Owners of undamaged homes near the Gjerdrum landslide site could be financially ruined, jurist warns

GjerdrumPhoto: Håkon Mosvold Larsen / NTB

The owners of undamaged and “safe” homes near the Gjerdrum landslide could be financially ruined, a Norwegian jurist warns.

“Fear of new landslides is not covered by insurance, and the landslide will probably affect house prices in Gjerdrum,” Steinar Taubøll told newspaper Dagens Næringsliv (DN).

Taubøll is a law lecturer at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences, NMBU, and believes that homeowners who own property just outside risk areas where there has been natural damage may risk losing most of the market value of their home.

People who have had their house, plot, and garden destroyed will receive compensation through the natural damage insurance or the state’s natural damage scheme. 

Not covered

The insurance does not cover a possible lower market value if homes become less sought after, regardless of the reason.

“They have not suffered losses, but still, you can be financially ruined after this,” Taubøl, who specializes in natural damages, liability, and compensation, warns. 

The insurance companies state that it is not possible to insure against a possible fall in house prices in connection with natural disasters.

“When the authorities say that it is safe to live (in an area), that is what applies,” communications director Øystein Thoresen in Gjensidige told DN.

Source: © NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today / #NorwayTodayNews

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