Finding temporary accommodation during your home insurance claim

Imagine this. Like many Australian families, your home has sustained damage from a storm, a fire, a flood or other event.

You make an insurance claim.

The insurance assessor attends your property and surveys the damage. They tell you “you need to find temporary accommodation for the next two weeks”.

What are your options?

Hotel or serviced apartment accommodation

In the case of an emergency, your insurer may suggest you find a hotel room or two for you and your family.

While this is a very good emergency solution, this is not an adequate solution for ongoing home insurance claims.

Hotel rooms generally lack full kitchen or laundry facilities that are essential for any stay of over one week.

In addition, a lack of clothes storage, bedrooms, private open space and strict rules about pets (even in “pet friendly” options) mean that hotels are inadequate should your insurance work extend beyond a week or so.

Short term rental accommodation platforms

When you have a family with a child or two, and perhaps a pet, many more suitable options for accommodation can be found on furnished accommodation platforms such as AirBNB, Booking.com and Stayz (VRBO).

The strength of these platforms is that they don’t just offer rooms in a larger complex, but whole properties. Here you may find houses, duplexes and apartments that are much more suited to a medium term stay of more than 21 days.

However, the major risk is that properties on these platforms are a mixed bag. People list their properties on these platforms for many reasons.

It may be a typical landlord trying out their investment property on the short term market.

Or maybe a family listing their primary residence to fund a few weeks away in the middle of summer, with no intention of moving out for you.

Unlike Hotels, these properties are usually not professionally operated, meaning you don’t really know what you will get until you get there. In the worst case scenario, the property might be poorly maintained and no better than the property you have left.

Also, you will have to move out when the next booking arrives, without the flexibility to stay as long as you need for your insurance work.

Long term rentals

Another good option to consider is taking on a long term lease, but this is not without its challenges.

For example, there is a high level of competition for rental properties with low rental vacancy rates across much of Australia. This is especially true for high quality rental properties.

Also, you are responsible for moving in and furnishing the property, which will need to be packed down when you leave.

There are good quality and bad quality properties on the rental market, and your insurer may not be open to paying for a six to twelve month lease when the length of your building works is unknown.

Boutique Property Hosts

We operate in the gap between each of the options listed above. We place families in high quality, family friendly and pet friendly temporary accommodation across Australia.

We recognise the basics that everyone is looking for in a property: well maintained, full kitchens and laundries, air conditioning, work from home friendly, and big enough for everyone who needs to stay.

We understand that sometimes you need to extend your stay, and we can offer you this flexibility as well to minimise the interruptions to your life.

Conclusion

If you need to find temporary accommodation for an insurance claim, try out the above options. If you need assistance in the process, please contact Boutique Property Hosts.

The information in this article is general in nature and is not personal advice for what to do in the situation of an insurance claim. Before acting on any information, consider the appropriateness of the information provided and seek independent advice from a qualified professional. Link to terms and conditions.