Deep Bay, British Columbia
Lighthouse Landing Estates

Strata Corporation’s Insurance Policies

Insurance 

All strata corporations must obtain property and liability insurance. Strata owners and renters should also purchase insurance for their needs. Insurance for the strata corporation is not the same as strata homeowner or tenant insurance. See further information on this below the policies.

Strata Corporation and Waste Water Treatment Plant Insurance Policies:

As of December 1, 2019 our Insurance Broker is Waypoint Insurance Services. Here are our December 2025-26 insurance policies:

Owner’s Insurance

The Strata’s insurance policy covers everything that was built or installed as part of the original construction. According to our Waypoint representative that means the original building standards plus any Upgrades that were ordered from the developer and included in the original purchase. Any alterations or upgrades that were added after the original owner took possession of the unit are considered Improvements or Betterments and should be insured under the owner’s condo homeowner policy.

Therefore, in addition to insuring your personal contents, your homeowner policy should show an amount for unit improvements/betterments done since the original build. Some insurance company policies list this as a separate coverage, while others lump it under “Contingent Condo Coverages”.

Insurance companies do not keep a list of specific items as the onus is on the insured to ensure they are adequately insured and that the limit is high enough. This is why insurance companies suggest getting professional appraisals and insuring to the appraised amount.

To assist you with documenting your unit’s building Upgrades, here is an Excel spreadsheet with a list of possible builder’s upgrades.

  • Worksheet (Excel)
    Please note: This is not an exhaustive list; some original owners contracted with the builder for additional Upgrades—if you are aware of them, please add them to your spreadsheet.

In addition to listing your upgrades, you may also add your Betterments to the spreadsheet. You should also consider to taking photos of these items in your unit. If you send your completed spreadsheet and photos to the Secretary, the documentation will be posted in the strata files on our OneDrive account for future reference in case they are required in the event of a major disaster. Please be sure to give the spreadsheet and photos filenames that include your unit number.

Insurance Claims

As per our Waypoint brokers: The strata policy covers the units to their original state. Any renovations done since would be unit improvements or betterments and would fall under the owner’s policy. In most claim scenarios, both policies are involved. However, be aware that the strata policy carries higher deductibles, so the damage would have to be over the strata policy’s deductible amount for the strata policy to get involved. For example: a $5,000 loss would not be high enough for the strata policy to kick in. Which is why it is important for the unit owner to have the correct coverage for Condominium Deductible Loss Assessment and to also have underlying coverage for earthquake, sewer back up, overland water.

Usually following a loss owners would notify both their insurer and the strata’s insurer and the adjusters would work out how the claim breaks down between different policies.

Loss Assessment Property Insurance

Loss to Unit protects the unit owner if there is a shortfall in the strata policy. Loss Assessment Property protects the unit owner if there is an insurable loss on the strata that the strata council or property management company decides not to claim under the strata policy and an assessment is sent to the unit owners. This does not apply to maintenance. Condominium Deductible Loss Assessment protects the owner if a deductible is assessed against the unit owner. This could be for damage to common property in another part of the complex or for damage that originates in one particular unit even if the unit owner is not negligent. For example: a brand new, professionally installed hot water heater leaks and causes damage to another unit or the building envelope, the unit owner could be assessed the strata’s deductible.

Loss Assessment Property Insurance is designed to protect the unit owner if the strata sends out an assessment for an insurable loss. It is up to each unit owner to make sure that they have sufficient coverage for their contents, improvements and betterments etc. Some companies combine Loss to Unit, Loss Assessment Property, Improvements and Betterments and even Condo Deductible Loss Assessment into one lump sum coverage.

Strata Insurance Deductibles

Most of the items insured by the Strata Corporation include a deductible. Owners are responsible for a share of the deductibles based on their Entitlement. For information on this, visit: Unit Entitlement Explained. Here is a list of each unit’s share or percentage of a deductible in our strata:

Earthquake Insurance Deductible

Our 2024/25 insurance policy’s earthquake deductible is 10% of the appraised value. Our insurer has agreed to apply this deductible separately to each item and to each location for which earthquake coverage is provided. This means the deductible is on the total value of each structure—applied separately. Therefore, if only the Waste Water Treatment Plant is affected, then the deductible is only on that. If only one building is affected, the deductible is 10% of the total value of that building only, not the entire complex. Not all insurance companies offer this separation.

The Strata Corporation is responsible for the deductible on our policy. In the event of a strata loss to insured improvements /common property due to an earthquake, the strata would assess each unit owner for their portion of the deductible based on their unit entitlement to be contributed to the strata as a whole, regardless of whether their unit was damaged or not. Therefore all owners should consider purchasing coverage for Earthquake Loss Assessment Corporation Deductible as part of their personal Homeowner’s Insurance.

In the event of a total loss due to an earthquake, each unit’s owner would be responsible for their share of the deductible based on their entitlement. In 2024-25, our Strata insurance appraisal is $20,629,000, therefore the Strata’s deductible would be $2,062,900. Here is a list of what each unit’s share of that would be:

For more information on insurance visit: