change’ wheelie bin to the office in 2021 to collect the containers that have a 10c mark. Most aluminium, glass, plastic, steel and liquid paperboard drink containers between 150ml and 3L can be saved.

Make sure you take off the lids and they can recycle those too, just separately.

We make the collection even more meaningful by donating our refund to 4lifeskills. Our chosen charity provides possibilities for work, home, health and fun with a focus on improving life skills and community connections. Click on the link to find out more about 4lifeskills.

The containers at the refund point are sorted, processed and sold to approved recyclers. The approved recyclers then turn the containers into new glass and PET bottles, aluminium cans and other items like food packaging and plastic-based construction items.

83% of all 10c containers return (by weight) stays in Australia and is made into products we consume every day.

Every little action helps to commit to the environment, raise money for a charity or community group and grow better recycling behaviours in the community.

Like to know more, view the Containers for Change website.

CHU, one of Australia’s largest and most awarded underwriting agencies, has added another underwriting agency award to its list.

CHU, which specialises in strata insurance, has won the Insurance Business Australia 2021 Underwriting Agency Award of the Year.

CHU has previously won the Insurance Business Brokers Pick on Underwriting Agencies (2016-2020).

CHU recently won the Underwriting Agency of the Year Award in the 2021 Australian Insurance Industry Awards. CHU has previously won the Australian Industry Award in 2017 and 2018.

“It’s very pleasing to win this further award as it again ratifies the hard work our team has put in during this difficult time for business and the community,” said CHU CEO Kimberley Jonsson.

“It was CHU’s biggest year in terms of our business results, innovation, and customer and staff engagement, which is an achievement amid a pandemic.”

She noted that according to results of NIBA’s national broker survey in 2020, CHU’s NPS score of +45 significantly exceeded the general insurer average and the top insurance agency score.

“We are happy to be acknowledged for our contribution as a strata specialist to the insurance industry and ongoing support of the broader community with this latest award,” Jonsson said.

Be warned: the Bureau of Meteorology has issued a La Niña alert and wild, catastrophic weather may be coming. Are you ready for it?

La Niña could bring higher rainfall, tropical cyclones and gale-force winds, causing devastating damage and severe flooding to properties. 

This weather phenomenon could impact across much of Australia, affecting many communities, including strata properties. Southern and eastern Australia is particularly vulnerable.

The previous La Niña saw devastating and deadly flooding, especially in Queensland, where over two billion dollars’ worth of damage was recorded. There was also widespread flooding in Victoria.

Recently, we have seen a freak tornado tear through Armidale and hailstorms in Sydney . A supercell on the 20th October unleashed a raging hailstorm on the mid north coast of NSW. The Coffs Harbour region saw hail the size of golf balls and flash flooding that caused massive damage to homes, businesses and cars.

If you are a strata property owner it’s vital you ensure you’ve done everything possible to mitigate any damage that may come about from La Niña.

It is good practice to have the local state emergency services number on the common area notice board so that residents can call for help in the event of a major event causing damage to the property.

What you can do to minimise La Niña risks

Rainfall and hail

A good maintenance schedule to minimize potential for water damage to the property:

Hail storms can cause significant damage, cracking or even breaking skylights and windows, leading to rain damage to internal areas. Large hailstones can crack roof tiles, dent aluminium roofs and air conditioner units, block gutters, and result in water escaping into the building. 

Contact the local state emergency services who will be able to assist by placing tarpaulins onto the roof or over damage windows.

Flooding

A few things to do for properties in areas that are prone to flood:

High winds

Gale-force winds and cyclones can put building structures under strain, particularly windows. They can also cause secondary damage by dislodging trees and branches, and turning loose items into dangerous missiles. Regular maintenance of the property and gardens will help reduce the risk of damage. A couple of practical tips include:

What you should do after La Niña strikes

Once the danger has passed, strata committees or their representatives should conduct a thorough inspection of all public areas on the property. A comprehensive report should be compiled, no matter how minor the damage.

The report should detail:

The more detailed and extensive the report is, the easier it will be for insurers to advise on the potential recovery of costs to remedy the damage.

CHU is pleased to announce it has restored the option for rent default cover in its Landlords Insurance for Strata effective from 1 July 2021.

Like most underwriters and insurers, CHU temporarily withdrew rent default cover for new customers from 14 May last year due to COVID-19 concerns. However, rent default cover remained in place for existing customers who purchased prior to 14 May 2020 and on renewal.

