Mescal Bradey's Plimmerton house has been declared uninhabitable because of landslides - but even with EQC and insurance - she finds she has no cover for the cost of making her house safe to live in.
The landslips happened after the Kaikoura earthquake of November 2016, and again after the storms of August last year.
Porirua Council told her she had to evacuate the house pretty much immediately, and could not return until the hillside behind the house - which is her property - was made safe.
Mescal has had quotes for that work from between $200,000 to a million dollars.
Her insurer, Tower, won't pay out for remedial work on the land. And because the house itself is intact and undamaged, Tower says there is no insurance claim to be made.
In fact, the New Zealand Insurance Council tell us that no insurance company in the country covers land, that's what EQC is for. The council says it's really important that people understand what is and isn't covered by their insurance policies and by EQC, especially with the growing fallout from climate change.
EQC has paid out for damage to the land and house in the two slips - $120,000 in all - but EQC only covers land within eight metres of a property - the land needing remedial work is outside that eight metres.
Mescal is stuck, with an undamaged - but uninhabitable house - and no way of paying to make it safe.
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