A Westpac home and contents customer has lost his claim dispute after reporting damage including collapsed ceilings during a storm.

The insured lodged a claim in January this year, but Westpac arranged an inspection and concluded the damage was not caused by the storm but by wear and tear and gradual deterioration.

It also flagged an exclusion related to “defects in design, structure, materials, workmanship or construction”. The insurer says that there had been a weakening of the glue in the ceilings, lack of support and absence of battens in the roof.

The insurer’s inspector also found no water ingress from the claimed storm event.

The complainant, in taking his case to the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA), says his property was built to code and was structurally sound, so "the damage must have been from the storm”.

AFCA says “it is accepted there was a storm event and the ceilings collapsed shortly afterwards”.

But it says on balance “there were issues with the construction (including insufficient support) which in turn led to a progressive deterioration of the ceiling areas”.

“Even though that may only have become obvious to the complainant around the time of the storm, that does not mean it was the storm which was the proximate cause of the damage,” AFCA says.

“The available evidence shows it is more likely than not the roofing/ceilings had already been experiencing progressive deterioration and wear and tear, exacerbated by construction or installation issues.

“In other words, if it were not for those pre-existing issues or that pre-existing condition, then the storm would not have had any affect.”

AFCA determined that the insurer was entitled to rely on exclusions and is not required to take any further action.

Click here to read the full determination.