From 1 July 2021, CHU Landlords Insurance for Strata will offer optional rent default cover (for up to 15 weeks) for all existing and new customers.

Please note, if you have an existing policy which commenced between 14 May 2020 and 30 June 2021 and you would like to include rent default cover please get in touch with the CHU team who can assist.

CHU Landlords Insurance for Strata offers insurance for owners of apartments, units, villas and townhouses so that they can continue to receive rent if the tenant defaults, suddenly departs or where it’s unfit to be occupied due to damage to the property (up to certain policy limits). It also provides cover for the landlord’s contents. 

For full details, please refer to the Product Disclosure Statement which can be viewed on the CHU website or obtained by contacting CHU directly.

Click here to get details of the CHU Landlords Insurance for Strata, including the rental default cover.

If you have any queries don’t hesitate to contact us:

Broker and strata manager enquiries
Phone: 1300 361 263 (9am-5pm)
Email: info@chu.com.au

Direct customer enquiries
Phone: 1300 289 248 (9am-7pm AEST)
Email: sales@chu.com.au

Our landfill sites are filling. More than a third of the waste now generated in Australia ends up in landfill, with insurance clean-up and repair work material a significant contributor.

A year ago, as part of its environment and sustainability strategy, leading strata insurance specialist CHU began piloting a scheme in Queensland with eco waste managers Handel Group (which styles its brand in lower case with a colon) to lessen impact on landfill. 

CHU uses the unique FLEXiSKiP by handel: to collect and remove waste. The skips are designed to be 100 per cent recycled and can be easily erected on sites. The waste materials are later moved to handel: recycle partners to recycle. 

A landmark has been reached one year on with 90 per cent of the material gathered in the pilot scheme being recycled.

CHU is now encouraging its panel of builders across Australia to use the skips so that the waste can be recycled. Shortly panels in Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania will be able to use the process.

“While it’s absolutely vital for us to help customers get back on their feet after a catastrophe strikes, it’s important we don’t forget that’s not the end of the story,” said CHU’s Head of Claims Andy Martindale.

“The clean-up and repairs following a catastrophe, or a major event generates a substantial amount of waste material.”

“With the demand on our landfill sites growing, CHU is pleased that its association with Handel has seen a reduction in the waste. We look forward to seeing this initiative continue to have an impact,” said Andy Martindale.

Handel Group Co-Founder Brett George noted “we’re proud of the result we have achieved during the CHU pilot, but we don’t want to rest here. We have plans to launch steel skips onto the handel: Platform this year, increasing our capabilities all while remaining focused of our environmental impact”.


Strata insurance can be difficult to grasp. CHU, one of Australia’s leading strata insurance specialists, has put together a video in various languages to help strata owners understand how their property can be covered if misfortune should strike.

On CHU’s website is a useful video available in both English and Mandarin and also with traditional Chinese text subtitles, Vietnamese subtitles, Hindi subtitles, Arabic subtitles and Tagalog subtitles.

The video provides easy to understand explanations about the various strata insurances – strata building insurance, personal contents insurance and landlords insurance – and what they cover. Click here to view the videos.

Owners Corporations need to be asking themselves whether they have sufficient insurance in place to protect their strata building and property for when the unexpected happens.

The law

Under current Victorian strata legislation* an Owners Corporation must insure for its buildings full replacement value, and an independent insurance valuation of the building replacement cost must be completed at least every five years for a prescribed Owners Corporation. Building valuations for strata properties are not only required by law, but they also make good sense. It is a legal obligation and responsibility for an Owners Corporation to ensure that there is no dollar shortfall for the rebuilding of their strata property, should the worst happen. If there is a shortfall, then it is the responsibility of the Owners Corporation to meet this shortfall.

Changes in the law:

The long awaited regulatory reform of Victorian strata legislation has finally passed through Parliament and will come into effect on 1 December 2021.

Under the new legislation it will be a legal requirement for Owners Corporations of 3 lots and over to have a building valuation done at least every five years.  This is a big shift as the expiring legislation only stipulated this for “certain prescribed” Owners Corporations.

Why you need valuations

Apart from the legal requirements, accurate valuations of assets ensures the correct sums insured are in place thereby avoiding the risk of underinsurance or conversely, unnecessary over insurance costs.

The level of insurance that is required tends to increase with time, as you put different materials, construction costs and professional fees increase each year, these factors must be altered in your coverage to reflect the changes and ensure the group remains adequately covered.

