"The impacts that a running bamboo plant can have on properties can be significant, and often is only identified at the point that the bamboo has caused destruction."
- Lorenzo Tejada-Orrell, chief innovation officer at CLSQ
CLSQ has launched a bamboo indemnity insurance product to provide protection should bamboo be identified on a property as a result of encroachment from a neighbouring property.
As part of its invasive species indemnity range, CLSQ now offers bamboo indemnity insurance to protect property owners and lenders in the event that a neighbouring property’s bamboo plant encroaches onto the insured property. Protection for both residential and commercial property is available.
Alongside the costs for remedial action to remove bamboo on the insured property, CLSQ can also offer protection for loss in market value that the property owner may suffer.
The product offers protection against financial loss for a period of five years. Where a survey has been undertaken to show no bamboo on the property or neighbouring, the policy will cover both the purchaser and the lender. If no survey has been undertaken the policy will cover just the lender.
Lorenzo Tejada-Orrell, chief innovation officer at CLSQ, said: “At CLSQ, we have seen increasing demand for this type of policy, with requests from lenders and lawyers asking whether we have an indemnity to offer cover the risk posed by bamboo.
“There are different varieties of bamboo and it’s the running bamboo that can cause significant destruction to a property as the root system can reach meters in distance and in various directions. The impacts that a running bamboo plant can have on properties can be significant, and often is only identified at the point that the bamboo has caused destruction. Cases have shown shoots of bamboo creeping through skirting boards, out of the chimney breast, through floorboards and even through a homeowner’s oven! Bamboo shoots are so strong that they can penetrate through concrete, tarmac and cavity walls. This risk that can be unknown to property purchasers when they purchase a property and it is this risk that our indemnity policy seeks to resolve.
“Our bamboo indemnity insurance will cover the cost of remedial work to remove the bamboo from a property as well as options to insure market value loss. This is the same approach we take with knotweed and it forms part of our invasive species indemnity range.”
