Ms Katie McNelis:

We are still quite a small group. Even in the whole country, thatch is quite small but within the thatched property owners group that we are trying to form and the thatched property action group that we have formed, there are a number of people who have tried to buy thatched properties but they cannot because they cannot pin down insurance cover. The flip side is that for every person trying to buy, there is somebody trying to sell, so it is a two-way street. One person we know of has had seven different people try to buy their house but they cannot do it because the buyers cannot get insurance.