Terms to Know - Condo Insurance

In certain circumstances, your insurance will help to cover expenses such as moving costs, a hotel room, storage and more. For example:

• If your unit is considered unfit to live in due to an insured peril and you have to move out while the damage is being repaired, your plan will cover necessary and reasonable additional living expenses.
• If you are denied access to your unit by a civil authority because of damage to a neighbouring premises due to an insured peril, your plan will cover a necessary and reasonable increase in living expenses for up to two weeks.
• If a mass evacuation is ordered due to a sudden and accidental event within Canada or the U.S., your plan will cover any necessary and reasonable increase in living expenses to a maximum of $2,500 for the period access is prohibited, not exceeding 30 days from the date of the order of evacuation.
• If you rent part of your condo unit out to a tenant and he or she is forced to leave because of an insured loss, your plan will reimburse the fair rental value while the repairs are being made.

Provides protection against the widest range of risks and only excludes the perils specifically listed in your policy.

This is the amount you must pay out-of-pocket for each claim before your insurance policy pays.

If your claim exceeds $25,000, and the applicable deductible amount on your Certificate of Property Insurance is $1,000 or less, the deductible will not apply to your claim.

Condo living brings an increased risk of doing accidental damage to another person's property simply due to the close proximity of other units. Liability coverage helps to protect you financially if you unintentionally cause property damage or bodily injury to others — while inside your condo or anywhere in the world. It also helps to protect you against special assessments (see Loss Assessment Coverage for Liability).

For example, liability coverage protects you financially if:

• Your toaster oven catches fire, damaging your unit and part of your neighbour's unit.
• A babysitter slips on a spill on your kitchen floor and injures her back.
• You throw a baseball on the beach while on vacation in Florida and you accidentally knock out a bystander's tooth.

Liability coverage helps protect you whether someone sues you or not:

• Your policy will pay for property damage or personal injury you unintentionally cause even if you are not legally liable.
• If someone does sue you due to injury or property damage covered by your policy, the costs associated with your defence are covered by your policy.

Tip: It’s a good idea to purchase as much liability coverage as you can afford—we recommend at least $1 million in coverage and offer up to $2 million in coverage.

What about my condominium corporation's liability insurance?

While your condominium corporation should carry its own liability coverage for incidents that happen on common property (like a swimming pool, lobby, etc.), it would not give you financial protection in the examples above.

As a condo owner, you share both ownership—and legal responsibility—with the other individual unit owners for the condominium's common areas (for example, a swimming pool, fitness room, rooftop terrace, elevators, etc.). While your condominium corporation may have adequate coverage, loss assessment coverage helps to protect you financially if there is a liability claim made against your condominium corporation that exceeds the condominium corporation's liability coverage limits.

Your policy will pay up to the total limit of your liability coverage for your share of special assessments if the assessment(s) meet the conditions outlined in your policy.

We will not pay more than $25,000 for that part of an assessment made necessary by a deductible in the insurance policy of the condominium corporation.

Example of Loss Assessment Coverage for Liability

A man who was seriously injured after falling down slippery stairs in a condominium building's lobby, sues the condominium corporation for $3 million and wins the suit. The condominium corporation carries only $2 million in liability coverage. To make up the $1 million difference, the condominium association levies a special assessment against each unit owner. Because there are 50 unit owners, each owner must pay $20,000 towards the suit (50 owners x $20,000 = $1,000,000). Loss assessment coverage would pay, up to the specified liability coverage limit, the $20,000 portion of the special assessment.

If your condominium association levies a valid special assessment against you and the other unit owners because of direct loss by an insured peril to the condominium property collectively owned by the unit owners, your policy will pay up to 250% of the dollar amount you chose for your Contents Coverage for your share of special assessments if the assessment(s) meet the conditions outlined in your policy.

We will not pay more than $25,000 for that part of an assessment made necessary by a deductible in the insurance policy of the condominium corporation.

Your policy provides coverage for personal property belonging to others while it is in your possession or belonging to a residence employee travelling for or with you (if the property has no other insurance coverage.) However, property of tenants or boarders who are not related to you is excluded.

Includes items such as furniture, televisions, computers, washer/dryer, clothes, jewellery, etc. inside your condo unit or on your premises.

You should have enough Contents Coverage to repurchase everything you currently have as personal belongings inside your unit. If you're not sure, itemize all of your personal belongings, room by room. Apply an approximate amount to each item and then total these amounts.

