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  • This topic has 2 replies, 3 voices, and was last updated 11 months ago by .
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  • #71016
    billy98
    Flatchatter
      I am fed up paying for so-called Homeowners Insurance when the policy is 100% oriented to stand-alone houses. In the USA a strata owner can choose a different insurance policy tailor-made for their apartment, called condo insurance.
      This type of policy zeroes in on what strata owners need, and does not include lighting strike, flooding from rivers, flood and rainwater run-off, damage from riots and civil commotion, storm surge, etc,etc,etc.
      Also I resent that my [current] policy, for example, excludes plumbing leaks not covered by my building’s insurance (as if I could maintain pipes under my bathroom floor), does not cover damage to floorboards due to leaks, etc,etc.
      As far as I can see the only true benefits for my ca. $2,000/yr premium is theft insurance and fire insurance. Living on the 7th floor of a ten story apartment block, I have never had a theft in 30 years, doubt I ever shall, and the building is poured concrete and the only fire we have had in 32 years is a small electrical fire in someone’s dishwasher.

      If you rent your unit out there’s landlord’s insurance which better fits the specifics of a strata unit rather than a house, but as soon as the unit is vacated the insurance lapses. It is not available for the owner living in their own property.

      I have searched the Internet quite thoroughly and all the major insurance companies just have a catch-all “Homeowner’s Insurance” or “Home & Contents Insurance” and all of them include coverage completely
      unneeded by a unit resident, such as lighting strike, flooding, storm water drain, etc,etc: Those would be covered, probably, by the building’s strata insurance policy.

      The exclusion of coverage for items often found in strata units makes these policies in my opinion useless other than for theft and fire. The majority of so-called coverage benefits do not fit strata living.

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    • #71033
      Sir Humphrey
      Strataguru

        What you need is just contents insurance. The structure of the building and its fittings are covered by the owners corporation’s insurance policy.

        BTW. Some contents insurance policies also usefully give you liability insurance for things you might be liable for within your unit and even extend to certain things beyond the unit such as if you injured a pedestrian while cycling.

        • This reply was modified 11 months, 1 week ago by .
        #71091
        tina
        Flatchatter

          When I searched “home contents insurance”, the search engine had “home and contents insurance” at the top of the search result.  In the second half of the search result, I saw “home contents”.  That sounds like what you are seeking.

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