Condo Owners – Insurance
All owners should have and maintain a comprehensive condo insurance policy to cover damage to their personal possessions as well as to their upgrades and to cover any damage that they might incur to a suite below or adjacent to theirs as a result of an accident, negligence or, as stated in a condo’s declaration or insurance by-law. This insurance should include a sufficient amount for liabilities in the event of an injury in the suite, such as if someone falls as the result of a toy left on the floor.
Other points of interest:
- Insurance should be renewed before its annual expiration date.
- Condo insurance is not as expensive as insurance for a non-condo house.
- Owners should present a copy of their insurance to the management office of their condo.
When taking an insurance policy, owners should familiarize themselves with the insurance by-law and standard unit by-law of their condo to make sure that their insurance covers what the condo policy does not cover.
For instance, although most condos do not cover upgrades, some condos do not cover other parts of units, such as floorings or countertops.
All residents should have a car insurance policy. For instance, cement may detach itself from the garage ceiling and fall on a car and dent it: A garage door may malfunction and damage a car. Condos are not responsible for such damage unless, of course, the damage results from negligence to carry out repairs in a timely fashion on the part of the corporation.
Condos are not responsible for any possessions left in cars, on bike racks, or in lockers. Owners’ home insurance or car insurance should cover these.
Indeed, a problem that frequently arises concerning garage doors is that residents follow others rather than use their entry card or remote control—despite notices to the contrary.
Generally, the motion sensor will detect the additional car and the doors will stay up or climb back up. But there are occasions when this does not happen and the door comes down on a vehicle or a cyclist.
The condo is neither responsible for injury nor damage because a basic safety rule has been disregarded. Monitoring cameras and entry cards provide the timing as well as visual evidence of these occurrences.
