Living in a strata property comes with unique insurance considerations that many Perth lot owners find confusing. While your body corporate arranges strata insurance for the building and common areas, understanding what this covers, and more importantly, what it doesn’t, is essential for protecting your investment and personal belongings.
Strata Insurance vs. Personal Insurance
Strata insurance (also called body corporate insurance) protects the building structure and shared spaces of your apartment, townhouse, or unit complex. It’s arranged by your strata council and funded through your strata levies.
However, strata insurance doesn’t cover everything you might think it does.
What Your Strata Insurance Covers
Your body corporate’s strata insurance typically protects:
- Building structure: walls, floors, roofs, windows, and balconies
- Common property: lobbies, stairwells, lifts, car parks, pools, and gyms
- Fixed fixtures: built-in ovens, stovetops, kitchen cupboards, hand basins, and showers that form part of the building
- Public liability: legal claims arising from injuries or property damage in common areas
- Insured events: fire, storm damage, water damage, vandalism, and impact
Some policies also include optional covers like machinery breakdown, temporary accommodation costs, and committee member liability protection.
The Coverage Gap: What You Need to Insure Yourself
Strata insurance specifically excludes items within your individual lot, leaving you personally responsible for protecting:
- Furniture and personal belongings
- Carpets, curtains, and blinds
- Light fittings and electrical appliances that are not permanently wired
- Owner-installed improvements or renovations
- Your personal liability as a lot owner
This is where contents insurance or landlord insurance becomes essential.
Contents Insurance: Protecting What’s Inside
Contents insurance covers your personal possessions within your unit. If you’re living in your strata property, this protection is essential.
What contents insurance typically covers:
- Furniture, electronics, and appliances
- Clothing, jewellery, and personal items
- Portable items like laptops and mobile phones
- Accidental damage to your belongings
- Theft of your possessions
Consider this scenario: a burst pipe in your unit damages your furniture, electronics, and carpets. While strata insurance might cover repairing the pipe and any damage to the building structure, your ruined belongings would only be covered if you have contents insurance.
Landlord Insurance: For Investment Properties
If you’re renting out your strata property, landlord insurance provides additional protection beyond what contents insurance offers.
Key benefits of landlord insurance include:
- Loss of rent if your property becomes uninhabitable
- Damage caused by tenants beyond normal wear and tear
- Legal liability protection as a property owner
- Coverage for landlord-owned contents like furniture in furnished rentals
Many Perth investors mistakenly believe their strata insurance covers rental income loss. It doesn’t. Only a dedicated landlord insurance policy protects your investment income.
Common Strata Insurance Claims in Perth
Understanding typical claims helps you appreciate why comprehensive coverage matters.
Storm and Weather Damage
Perth’s severe weather events can cause significant damage to strata properties. While strata insurance covers structural damage to the building, your contents insurance protects belongings damaged by water entering through broken windows or roof damage.
Water Damage
Water-related issues represent some of the most common strata claims. A leak from an upstairs unit might damage your ceiling (covered by strata insurance), but also ruin your furniture and electronics (only covered by your contents insurance).
Fire and Smoke Damage
Fire in one unit can affect multiple properties. Strata insurance handles building repairs, but you’ll need contents insurance to replace your damaged possessions.
Determining Your Coverage Needs
Assessing your insurance requirements involves several considerations:
For owner-occupiers:
- Calculate the replacement value of all your possessions
- Consider whether you need accidental damage cover
- Evaluate your personal liability exposure
- Review coverage for items you take outside your unit
For investors:
- Determine potential rental income loss
- Assess tenant-related risks
- Consider legal expense coverage
- Evaluate whether a furnished or unfurnished rental affects your needs
Working With Your Strata Manager
Your strata manager plays a vital role in ensuring adequate building insurance. We regularly review your strata insurance policy to confirm it meets Western Australian legislative requirements and provides appropriate coverage levels.
However, we cannot arrange personal insurance on your behalf. You’re responsible for securing your own contents or landlord insurance through a licensed insurance broker or provider.
Questions to ask your strata manager:
- What’s the current sum insured for the building?
- Does our policy include voluntary worker coverage?
- What’s our public liability limit?
- Are there any policy exclusions I should know about?
Making a Claim: Who Handles What?
Understanding the claims process prevents confusion during stressful situations.
For building or common property damage:
Contact your strata manager immediately. We’ll assess whether the damage falls under strata insurance and coordinate with the insurer on behalf of the body corporate.
For damage to your personal property:
Contact your contents or landlord insurance provider directly. Your strata manager cannot assist with personal insurance claims.
For damage affecting both:
You may need to lodge claims with both insurers. Document everything thoroughly with photos and detailed descriptions.
Living in a strata property offers many benefits, but it also requires understanding your insurance responsibilities. If you have questions about what your strata insurance covers or need clarification on your body corporate’s policy, contact our team. While we can’t arrange personal insurance for you, we can help you understand exactly what protection your strata policy provides and where you need additional coverage.
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