This ACT lot owner has been denied a loss of rent claim for meth contamination in a unit.
Question: Although a hygienist has attended our rented unit and found evidence of meth contamination, the insurer has declined a loss of rent claim. They stated the tenant was a user rather than the unit being used as a lab.
Although a hygienist has attended our rented unit and found elevated samples of meth, the insurer has declined a loss of rent claim. Remediation work reported was extremely extensive, however, the insurer said that the levels weren’t high enough to deem the unit uninhabitable. They stated the tenant was a user rather than the unit being used as a lab.
Answer: In order for a property to be unsafe for habitation, you would need to have a level of 0.5 micrograms of meth contamination per 100 centimetres squared.
The Australian Standard says that, in order for a property to be unsafe for habitation, you would need to have a level of 0.5 micrograms of meth contamination per 100 centimetres squared. A 10 cm x 10 cm template is put onto a wall and tested for methamphetamine. That’s taken to a NATA accredited laboratory and tested. If it is above 0.5, the Australian Government says, “that needs to be remediated” and at that stage it’s not fit for habitation until remediation is done and a clearance certificate is provided by a hygienist.
In this situation, was the reading above the 0.5 micrograms per 100 cm squared? This will be identified in the hygienists report. Just make sure it’s a qualified hygienist. Often, people refer to themselves as hygienists and they’re not suitably qualified according to the Australian standard.
The affected areas inside the property will need to be remediated. I highly recommend that if there are trace levels of methamphetamine in other areas, clean those as well just as a precaution.
Paul Anderson Sedgwick E: Paul.Anderson@au.sedgwick.com P: 1300 735 720
This post appears in Strata News #561.
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