Quake anniversary: Claims remain incomplete

Today marks the third anniversary of the 7.1-magnitude Canterbury quake which caused significant damage

About 5000 Canterbury earthquake claims remain incomplete, unresolved or not scheduled for completion, according to figures from the Insurance Council of New Zealand.

Today marks the third anniversary of the 7.1-magnitude Canterbury quake which caused significant damage.

As of July 1, private insurers were dealing with roughly 24,000 residential property claims. Of those, about 20 per cent, or about 4800, remain unsettled.

About 4400 residential property claimants had been offered settlement options but were still undecided on the options presented to them, Insurance Council chief executive Tim Grafton said.

Some 600 were yet to receive an offer.

"There are significant issues that are still to be addressed including land settlement, shared properties, the Port Hills review and the speed of building consents," Mr Grafton said.

He said Christchurch's "rebuild and repair" programme would be completed by the end of 2016 - more than six years after the first of two major quakes damaged the region.

About a third of claims, 34 per cent, had been fully resolved through external resolution or were fully completed rebuilds and major repairs.

A further 46 per cent were claims where a repair or rebuild had been agreed and was in progress.

"This indicates that 80 per cent of the...residential property claims have been completed or are in the process of being resolved," Mr Grafton said.

The figures also showed that 7200 (30 per cent) of the claims had been externally resolved, which included cash settlement and house reinstatements, with an additional 3100 (13 per cent) external resolutions still to be fully completed.