Blackwood’s Anjali Habel-Orrell shares her insurance nightmare with SGIC, with black mould discovered after sewage blockage

When sewage bubbled into Anjali Habel-Orrell’s Blackwood home, it kicked off a year-long insurance battle and constant worries about becoming homeless.

Anjali Habel-Orrell pictured outside her home in Blackwood – which she cannot live in. Picture: Roy VanDerVegt

Anjali Habel-Orrell has spent a year living in a hotel after sewage entered her home, and is constantly worried about where she’ll be from one month to the next.

“It’s terrifying,” she said of the ordeal this week, after a 12-month battle with her insurer SGIC.

The primary school teacher and her 15-year-old son Matthew have been living in a hotel since they returned home to a putrid smell in May 2021.

An SA Water pipe had become blocked and sent sewage into the lower floor of her Blackwood home.

SA Water fixed the blockage and SGIC sent a builder to repair damaged building materials.

But after removing some of the walls and flooring, they uncovered another problem – pre-existing, hazardous, black mould, which Ms Habel-Orrell was unaware of.

Anjali Habel-Orrell’s home. Exposed floor and walls where mould has been allowed to spread and rodents let inside. Picture: Supplied

Anjali Habel-Orrell's son Matthew with dog Jadzia – but they have had to give their pet away. Picture: Supplied

But she says rather than covering it up, the company left parts of the flooring and internal walls exposed, allowing the mould to spread through the house and rats and mice to enter.

“They made it exponentially worse,” the 36-year-old said.

“I’ve got contents insurance so I thought that covered me, but I’m about to lose everything I’ve built up over 36 years of my life.”

Ms Habel-Orrell’s correspondence with SGIC has spanned the past year and she says her insurer has frequently threatened to stop paying her hotel bill.

Each time, the company has eventually agreed to pay for her accommodation, but Ms Habel-Orrell said twice, she found herself sleeping in her car or in the house for short periods with the doors and windows open.

“The instability is exhausting and the constant fear of homelessness is terrifying,” she said.

This week, she said her insurer told her its payments would end on Friday because her policy covers a stay of up to a year.

But at the 11th hour, on Thursday, both SA Water and SGIC offered to pay for her hotel for a further two months.

Ms Habel-Orrell said SGIC’s latest settlement offer was about $27,000 – much less than it would cost to fix the mould problem and destroy the house’s affected contents.

She was also forced to give away the family’s dog, Jadzia, as they could not look after her in the hotel.

An SGIC spokeswoman said repairers took steps to prevent water damage spreading, including installing an additional door to seal the space and specialist cleaning and drying.

Replacing flooring and walls was to be included in the repairs, she said.

The spokeswoman said Ms Habel-Orrell did not agree to the work, or to a settlement offer.

However, Ms Habel-Orrell said SGIC had told her they would not replace the floor and walls because that work could not be insured.

She said the additional door was not installed until seven months after the incident.

[e-mail]