How to protect your condo

Shared spaces, less upkeep — condo living has real upside. As long as you’re properly insured to protect your investment. Here’s a guide to the coverage you need and the latest changes in Quebec.

What’s a condominium (a “condo”)?

Buy a condo and you own your unit plus a share of the building’s common areas — the lobby, roof, grounds and so on. That’s why two kinds of insurance come into play: one for your unit, one for the shared spaces.

What is co-owner’s insurance?

This is the part that covers your property and your civil liability as an owner. It also protects upgrades you’ve made to your unit since buying it — new cabinets, an added heat pump.

What is syndicate of co-ownership insurance?

This covers the building itself — the common areas and the original fixtures (the ones in place before any renovations, like floors, countertops or cabinets). It also covers the civil liability of the syndicate and its directors. On top of that, the syndicate must insure standard risks like theft and fire, for an amount that reflects the building’s replacement value.

What happens when you make a claim?

Whatever it takes to put your unit back the way it was is covered by the syndicate’s insurance — rebuilding walls, floors or countertops. Your co-owner’s home insurance covers replacing your personal belongings (a range, say), and it’ll also cover the extra cost of upgrading the original fixtures — swapping melamine countertops for granite, for instance.

What’s new in Quebec?

Several recent legal changes to divided co-ownership (condo) insurance spell out more clearly who’s responsible for what — the syndicate or the co-owner.

Here’s the gist:

• Directors must now get a professional appraisal of the building every five years, and the amount insured under the syndicate’s master policy has to match the building’s reconstruction cost.
• The syndicate must now keep a document describing every private portion, detailed enough to clearly identify the improvements co-owners have made to their units.
• The syndicate had until April 15, 2022 to set up and manage a self-insurance fund covering deductible costs in a claim. That reserve has to cover the highest deductible under the syndicate’s policy, apart from those for earthquakes or floods.
  Directors’ and officers’ liability insurance is now mandatory.

Learn more

For more, this video walks through the main legal changes to condo insurance.

Still have questions, or wondering how these changes affect your own policies? Reach out to your broker anytime — we’ll help you make sense of it all.