The strata insures the building. The argument is always about where the building stops.
Your strata’s policy covers the building including your unit as it was originally built. Everything you or a previous owner added since is a different question. Most condo claims turn on that line, and almost nobody has read where their building draws it.
Tell us about your unit Read the short answer firstSet by your corporation, not by intuition.
Upgrades, contents, and the assessment.
Ask for the standard unit definition.
What does the strata’s insurance cover inside my unit, and what has to be on my own policy?
The strata corporation’s policy generally covers the building and your unit to the level of the standard unit that the corporation has defined. Anything above that standard, such as upgraded flooring, a renovated kitchen, better cabinetry or replaced fixtures, sits with you and is insured under the betterments and improvements section of your own condo policy. Your contents, your liability, your living costs if you are put out of the unit, and any amount the corporation assesses against owners are also yours.
The important part is that this line is not the same in every building. It is set by your own strata corporation, and two buildings on the same street can define the standard unit differently. There is no general answer, only your building’s answer, and it exists as a document you are entitled to see. The Province publishes the rules stratas operate under on its strata housing pages.
The first is the corporation’s deductible, which can be charged to an owner when a loss starts in their unit. The second is a loss assessment, which is your share of a levy when the corporation’s own loss goes past what its insurance pays. They arrive the same way, as a letter with a number on it, and they are answered by different sections of a condo policy. A unit owner can be well insured for one and hold nothing for the other, which is why both need to be on the policy by name rather than assumed.
Four sections that are yours alone.
Betterments and improvements
Everything above the standard unit. If the building was finished with builder-grade flooring and yours is now engineered hardwood, the difference is on your policy. This figure has to be reviewed after any renovation, because renovating enlarges the part of the unit that is your responsibility and nothing prompts you to update it.
Loss assessment
Your share when the corporation levies owners after a loss it could not fully insure. The limits offered on this section have historically been modest, and building deductibles in this province are no longer modest. Ask what your limit is and compare it with what your building actually carries.
Deductible coverage
A separate item that responds when the corporation charges its deductible back to you because the loss started in your unit. A burst hose on a dishwasher is the classic example. This is not the same section as loss assessment and holding one does not mean you hold the other.
Contents, liability and living costs
Your belongings, your legal liability to other people including neighbours below you, and somewhere to live while the unit is repaired. Additional living expense is the one owners forget until a building is closed for months, which in a serious water or fire loss is a realistic outcome.
Three ordinary situations in ordinary buildings.
The renovation nobody told the insurer about
A kitchen and two bathrooms were redone properly, with permits, and the unit is worth more for it. The betterments figure on the condo policy was set when the unit was bought and never touched. After a fire the building is restored to standard unit, and the gap between that and what was actually there is the owner’s, because the policy was never told about the upgrade.
The hose that failed upstairs
A supply line lets go and three units are affected. The corporation claims on its own policy and charges its deductible to the unit where the water started. That owner’s condo policy either has a deductible section or it does not. Fault is barely relevant to how the charge is made, which is the part owners find hardest to accept.
The levy after a large loss
A major loss exceeds what the corporation’s policy pays or falls inside a very high deductible, and the shortfall is levied across all owners. Nothing happened in your unit and you had nothing to do with any of it. Loss assessment is the only section of a personal policy that answers that letter.
The ones that come up when the letter arrives.
Where do I find my building’s standard unit definition?
Ask the strata council or the property manager. It may sit in a bylaw, in a resolution passed by the owners, or in a schedule attached to the corporation’s insurance. If your building has never defined one, that is itself worth knowing, because the answer then falls back on the legislation and on how the building was originally constructed.
Do I still need my own policy if the strata has insurance?
Yes, and it is not close. The corporation’s policy does not cover your belongings, your liability, your upgrades, your living costs, the deductible it can charge you, or a levy it can impose on you. It covers the building. Those are the six things a condo policy exists to answer.
My building’s deductible went up sharply. What should I change?
Look at your deductible coverage and your loss assessment limits and compare them with the building’s current deductible. This is the single most useful ten minutes an owner in this province can spend on their insurance, and it usually costs very little to close the gap once you know the number.
Is the water damage the strata’s problem or mine?
It depends where the water came from, what the building’s bylaws say about responsibility, and what the standard unit definition covers. That is three documents, and the honest answer is that nobody can tell you from the outside. Send the bylaws and your policy and you will get a written answer on what your own cover would do.
I rent my unit out. Does any of this change?
Substantially. A unit that is rented needs a policy written for a landlord rather than an owner-occupier, covering rental income, liability as a landlord and the tenant’s use of the unit. An owner-occupier policy on a rented unit is one of the most common ways a claim gets declined in this class.
Not the question you had? Send your bylaws or your current policy through the short form and you will get a written answer, not a sales call.
Find your building’s number before the letter arrives.
Ask the council for the building deductible and the standard unit definition, then send us your policy. You will get a written note on whether the two match.