straita

Insurance

Who arranges the strata insurance?

Short answer

The owners corporation is legally responsible for arranging and maintaining the scheme’s insurance. It may source policies itself or through a strata manager or a specialist insurance broker, but the duty to hold the required cover rests with the owners corporation and is funded from the scheme’s levies.

Whose duty it is

Under the Strata Schemes Management Act 2015, the obligation to insure the building and hold the other required cover sits with the owners corporation — not with any manager or broker who happens to arrange it. A managing agent or broker acts on the scheme’s behalf; the legal responsibility for the cover being in place remains the owners corporation’s, whether or not a manager is engaged.

How it happens in practice

In a managed scheme, the strata manager or a strata insurance broker typically obtains quotes, recommends cover and handles renewal, and the owners approve the cover and its cost (usually at the annual general meeting). In a self-managed scheme, the committee does this directly — obtaining quotes, arranging the policy and confirming it with owners. Owners are entitled to see the policy details either way.

What “arranging” actually involves

It is more than buying a policy once: it means keeping the building insured for at least its replacement value, obtaining a valuation to set that sum insured, renewing on time each year, and holding the mandatory public liability and any other required cover throughout. A gap at any point leaves the scheme exposed.

Doing it without a manager

Arranging insurance yourself is well within a committee’s reach when the moving parts are held together for you. A system such as Straita keeps the policy, broker details, valuation and renewal dates in one place and prompts the committee ahead of each deadline, so a self-managed scheme can obtain quotes and renew cover in good order and simply record the decision.

Primary sources