7 June, 2016. 15:34

CLANCY OVERELL | Editor | Contact

Sydney homeowners whose waterfront mansions were wiped out by extreme sea conditions stand to lose millions if they are not covered by insurance – this means they will now have to re-enter the Sydney housing market starting from scratch – a feat that is sure to see them labelled as “lazy and whiney” by their baby boomer peers.

Less than 24 hours after a violent storm smashed the east coast of Australia, insurers have already received 11,150 claims totalling $38million. Standard policies do not cover damage done by king tides, coastal erosion and storm surges even in the event of flooding, according to the Insurance Council of Australia.

Local condemned mansionowner, Angus Ruthford-Tritely (65) says he’s really wishing he didn’t sell his last remaining investment properties to the Chinese last night month.

“If we don’t get insured, I really have no options”

“I’m not in a position to be able to enter the property market as a first homebuyer, not without a little help,”

“I spent all the money on new renovations,”

Mr Ruthford-Tritely and his immediate neighbours say they now understand how the younger generations feel.

“We aren’t lazy. We are just normal families who won’t be able to afford a deposit that is triple our yearly income,”

“Two years ago, Joe Hockey had me cheering when he said all you needed to do was find a good job to buy a home in Sydney,”

“Now I realise that I only agreed with him because I loved the idea of house prices going up…

“…But now that I don’t have a home and very little income… I tend to think these young ones have the raw prawn,”

A spokesman for Sydney’s ever-growing youth underclass, Dane Leeson from OurGo.Co says that the circumstances faced by uninsured homeowners is very similar to anyone born after to 1978.

“Imagine not having a home and needing to live in a capital city?” he said.

“Well that’s pretty much the lot of us. We have been crowded out by [baby] boomers,”

“But yes, its very sad to see it happening to people that old. They are in no way fit to pay $300 dollars a week each in a crowded Newtown sharehouse,”

“My advice to anyone, including jaded asset-millionaires, who need a foot in the door into Sydney is to join our campaign at OurGo.Co and lobby for a better deal. Its a battle of the ages, quite literally”

Mr Ruthford-Tritely says he is now ‘entertaining’ the idea that climate change ‘might’ exist after losing most of his house to rising water, but says that as a Baby Boomer, it’s more important that the local pub shuts down at midnight so he can get some sleep in his remaining front sunroom.