Longitude Insurance has released new Residential and Commercial PDS’s effective for policies issued from 12 September 2020.

One of the significant changes in these new policy releases is the addition of a ‘Communicable Diseases Exclusion’.

In previous policy editions, unit owners were entitled to claim for loss of rent or temporary accommodation in the case authorities ordered that a lot could not be occupied due to disease. This covered all disease except for Avian influenza or a disease declared a biosecurity emergency under the Biosecurity Act.

Under the new policies, all diseases are now excluded except for the following:

· Measles

· Meningococcal

· Gastroenteritis

· Legionnaires (only in certain circumstances)

· Salmonella

· E-coli

This update significantly reduces the circumstances in which an owner can make a claim.

The previous cover allowed all diseases except as excluded, whereas the new cover excludes all diseases except for the six listed.

These changes have no doubt come on the back of the COVID-19 pandemic and insurers seeking to reduce payouts for future disease outbreaks.

Further changes to the PDS’s relate to cyber and data incidents which we will discuss in a later blog post.

Full details of the changes can be found in the derogation notices issued for the Residential and Commercial PDS’s.