Finding the right condo insurance

Finding the right insurance for your condo unit can be a challenge these days. Your Murrick Group Insurance agent is well-versed on Unit Owner Condo insurance and can provide you with the best option that provides the coverage you need at the best possible price. Insurance for condo unit owners is far more complex than other types of homeowners’ insurance.

Your Condo Building’s Insurance

Your condo building’s insurance policy affects an important component of your unit’s insurance — the deductible reimbursement coverage. To determine the needed coverage, your Murrick Group Insurance agent will require up-to-date information about your strata’s building insurance. The property manager of your building can provide a one-page summary of the building’s insurance, which is what your Murrick Group Insurance agent needs to review. Most Unit Owner Condo insurance policies automatically provide $25,000 deductible reimbursement coverage, but if that amount is not enough, you will need to purchase additional coverage.

The Strata Property Act states that insurance deductibles are a common expense, however strata corporations may sue a unit owner to recover the deductible portion of an insurance claim whether or not the owner is responsible for the loss or damage, as long as the damage can be shown to arise from the suite or waterpipes associated to that suite. These water damage deductibles are typically about $50,000 but can be as high as $850,000, and that’s what your unit insurance must cover.

Water Damage

Your condo building’s insurance policy affects an important component of your unit’s insurance—the deductible reimbursement coverage. To determine the needed coverage, your Murrick Group Insurance agent will require up-to-date information about your strata’s building insurance. The property manager of your building can provide a one-page summary of the building’s insurance, which is what your Murrick Group Insurance agent needs to review. Most Unit Owner Condo insurance policies automatically provide $25,000 deductible reimbursement coverage, but if that amount is not enough, you will need to purchase additional coverage.

Your Strata Corporation’s Insurance

The BC Strata Act requires strata corporations to insure the building, including the original fixtures such as drywall, original flooring, or original cabinets within all suites as well as common property, including lobby, hallways, stairwells, amenities, electrical and mechanical equipment, landscaping and outdoor features, and portions of the floors and walls that comprise the overall structure of the building.

Insurance for strata buildings has become a nightmare, with almost all strata corporations facing huge premium increases with significantly higher deductibles, forcing some to settle for inadequate coverage. Some strata corporations have struggled to insure their buildings at all. With more and more condos being built, aging buildings experiencing bigger and bigger claims, replacement cost of buildings, and some insurers abandoning the market, the insurance industry faces declining capacity to meet escalating demand. Combine all that with ongoing weather-related claims and poor return on investments, and the reason for the current “hard market” is understandable.

Those escalating building insurance costs affect individual condo owners, not only through increased strata fees, but also through increased costs of condo unit insurance.

Your Condo Insurance

As a condo owner, you must purchase insurance for your own suite. Unit Owner Condo coverage insures personal property, suite improvements and betterments, loss assessments, personal liability, and strata building deductible reimbursement.

Damage Claims

The complex combination of common property, shared ownership, and multiple insurance policies can make responsibility for payment of repairing damage within a suite difficult to assign. Making sure you have adequate Unit Owner Condo insurance, including appropriate deductible reimbursement coverage, ensures you will be protected from personal financial responsibility should your condo unit experience a failure, especially involving water, that causes widespread damage not only to your home, but also to other parts of your building. Talk to your Murrick Group Insurance agent.

Thank you to our Autoplan staff

A special thank you to our Murrick Group Autoplan staff who have continued to be available, with appropriate safety measures, in our offices and on the road during the COVID-19 restrictions. While most other types of insurance can be purchased and renewed electronically or by phone, some components of Autoplan insurance require physical signatures and/or delivery of original documents, licence plates, and decals. Those requirements have made Autoplan insurance an essential service. We’ve always had our mobile option, where our agents provide in-home, in-office, or dealership Autoplan services, but during the past two and a half months, we’ve had to adopt practices that complied with all physical distancing requirements. We appreciate our customers’ patience and continued business.