More recently fluctuations in the market for building materials and skilled trade’s people has seen many buildings currently underinsured. Therefore, a detailed valuation will account for more than just the replacement value, they will factor increased building costs due to CPI increases, natural events and other disasters.

Plus, in the event of a claim, having a professional insurance valuation can greatly simplify and streamline the claim process.

What does an Insurance Valuation cover?

A valuation of a strata building for a replacement cost assessment should include:

Additional things to consider with an Insurance Valuation

Often, there’s a dangerous assumption that the valuation covers all scenarios but this is simply not the case. It’s worth checking that your instructions to a professional valuer are clear and complete and:

It is also important to note:

This article was supplied by CHU Underwriting Agencies

1300 361 263

www.chu.com.au

*Owners Corporation Act 2006

CHU Underwriting Agencies Pty Ltd (ABN 18 001 580 070, AFS Licence No: 243261) acts under a binding authority as agent of the insurer QBE Insurance (Australia) Limited (ABN 78 003 191 035, AFS Licence No: 239545). Terms, conditions, limits and exclusions apply to the products referred to above. Any advice in this article is general advice only and has been prepared without taking into account your objectives, financial situation or needs. Before making a decision to acquire any product(s) or to continue to hold any product we recommend that you consider whether it is appropriate for your circumstances and read the relevant Product Disclosure Statement which can be viewed on this website or obtained by contacting CHU directly.

A property trend, which is popular overseas, is gaining momentum in Australia.

“Build to rent,” as it is known overseas, is popular in major cities in the UK, US, Japan and parts of Europe because they offer a more secure and better rental experience. In the UK, for example, there are now an estimated 170,000 build-to-rent apartments in the planning, construction and operational phases in London, Birmingham, Manchester and other major cities

The “build to rent” concept means individual builders and property developers are retaining 100% ownership of the unit/apartment block development, rather than selling some or all of the units on completion or registering it for strata title.

As one of Australia’s leading strata insurance specialist, CHU is also seeing a trend towards 100% ownership by an individual or a company that negates the need for registration as a strata scheme under the state-based strata title legislation.

The “build to rent” concept was accelerated here in recent times after state governments and international investors got behind the idea.

THE NSW government announced in February a number of planning and tax reforms, including a minimum 50% discount on land tax and exemption on foreign investor surcharges, to spur “build to rent” developments.

International investors are increasingly showing greater appetite for the asset class in Australia. Institutional investors, such as the bigger superannuation funds, are also showing an interest.

Global investment manager Greystar Real Estate Partners raising $1.3 billion from European investors to development build to rent housing here, planning to deliver some 5,000 new homes. Canadian developer Oxford Properties is planning a $450 million Melbourne development following the Victorian government announcing it would reduce land tax by 50% for “build to rent”.

In Queensland it’s also gathering pace with “build to rent” forming part of the government’s $1.8 billion Queensland Housing Strategy.

The asset class could contribute $2.9 billion annual to the construction sector, according property experts Allens and Urbis.

This trend is also a golden opportunity for insurance brokers.

There’s a gap in the insurance market for these non-registered strata style units. The risks seem to fall between the cracks for insurance, as they are neither a registered strata plan nor a residential home building. In reality, these properties have the risk profile of a strata unit block but the absence of a registered strata plan number which has in the past prevented some strata insurers from insuring them.

However, CHU has launched the first product, Build to Rent – Residential Insurance, specifically designed to provide cover for these properties. CHU’s Build to Rent insures the property, provides liability insurance, machinery breakdown cover and catastrophe insurance.

The affordability of housing is still, despite the pandemic, a major issue in Australia. It’s continuing to drive many to consider rental as a long-term option. As a result, the “build to rent” trend is likely to grow exponentially to cater for the rental market in our major cities.

The long awaited regulatory reform of Victorian strata legislation has finally passed through Parliament and will come into effect on 1 December 2021.

Under the new legislation it will be a legal requirement for Owners Corporations of 3 lots and over to have a building valuation done at least every five years.  This is a big shift as the expiring legislation only stipulated this for “certain prescribed” Owners Corporations.

A full valuation, undertaken by a strata specialist company, has always been the best way for an Owners Corporation to ensure they adequately protect their assets and meet legislative requirements.

CHU welcomes the news of an industry first insurance solution for building practitioners to be involved in the Victorian Government’s $600 million cladding rectification program.

