Insurance Contracts - Your Duty of Disclosure

Your duty of disclosure
Before you enter into a contract of general insurance
with an insurer, you have a duty, under the Insurance
Contracts Act 1984, to disclose to the insurer every
matter that you know, or could reasonably be
expected to know, is relevant to the insurer’s decision
whether to accept the risk of the insurance and, if so,
on what terms.

You have the same duty to disclose those matters to
the insurer before you renew, extend, vary or reinstate
a contract of general insurance. Your duty however
does not require disclosure of matter:

◆ that diminishes the risk to be undertaken by the
insurer;
◆ that is of common knowledge;
◆ that your insurer knows or, in the ordinary course
of its business, ought to know;
◆ as to which compliance with your duty is waived
by the insurer.

Non-disclosure
If you fail to comply with your duty of disclosure, the
insurer may be entitled to reduce its liability under the
contract in respect of a claim or may cancel the
contract.
If your non-disclosure is fraudulent, the insurer may
also have the option of avoiding the contract from its
beginning.

Please contact Statewide for further clarification if needed.