It's years since I lived in a condo, so I have no idea what this means in cost terms. Obviously insurance cost increases for a strata corporation of 50% or more means an increase in strata fees to cover those higher costs. How much of a typical strata fee is the strata corporation's insurance cost? If a condo owner pays $500 a month in strata fees is the amount covering insurance $20? $50? more? It might not be a huge increase to cover this higher insurance, but I really have no idea.
The bigger issue seems to me to be the much higher deductable. That means any strata owner 'responsible' for an insurance claim (overflowing bath, for example, or badly plumbed replacement dishwasher) then that owner could now be on the hook for a bill of $100,000. They might have insurance to cover it - although I bet those personal insurance costs are going up as well - but my understanding is that they don't have to have insurance. That could leave the strata on the hook for the cleanup costs and then pursuing the owner for the deductable, through the courts if necessary. That would seem to require much more in a strata's contingency fund for eventualities like this, if it's going to be responsibly managed.
|