YOUR DUTY OF DISCLOSURE

Before you enter into a contract of general insurance with an Underwriter, you have a duty, under the Insurance Contracts Act 1984, to disclose to the Underwriter every matter that you know, or could reasonably be expected to know, is relevant to the Underwriters 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 Underwriter before you renew, vary or reinstate a contract of general insurance.

Your duty, however, does not require disclosure of matters:
- that diminishes the risk to be assumed by the Underwriter
- that is of common knowledge
- that your Underwriter knows or, in the ordinary course of his business, ought to know
- as to which compliance with your duty is waived by the Underwriter

Your duty of disclosure extends to not only answering the questions on the proposal form, but to all matters which are relevant to the risk, and you must notify the Underwriter of changes in the risk between the time of you answering the question on the proposal form and the date the contract of insurance is entered into.

NON DISCLOSURE

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