Tip: Update your personal belongings inventory at least once a year. Photograph or videotape all your belongings and keep a record of serial numbers and receipts where applicable in a secure location (such as a safety deposit box.) If you ever make a claim, your visual record of the missing or damaged items will make the process much easier.

What about my condominium corporation's property insurance?

Your condo corporation’s insurance policy only covers items that are part of the original building — not your personal belongings.

Your policy provides coverage for theft, attempted theft or burglary of personal property that is inside or on any automobile that is parked on or away from your premises.

Your policy provides coverage for personal property while it is temporarily away from your premises, anywhere in the world. However, personal property normally kept at any other location you own or rent is not insured. I Includes uninsured personal property belonging to others while it is in your possession or belonging to an employee of your residence travelling for or with you.

Personal property stored in a secured storage facility is insured for 30 days only, from the date the property was first stored. We will continue coverage beyond that period for theft only, subject to the applicable policy coverages, conditions, limits and exclusions.

Subject to the exclusions and conditions in your policy, Specified Perils mean:

• Fire
• Lightning
• Explosion
• Smoke due to a sudden, unusual and faulty operation of any heating or cooking unit in or on the premises
• A falling object which strikes the exterior of the building
• Impact by aircraft, watercraft or land vehicle
• Riot
• Vandalism or malicious acts, not including loss or damage caused by theft or attempted theft
• Water damage, meaning damage caused by:
  • the sudden and accidental escape of water from a watermain
  • the sudden and accidental escape of water or steam from within a plumbing, heating, sprinkler, air conditioning system or domestic water container, which is located inside your dwelling
  • the sudden and accidental escape of water from a domestic water container located outside your dwelling (such damage is not covered when the escape of water is caused by freezing)
  • water which enters your dwelling through an opening which has been created suddenly and accidentally by a peril not otherwise excluded
  • the backing up or escape of water from an eaves trough or down spout, or by ice damming, provided the water has not entered through a basement or foundation wall
• Windstorm or hail, including loss or damage caused by weight of ice, snow, or sleet. This peril does not include loss or damage to your personal property within a building, caused by windstorm, hail or coincidental rain damage unless the storm first creates an opening in the building.
• Transportation, meaning loss or damage to your personal property caused by collision, upset, overturn, derailment, stranding or sinking of any motorized vehicle or attached trailer in which the insured property is being carried. This would also apply to any conveyance of a common carrier, but does not include loss or damage to property in a vacation or home trailer which you own. Watercraft, their furnishings, equipment or motors are also not covered.

Coverage for your original unit itself—the walls, originally installed floors, plumbing, fixtures, etc. should be protected by your condominium corporation's own property insurance policy. But, in cases where your condominium corporation has no insurance on your unit, the insurance is not sufficient, or the insurance does not cover the peril that has occurred, your policy through us also includes unit contingency coverage.

This coverage insures your unit against loss or damage caused by an insured peril in your policy. It provides coverage for up to 250% of the dollar amount you chose for your Contents Coverage.

Your condominium corporation's insurance will not cover any upgrades you have made to your condo unit—such as better carpets, high-end light fixtures or built-in cupboards.

That’s why your policy comes with unit improvements and betterment coverage, which protects any of the improvements made by you or a prior owner, as well as materials and supplies being used to make your upgrades, as long as these items are on your premises and intended for your exclusive use only.

All improvements and betterments you make to your unit are covered for the same perils that your personal belongings are insured against for up to 100% of the dollar amount you chose for your Contents Coverage.

Tip: If you make upgrades to your unit, be sure to update your policy to make sure you are properly covered. Also keep receipts and proof of all upgrades you have made to your unit in a secure location (such as a safety deposit box.)

We will pay reasonable medical expenses (surgical, dental, hospital, nursing, ambulance service and funeral expenses) incurred within one year of the date of the accident, if you unintentionally injure another person or if they are accidentally injured on your premises, even though you are not legally liable.

The amount of insurance shown on your Certificate of Property Insurance is the maximum amount we will pay for each person in respect of one accident or occurrence.

Please see your policy for all terms, conditions, limits and exclusions.

We will pay for unintentional direct damage you cause to property even though you are not legally liable. You may also use this coverage to reimburse others for direct property damage caused intentionally by an insured person, 12 years of age or under. We will pay whichever is the lower amount of:

• What it would cost to repair or replace the property with materials of similar quality at the time of loss
• The amount of insurance shown on your Certificate of Property Insurance

Please see your policy for all terms, conditions, limits and exclusions.

Note: The information above is a summary only and does not include all terms, conditions, limits and exclusions.