TAS: Strata Insurance Tasmania – for a small strata scheme

This article includes a selection of Q&As from lot owners about strata insurance in Tasmania. What are the insurance requirements in a small duplex? How is strata insurance handled when each lot has their own garden space?

Table of Contents:

• QUESTION: Where buildings are on separate titles, is an owner obliged to provide the body corporate with a copy of the policy, or other notification? We have 7 units on our plan with no shared roofs/walls. One lot owner is refusing to advise whether his unit is insured or not.
• QUESTION: For our duplex with no common grounds, do we need strata insurance or can each owner take out building insurance?
• QUESTION: We live in a strata development of twenty houses where each house is detached and surrounded by its own garden. Can you advise a company that will provide strata insurance for this type of strata scheme?

Question: Where buildings are on separate titles, is an owner obliged to provide the body corporate with a copy of the policy, or other notification? We have 7 units on our plan with no shared roofs/walls. One lot owner is refusing to advise whether his unit is insured or not.

Answer: There is no requirement for owners to provide evidence of insurance for property they are responsible for insuring. The insurance arrangements are entirely a matter for the owner (including whether they insure the property or not).

Tyrone Shandiman
Strata Insurance Solutions
E: tshandiman@iaa.net.au
P: 1300 554 165

This information is of a general nature only and neither represents nor is intended to be personal advice on any particular matter. Shandit Pty Ltd T/as Strata Insurance Solutions strongly suggests that no person should act specifically on the basis of the information in this document, but should obtain appropriate professional advice based on their own personal circumstances. Shandit Pty Ltd T/As Strata Insurance Solutions is a Corporate Authorised Representative (No. 404246) of Insurance Advisenent Australia AFSL No 240549, ABN 15 003 886 687.

This post appears in Strata News #578.

Question: For our duplex with no common grounds, do we need strata insurance or can each owner take out building insurance?

Answer: It is a requirement the body corporate take out cover for the property and liability under a strata policy.

The Strata Titles Act 1998 requires that the body corporate for a strata scheme must take out and maintain:

1. a policy of insurance for the buildings and other improvements (if any) on the site. “Site” is defined in the act as the whole of the land included in a plan (including lots and common property).
2. public risk insurance (also known as public liability insurance) over the site for an amount at least equal to a minimum prescribed by regulation.

With the above in mind it is a requirement the body corporate take out cover for the property and liability under a strata policy.

Section 103 has the following provision in the event the body corporate is in default of the above requirements:

Default by body corporate in relation to insurance

1. If a body corporate is in breach of its obligation to take out and maintain insurance, the owner of any lot may take out and maintain the required insurance.
2. The insurance may be taken out in the name of the body corporate or in the owner’s name.
3. The costs incurred by an owner under this section may be recovered from the body corporate as a debt (and may be set off against any liabilities of the owner to the body corporate).

If you are having difficulty getting the other lot to pay for their contribution for insurance, you may wish to contact Department of Natural Resources and Environment Tasmania for further advice.

Tyrone Shandiman
Strata Insurance Solutions
T: 07 3899 5129
E: tshandiman@iaa.net.au

This information is of a general nature only and neither represents nor is intended to be personal advice on any particular matter. Shandit Pty Ltd T/as Strata Insurance Solutions strongly suggests that no person should act specifically on the basis of the information in this document, but should obtain appropriate professional advice based on their own personal circumstances. Shandit Pty Ltd T/As Strata Insurance Solutions is a Corporate Authorised Representative (No. 404246) of Insurance Advisernet Australia AFSL No 240549, ABN 15 003 886 687.

This post appears in Strata News #562.

Question: We live in a strata development of twenty houses where each house is detached and surrounded by its own garden. Can you advise a company that will provide strata insurance for this type of strata scheme?

We live in a strata development of twenty houses. Each house is detached and surrounded by its own garden. Each lot has its own title registered with the LTO. No two houses are the same and there is a big variance in the dimensions and value of each house.

The Body Corporate requires an insurance policy that covers Common ground, (public liability etc.) with individual insured values for each property. Can you advise of a company that will provide this as we have only been quoted with a blanket cover for the entire complex, which apparently assumes all the properties are of the same value? It seems that Strata insurance is targeted at multi-story complexes, which ours isn’t.  

Answer: The Strata Titles Act 1998 (TAS) requires the body corporate to take out and maintain a policy of insurance for the buildings and other improvements (if any) on the site.

The Strata Titles Act 1998 (TAS) requires the body corporate to take out and maintain a policy of insurance for the buildings and other improvements (if any) on the site. “Site” is defined in the act as the whole of the land included in a plan (including lots and common property).

Generally, Strata insurance is offered on the basis of a blanket sum insured and apportionment of costs (premium) is done by unit entitlements. Strata policies do not offer cover based on individual insured values for each property.

If the buildings do not share roofs/walls and the properties are on a separate title (not part of the plan) owners can insure their properties outside of strata insurance and on an individual home insurance policy, with the body corporate insuring common property and public liability on a separate policy.

Tyrone Shandiman
Strata Insurance Solutions
T: 07 3899 5129
E: tshandiman@iaa.net.au

This information is of a general nature only and neither represents nor is intended to be personal advice on any particular matter. Shandit Pty Ltd T/as Strata Insurance Solutions strongly suggests that no person should act specifically on the basis of the information in this document, but should obtain appropriate professional advice based on their own personal circumstances. Shandit Pty Ltd T/As Strata Insurance Solutions is a Corporate Authorised Representative (No. 404246) of Insurance Advisernet Australia AFSL No 240549, ABN 15 003 886 687.

This post appears in Strata News #425.

Read next:

• Q&A: Body Corporate Rules Tasmania: How to secede from my body corporate
• NAT: Q&A What does Public Liability Insurance Include for Strata Property?

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