BCAA

24 BCA A .COM WINTER 2017 Tracey Ayton Photography It was an unpleasant surprise, no doubt, but the rest of the upper floor (their condo is a two-storey unit with a kitchen, dining room and living room upstairs) seemed relatively dry. Unfortunately, shortly thereafter they noticed evidence of further damage: the drywall above the door to one of the bathrooms, located downstairs, along with a laundry room, two bedrooms, a storage space and another bathroom, had warped and bubbled. "That's when I realized there had been a lot of water," Susan says. "It wasn't visible, but we knew it had seeped into the walls downstairs." A startling realization Susan reported the situation to the strata manager, thinking it was an issue for the building's insurance company. After all, the water appeared to have come from piping above her unit. That's when she got her second surprise: she would also have to get in touch with her own insurance company, because the strata doesn't cover damage to a condo's contents, and "contents" include any elements not original to the building. In their case, this meant the floors and kitchen countertops, both updated by a previous owner. "I figured, OK, this is the building's fault. It's not my fault, and it's not even [the fault of the upstairs neighbours]. These pipes should be snaked out once in a while to keep this sort of thing from happening," says Susan. "And when [the strata's insurer] said, the kitchen countertop isn't original, the floors aren't original, this isn't original, that isn't original, so it will go on your own insurance, I was absolutely shocked." This is the case with many condo owners who experience a claim, says Andrew Quick, Claims Director for BCAA Insurance. "Strata insurance covers what's called 'common property,' so lobbies, elevators, gardens, swimming pools and recreational facilities, the roofs, the drains and anything original to the condo units, including fixtures built or installed as part of the original construction," he says. "If the [damaged element] is original to the building, then the policy from the strata responds, and if it's an upgrade or personal contents, then the insured condo owner's policy responds." Susan quickly got in touch with her own insurer, BCAA, which stepped in to coordinate with the strata's insurance company and dispatched a restoration specialist to assess the extent of the damage with a moisture meter. "They were able to put it up against the walls and tell where all the water had gone, even though it wasn't visible . . . . It was into the dining room walls; it was everywhere." In the end, repairs and replacements were required on both floors of the condo. Some were covered by the strata's insurance – walls, drywall and the bottom kitchen cabinets (which were original to the building) – and some by her BCAA Insurance policy, like the upstairs area rug, the kitchen floors and countertops, the laundry room floor and the bathroom floor. During the course of the work, the restoration company discovered New to you A strata's insurance policy only covers originally installed elements. If you or a previous owner has renovated anything, such as flooring, cabinets or countertops, you need to insure for that extra value.

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