Help Centre
All information is general of nature and should not be taken as advice. Legislation varies by state and territory. If you are unsure, please contact us.
Insurance
Introduction
The insurance for your strata scheme can be considered the most important 'thing' that you organise with your community.
Key questions you need to know before getting a quote:
- Wall material
- Roof material
- Build date
As a community, make sure to carefully read the PDS (Product Disclosure Statement) from your insurer, ask heaps of questions when purchasing, and ensure you pay your premium on time so you are always covered!
Insurance Providers
Loma Strata has no affiliation with any of these providers and receives no incentive from them.
Note:
Some insurers have a lot limit of 10 for their policies (eg. AAMI, GIO)
Some only service particular states (NRMA does not service Victoria)
How do we make sure we get the right Insurance?
By speaking with insurance brokers or directly with an insurance provider. They will be expertly be able to guide you into the type of cover you need based on your circumstances and state.
Provide as much information as possible regarding how your community runs and the state of the building. This ensures that in the event of a claim you will be covered as you declared everything correctly.
Minimum Insurance
There are many different kinds of insurance you can purchase for your building and community. At a minimum - and it is legislated across most states - your policy should include these two features:
- Building Insurance covers buildings on common property
- Public Liability Insurance for the common property. Insurance for common property protects owners in the case of unexpected damage and injuries.
In some states (such as NSW) it is mandatory to have Work Health and Safety Insurance. But You will not need this type of insurance if:
- Your schemes does not directly employ any workers (this excludes contractors), and
- The complex is only used for residential purposes.
This insurance covers you if a worker on your property sustains a work-related injury or disease.
Reinstatement and Replacement Insurance
Summary
Essentially having the money to rebuild the entire building. When you are eligible for this money depends on your insurance. See a more detailed explanation below from Vic Gov website.
Consumer Affairs Victoria Explanation
All owners corporations, except two-lot subdivisions, must take out reinstatement and replacement insurance for all buildings on the common property.
A building is defined as:
- a structure and part of a building or structure
- walls, out-buildings, service installations and other things attached to the main structure
- any pipes or cables used to provide services to a party other than the owners corporation or its members (shared services)
- a boat or a pontoon permanently moored or fixed to land.
The insurance must cover:
- replacement, repair and rebuilding of the damaged property
- costs of demolishing and removing debris from the site
- other costs such as employing an architect or surveyor
- shared services
- replacement of services and structures such as driveways and fences.
When renewing insurance, all owners corporations must ensure that the sum insured is more than the value of the buildings.
An owners corporation should obtain valuations of the buildings it is required to insure. A prescribed owners corporation must:
- obtain a valuation every five years of all buildings that it is required to insure
- present the valuer’s report at the next general meeting.
Public liability insurance
Public liability insurance covers your owners corporation’s liability to pay compensation in the case of any:
- injury, illness or death of a person
- damage or loss of property.
Generally, owners corporations must have a public liability insurance of not less than $20 million for the common property.
Always get professional advice about your community's level of risk, as each one is different. For example if you have mixed use residential and commercial use, this impacts the level of cover you need.
Common Extras
The below three are generally good extras to select, especially when self managing.
Office Bearers’ Legal Liability
Provides coverage for legal costs and potential damages if an office bearer is held personally liable for a wrongful act or omission in their role.
Voluntary Workers Insurance (a form of personal accident cover)
Voluntary Workers section provides cover for an individual for accidental death or injury while working voluntarily as authorised by the Strata Corporation without payment, reward, or remuneration
Workers Compensation
When a worker is injured or suffers an illness and seeks compensation for lost earnings, medical expenses, rehabilitation and other associated costs as provided by the Workers Compensation and Injury Management Act 1981 (Act).
Contents Insurance Exclusion
It is common for contents insurance to be excluded from your shared building insurance. That means that the contents in your lot are not covered in an event. If you want contents insurance for yourself, you likely are best organising it yourself, as each lot owner will have different needs.
However, some policies will have a contents inclusion for shared assets of the building. Such as outdoor furniture.