My strata corporation renews its yearly insurance policy in October, while I do mine in February. The offset timing is an inconvenience because the building’s insurance policy terms can change and then I have to go update my insurance policy mid-year. We owners never get an appreciable amount of notice as to what gets changed.
This year, we had about eight hours notice that our deductible for water damage originating from our unit was going up from $50,000 to $75,000. I know my policy from last February covered me for the $50k water damage deductible. This new policy went into effect last Friday. I wasn’t able to get my own policy updated until today, a Tuesday. That meant that for four days, if someone sprung a leak in my place and caused damage to common property, I’d be liable for the $25k difference in what I’m covered for and what the new deductible is.
I had planned on doing laundry on the weekend but since it was a long weekend, I had trouble contacting my insurance company and getting my policy changed. There’s always a risk of one of the hoses leaking and causing a flood. I delayed doing my laundry for a day while I wondered what the risk would be. In the end, I rolled the dice on this and I did a load of laundry that was much needed. There were no leaks this time but knowing my luck, it would have not surprised me if something did happen.
I finally got the policy updated today. It shouldn’t have taken four days to do this but like I said, the long weekend made things more difficult. If you live in an apartment, you should always get insurance, no matter if you’re an owner or a renter. It’s especially important if you’re the owner. Always send a copy of the strata’s insurance policy to your insurance company so they can make sure your policy covers you completely.