You can be handed the strata deductible without having done anything wrong.
A pipe fails inside a wall, water reaches other suites, and the building claims on the strata policy. The Province of British Columbia says a strata owner can be deemed responsible, and required to pay the strata corporation’s insurance deductible, even if not at fault or negligent. That charge can run to six figures, and it can land on an owner who did nothing wrong.
Build the strata file Read the short answer firstFault is not always the test.
Building deductibles can be very large.
An owner policy can be built to answer it.
Who pays the strata insurance deductible in BC?
It can be the owner of the strata lot the claim started in. The Province says a strata owner can be “deemed responsible, and required to pay the strata corporation’s insurance deductible, even if not ‘at fault’ or negligent”. Whether it happens in your building turns on section 158 of the Strata Property Act and on your own bylaws. If it is contested, that is a question for a lawyer or the Civil Resolution Tribunal, not for us.
The Act starts by treating that deductible as a common expense of the strata corporation, paid through strata fees. Section 158 then allows the corporation to sue an owner to recover it, where that owner is responsible for the loss. The Province says strata corporation insurance deductibles can range from $100,000 to $750,000 or higher, which is why this matters. An owner policy can be written to answer that charge, but only if it was set up knowing the building’s deductible.
Owners read their own policy limit and feel covered. The number that decides the size of the problem is not in their policy at all, it is on the strata corporation’s certificate of insurance. Ask the council or the manager for the current deductible, in writing, once a year. If your own cover for it is smaller than the building’s deductible, the difference is yours. Read the Province of British Columbia on strata owner insurance (opens in a new tab).
Four numbers to get in writing every year.
The building’s water deductible
Ask for the figure, not a description of it. It is usually the largest one on the certificate.
Your cover for that deductible
An owner policy can include an amount specifically for the strata deductible. Buy it as close to the building’s current figure as the market will write, and review it when theirs changes, because any difference sits with you.
Where the building’s cover stops
The strata policy insures the building. Whether it also insures what you have upgraded or added inside your lot is a separate question, and it varies building to building. Ask for the policy and the bylaws rather than assuming where the line sits, because renovations move it.
Somewhere to live
If the building is unlivable for months, the strata policy repairs the building. It does not house you. That belongs on your own policy.
Three buildings, three ordinary failures. All three are illustrations, not client files.
The hose behind the washer
A supply hose lets go while the suite is empty. The water spreads to the suites below. What happens next depends on the bylaws and on who is found responsible, which is a different question from who was careless.
The renovation nobody logged
New floors and a new kitchen, paid for by the owner and never written down anywhere. When a claim comes, the question is which parts the strata policy was insuring and which parts it was not.
The deductible that doubled
The building renews and the water deductible goes up. The owner policies stay where they were, and the gap sits there until a claim finds it.
The questions owners and councils ask.
It was not my fault. Can they really charge me?
The Province says an owner can be deemed responsible and required to pay the deductible even when not at fault. Whether it happens in your building depends on section 158 of the Strata Property Act and on your own bylaws, and if it is contested it is decided by the Civil Resolution Tribunal or the courts. What an owner policy can do is put money behind the charge.
How much deductible cover should I carry?
As close to the building’s current water deductible as you can buy, and review it whenever the strata renews. Carrying less than theirs means carrying the difference yourself. On a building with a very large deductible the market may not write the whole figure, so ask what the most is. Ask what triggers it too, because some wordings answer only where the owner is found legally responsible.
I rent my unit out. Who is exposed?
As the owner, you are the one the strata deals with. Your tenant needs their own policy for their belongings and their liability, and you should ask for proof of it every year.
Can the strata corporation make me buy insurance?
Bylaws differ, so read yours. Whether or not it is required, going without it in a building with a large deductible is the risk being described on this page.
We are the council. What should we be giving owners?
The current certificate of insurance with the deductibles on it, sent to every owner after each renewal. It is easy to do, and it can remove one argument after a claim.
Two that sit next to this on the same site: where the building stops and your unit begins, and what your landlord’s policy does not cover.
Not the question you had? Send us the building’s certificate and a licensed person will read it with you. Use the short contact form.
Find the gap before a hose does.
One certificate, one comparison, one conversation. That is how you find out where you stand before a claim does it for you.
Checked for technical accuracy by Amrit Sidhu of S&S Insurance Services Ltd. Last checked 28 September 2026.