What a Council Can Actually Do About a Rising Insurance Premium

Few line items frustrate a strata council like the insurance renewal. Coverage is mandatory, the number arrives late, and it rarely goes down. Understanding what the Strata Property Act actually requires — and what is left to the council's judgment — is the difference between absorbing a premium increase and managing it.

Insurance is mandatory, but the shape of the policy is a decision

A BC strata corporation must obtain and maintain property insurance on common property, common assets, buildings shown on the strata plan, and fixtures built or installed on a strata lot by the owner developer as part of the original construction (that last item does not apply to bare land strata plans). The coverage must be on a full-replacement-value basis and insure against the major perils set out in the regulations (s.149). The corporation must also carry liability insurance in at least the amount the regulations require (s.150).

So the strata policy is not limited to hallways and the roof — it generally covers the original building, including strata lots. Owners cover the rest through their own policies: perils or amounts the corporation doesn't cover, non-original fixtures, improvements, loss of rental value and personal liability (s.161).

What is discretionary: errors and omissions insurance for council members (s.151) and additional perils or coverages beyond the statutory minimum (s.152). Those are cost decisions a council can revisit — carefully — at renewal.

Levers a council can actually pull

Premiums are priced by underwriters on risk, not by the Act, so the practical work is reducing and documenting risk:

• Start renewal early. Give your broker a full quarter to market the risk rather than accepting a single quote under deadline pressure.
• Fix the loss history. Water damage is the recurring driver in BC buildings. In-suite shut-off valves, hose-bib and supply-line replacement programs, and leak sensors are cheap relative to a claim.
• Keep fire and life-safety systems compliant. Alarms, sprinklers, extinguishers, emergency lighting and standpipes must each be inspected, tested and maintained at the interval the BC Fire Code sets for that system — monthly, annually or otherwise. There is no single "annual fire inspection" of a whole building; keeping the systems current is part of the corporation's duty to repair and maintain common property under s.72.
• Show your maintenance file. Underwriters respond to evidence: roof and envelope work, electrical upgrades, plumbing replacement, a current depreciation report (required for corporations of 5+ lots by July 1, 2026 in Metro Vancouver, the Fraser Valley and the Capital Regional District, and July 1, 2027 elsewhere, renewing every five years).
• Get an independent replacement-cost appraisal. Insuring to a stale valuation risks both over-payment and under-insurance.
• Review the deductible deliberately — see below.

If your records are scattered across years of minutes and reports, tools like SearchStrata can run AI analysis across strata documents to pull out the maintenance and claims history an underwriter will ask for.

Questions councils ask at renewal

Q: Should we raise the deductible to lower the premium?
It often reduces the premium, but it moves risk onto the corporation. Under s.158(1), paying a deductible on a claim against the strata's insurance is a common expense, contributed through strata fees calculated under s.99(2) or s.100(1) — in other words, shared by unit entitlement.

Q: Can we charge the deductible back to the owner whose unit flooded?
Only where that owner is responsible for the loss. Section 158(2) preserves the corporation's capacity to sue an owner to recover the deductible if the owner is responsible for the loss or damage. That is the owner's liability in full — it is not apportioned by unit entitlement — and responsibility is not automatic simply because the water started in their strata lot.

Q: Do owners have to vote before we pay a deductible?
No. Under s.158(3), despite any other provision, strata corporation approval is not required for a special levy or a contingency reserve fund expenditure to cover an insurance deductible the corporation must pay to repair or replace damaged property — unless the corporation has decided not to repair or replace under s.159.

Q: Can we pay the premium increase out of the CRF?
CRF spending generally requires a 3/4 vote. The Act lists only five situations where a majority vote is enough (a depreciation report, work recommended in the most current depreciation report, EV charging infrastructure and electricity management, an electrical planning report, and other EV-charging reports) — an insurance premium is not among them. See our CRF guide.

Funding the increase

The premium is an operating expense, so the normal route is the budget, which owners approve by majority vote at a general meeting (s.103). Remember the budget must also include a contingency reserve contribution of at least 10% of the budgeted operating contribution. If a mid-year increase blows past the budget, the options are limited: unapproved spending under s.98 (up to the limit in your bylaws, or if the bylaws are silent, the lesser of $2,000 and 5% of the annual operating-fund contribution), an amended budget at a special general meeting, or a special levy — which needs a 3/4 vote where each lot's share is calculated by unit entitlement, and a unanimous vote if the levy is divided in another way that establishes a fair division for that particular levy (s.108). Our posts on strata fees and preparing the annual budget walk through the mechanics.

Tell owners — it's a duty, not a courtesy

The corporation must review the adequacy of its insurance annually, report on coverage at each annual general meeting, and inform owners and tenants as soon as feasible of any material change in coverage, including any increase in a deductible (s.154). Councils that circulate the renewal summary early get far fewer surprised owners at the AGM. A self-managed council can track renewal dates, inspection intervals and owner notices in ManageStrata rather than in someone's inbox.

This article is general information about BC strata law, not legal advice; verify against the current Strata Property Act and Regulation or consult a BC strata lawyer.