An insurance lawyer is questioning the basis for the new home insurance system which limits payouts to a maximum "sum insured" if a home is destroyed or extensively damaged.
Insurers blame the axing of full replacement cover policies - which meet all costs of rebuilding or repair - on overseas
reinsurers worried by their exposure after the Canterbury earthquakes.
But Auckland lawyer Andrew Hooker says premiums should be based on risk, not insurers' previous losses.
Neither the Canterbury quakes nor last week's Wellington tremors increased the risk from Hamilton north where most people lived, he said.
In a critical post on the interest.co.nz website, Mr Hooker said the relationship between insurers and reinsurers should be of no concern to customers.