Dangerous cladding in high-rise buildings, especially strata ones, is an ongoing major safety issue globally, following a number of high-profile fire disasters, including in Australia. Both the Victorian and New South Wales governments are now actively combatting this issue. 

One stumbling block has been cladding-specific exclusions in many building practitioners’ professional indemnity insurance policies, reducing the number who could carry out cladding rectification. 

But now the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP) and Cladding Safety Victoria (CSV) have partnered with brokerage firm Lockton to deliver a suite of policies that provide professional indemnity insurance coverage through Cladding Safety Victoria’s program. 

This initiative will give the strata community comfort they have liability protection when the rectification work is being carried out.

The present La Niña weather pattern may impact Australian strata title buildings.

A typical La Niña season can bring higher rainfall across the country, increased possibility of tropical cyclones, and a longer monsoon season in the far north. This increased rainfall can help reduce bushfire risk, but will increase the likelihood and severity of flooding, not just in tropical Australia, but also in the south. 

The last La Niña event stretched from 2010 to 2012 and included intense, devastating and deadly flooding – especially in Queensland, where over two billion dollars’ worth of damage was recorded. There was also widespread and disastrous flooding in Victoria.

Strong winds are also a major factor in La Niña periods with the increased prevalence of cyclones and gale-force storms.  Those intense winds not only cause severe damage on their own, but can also raise tide levels causing coastal and low-lying seawater inundation, and erosion.

All of Australia will feel the effects of this weather system, however those effects will vary from north to south.

The northern tropics will likely see, not only more water, but also more potentially catastrophic winds, with an increased chance of cyclones and monsoons.  In the south – even as far as Tasmania – river systems can potentially peak and experience slow or flash flooding – often in the days after the severe weather front has passed, as rivers fill with run-off from catchment areas.

What you can do to minimise La Niña risks

Rainfall and hail

High winds

What you should do after La Niña strikes

Once the danger has passed, strata committees or their representatives should conduct a thorough inspection of all public areas on the property. A comprehensive report should be compiled, no matter how minor the damage.

The report should detail:

The more detailed and extensive the report is, the easier it will be for insurers to advise on the potential recovery of costs to remedy the damage.

This article was supplied by CHU Underwriting Agencies

Disclaimer: CHU Underwriting Agencies Pty Ltd (ABN 18 001 580 070, AFS Licence No: 243261) acts under a binding authority as agent of the insurer QBE Insurance (Australia) Limited (ABN 78 003 191 035, AFS Licence No: 239545). Any advice in this article is general advice only and has been prepared without taking into account your objectives, financial situation or needs. Please read the relevant Product Disclosure Statement before acquiring any products mentioned.

CHU today announced that Chief Executive Officer Bobby Lehane will step down from his role in March 2021, following nearly six years of leadership.

Lehane advised that, with the business strongly positioned for the future, it was time to pursue his next professional opportunity.

CHU is pleased to confirm that Kimberley Jonsson will succeed Lehane as Chief Executive Officer. Jonsson has been with CHU for 15 years and has held several senior roles across the business, most recently leading the New South Wales and Australian Capital Territory region, which is CHU’s largest portfolio.

Lehane said he was delighted to see an internal successor appointed.

“Kim’s appointment as CEO is a tremendous outcome for CHU. It is one of the leading roles in the Australian insurance industry and I am very pleased to see someone of Kim’s calibre step into the position,” he said.

Steadfast Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Robert Kelly acknowledged Lehane’s contribution to the business.

“Bobby has overseen a period of significant progress and growth at CHU, and we thank him for his leadership and commitment,” Kelly said. “With a strong and experienced leadership team in place, CHU is well-positioned for continued success. Kim is a highly capable executive with a proven track record, and we are delighted to see her appointed to lead the business.”

Jonsson said she was honoured to be appointed to the role.

“To be given the opportunity to lead CHU is a privilege, particularly having started my career with the business,” she said.

“Under Bobby’s leadership, CHU has evolved into a resilient and high-performing organisation. We are well-positioned to deliver on our strategy through to 2025, and I am confident about the opportunities ahead.”

Reflecting on his tenure, Lehane said he was proud of the progress he achieved as CEO.

“It has been an incredibly rewarding period, and I am proud of what the team has accomplished,” he said. “While the environment continues to evolve, I believe it is important to continue moving forward and making decisions with confidence.

“I leave the business in a strong position and with an outstanding successor in place.”

Lehane will continue in his role until March 2021 to support a smooth transition.

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mediaenquiries@chu.com.au 

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