One of the big questions around the recent Mascot Tower problems was why didn’t the building insurance kick in, rather than the state government having to bail the owners corporation out with emergency funding.
The simple answer is that it looked very much like a building defect and that’s not covered by ordinary strata insurance. So what is strata insurance – the compulsory one that covers the building and the common property, and is paid for by the Owners Corporation – and what does it cover?
There are a lot of questions and more than a few surprising answers around strata insurance.
- Did you know that strata insurance also covers the fixtures and fitings in your apartment?
- Do you know what those fixtures and fittings are?
- Did you know that you can apply for a payout from strata insurance yourself, even if your strata committee or strata manager refuses to pass on the claim?
- Do you know what landlord insurance is, and what it covers?
- Why is it that if you go directly to the strata insurer (rather than a strata manager or broker) you don’t get a discount equivalent to their commission?
- Does changing a garage into a habitable room change the building insurance?
- Can you get Airbnb insurance for your flat?
- What would you need to do to have your insurance invalidated? (Clue: it would have to be something really bad or dishonest).
All these questions and more are answered by our guest in this week’s podcast, Steve Tchepak from our sponsors CHU Insurance. Enjoy.
And the podcast is also available on Youtube:
This is now being discussed in the Flat Chat Forum