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| Flood damage in the Bryans' Kenmore home. |
A Kenmore family which says its insurer, Suncorp, has prevented it returning home after the 2011 floods, is staging a protest sleep-out in the CBD's Cathedral Square on Friday.
Tracey Bryan's family was forced out of its home for six months after a metre of water swept through the brick house in Dunbarton Drive, near Moggill Creek in Kenmore, in 2009 and caused $200,000 of damage.
The family was home for 14 months before the January 2011 floods struck, this time with water reaching the ceiling of the bottom floor of the house.
"Two years later, we are at the situation where Suncorp want to basically do the same work they did after the 2009 flood, but we have a slab that is unserviceable and doesn't comply with the Australian building codes because it has been so distorted by the soil consolidating and swelling," she said.
"Suncorp is using every excuse under the sun to say it was like that before the flood."
The mother of twin 11-year-old boys argues Suncorp should pay the family $600,000 so it can demolish its house and build a new one.
However, Suncorp's spokesman Marcus Taylor said the insurer had already paid the family $398,000 and covered all its rent while the house was repaired.
The Bryan family said that figure was not solely for repairs to the house but also included for their contents, removal costs, accommodation costs and other expenses incurred by them.
Mr Taylor agreed there was a dispute over the condition of the slab at the Bryan's home, and said one structural engineer had told the family the slab was damaged before the 2011 floods.
"So we paid out everything else, we would have everything else repaired," Mr Taylor said.
Ms Bryan has disputed this advice and has sought additional structural engineers' advice on the concrete slab.
The issue is now with the financial ombudsman who will reach a decision on the matter within a month.
Mr Taylor said: "The total amount we have lodged into her [Ms Bryan's] account is close to $400,000".
"She wants to demolish the home and rebuild it, and is asking for 12 months rent while that happens. We think the house can be repaired."
Suncorp is prepared to accept the decision of the Financial Ombudsman, Mr Taylor said.
www.BrisbaneTimes.com.au
8.1.13
