Can’t get insurance

Hi Guys,
I have an investment property in QLD, that has had some issues with the foundations – because of the dodgy builder. The builder had gone under but fortunately I was still covered by the QBSA's mandatory building insurance.There is minor/moderate cracking of the walls which will eventually be fixed, but right now the main focus is the foundations which are being 'underpinned' at the moment. The QBSA insurance is picking up the full bill for that and I believe for the eventual repair of the walls as well.

The problem is I can't get home insurance on the property anymore!
I signed up with Suncorp in May, while the QBSA were still surveying the property (I didn't know about the issues with the foundations at this point). The reason I switched to Suncorp was because I wanted some flood coverage.

The QBSA finally got back to me and advised of the foundations issues in late August, and I rang Suncorp late September -after waiting a few more weeks to get a scope of works & timeline from the QBSA’s repair contractors.

I explained the whole situation to Suncorp over the phone. Basically the tenants had to move out as the floors needed to be disturbed as part of the underpinning of the foundations – so the house will be unoccupied until the works are due to be completed in mid Feb next year.

Suncorp initially agreed to continue my cover, on condition I pay an additional excess in the event of a claim.
However when they sent out my revised insurance certificate, they made a number of errors & contradictions.
I wrote them a letter explaining everything again and asked them to correct the insurance certificate or call me back.

They wrote a vague letter about trying unsuccessfully to contact me, and when I finally got through to them they told me they were cancelling my insurance and I had 10 days to find alternative insurance.
How they can cancel the insurance when I haven't done anything wrong, or withheld information – and they have accepted that I haven’t done anything wrong – is really beyond me! …but that still isn't even the main issue…

I called them (originally) 29th September, sent them the follow-up letter 10th October, works started on the property on the 13th October, and they eventually advised they were cancelling on the 2nd November – nearly three weeks after the works had already started.I have contacted three separate QLD based insurance brokers, to try to seek alternative insurance, and each one has given me almost the same response “As the scope of works on the property has already commenced, we regret that we are unable to provide you with insurance”.

So it seems on top of Suncorp generally stuffing me around, they have also hampered my ability to find alternative insurance. If they had advised they weren’t going to insure me upfront, I could have had time to find alternative insurance elsewhere, before the scope of works had started. Now it seems like I’m pretty much stuffed.

I have already been through Suncorp’s internal dispute resolution process and they are sticking to their decision – despite my willingness to negotiate a limited cover arrangement, or accept special conditions/excesses. I had already lodged a complaint against Suncorp with the Financial Ombudsman, and I guess my next step is to escalate that complaint, as I don’t see any other options.

Can anyone offer any advice here?
Are their any insurance companies out there that specialise in buildings that are undergoing rectification works?

I am primarily interested in securing coverage against bushfire, storm damage, and impact (i.e. drunk drivers, etc).
I want to make sure that I have at least *some* level of coverage, until the works can be completed in Feb next year – because as of last Saturday, I’m now uninsured.

Sorry for the long post…
Cheers,
Jordan