Strata Insurance in BC 2026: What Councils Need to Know

If you've sat on a strata council in BC any time since 2018, you've watched the insurance renewal come in and winced. Premiums up, deductibles up (water-damage deductibles especially), and in some cases fewer insurers willing to quote at all. It's not your building doing something wrong; it's a market that hardened province-wide. This is a council-level guide to strata insurance in BC for 2026: why it got expensive, what the strata's policy actually covers versus what every owner has to insure themselves, how the deductible can land on an individual homeowner, what Form B and the insurance summary disclose, and what a council can do about the cost. We manage strata files across Squamish and Whistler and we sit through these renewals every year. Here's the plain version.

General information, not legal advice, and not specific insurance advice, coverage, limits and deductibles vary by policy and change at renewal. For the legal framework, see the Strata Property Act and Strata Property Regulation; for your building, talk to your broker and a strata lawyer where it matters. Dollar figures here are illustrative only, confirm against your own policy and current quotes.

What happened to strata insurance in BC

Around 2018, BC strata insurance entered what the industry calls a hard market, and it's never fully softened back. The pattern across buildings:

• Premiums rose sharply, in some cases doubling or more at a single renewal.
• Deductibles rose even more sharply, particularly water-damage / escape-of-water deductibles, which for many buildings went from modest to very large.
• Capacity tightened. Some insurers exited the BC strata market or scaled back, leaving fewer options and, for higher-risk buildings, real difficulty getting quoted.

The drivers stacked up: years of large water-damage claims (the dominant loss type in BC stratas), rising rebuild costs, aging building stock, and a tighter global reinsurance market that BC sits inside. The province brought in some reforms afterward, around disclosure, deductibles and depreciation reports, but the cost level for many buildings remains well above where it was, and renewals are still where councils feel the strain most.

What the strata insures vs what owners insure

This is the distinction every council needs to be able to explain in plain language, because a lot of owners assume "the building has insurance, so I'm covered." They aren't.

So: the strata corporation must insure the common property, common assets, and (broadly) the strata lots as originally constructed, to full replacement value. Everything personal to you, your stuff, your upgrades, your liability, your displacement costs, and your potential exposure to the strata's deductible, is on your own strata (condo) unit owner's policy. That policy should include loss-assessment coverage, which exists specifically to help with a deductible the strata charges back to you and with special assessments tied to a covered loss.

The deductible, the part that bites individual owners

Here's the trap. The strata generally pays the deductible on a claim against its policy. But the Strata Property Act lets the strata recover the deductible from an owner where that owner is responsible for the loss, and many bylaws expand on that recovery right. Because water-damage deductibles in particular climbed so much after 2018, an owner found responsible for, say, a failed supply line or an overflowing tub can face a large bill, sometimes well into five figures, depending on the building's policy.

That's the single biggest reason every owner in a strata needs loss-assessment coverage on their personal policy: it's the backstop for a deductible the strata is entitled to chase. Councils should be saying this clearly, every AGM, not assuming owners know it.

How a claim actually flows through a strata

It helps to see the sequence, because the roles can blur in the moment:

1. Something happens: a burst supply line, a roof leak after a heavy snow load, a fire. Whoever notices reports it; in a rented unit, the tenant tells the property manager, who tells the owner and the strata.
2. Triage. The strata (through its manager) figures out whether the damage is to common property, to strata lots, or both, and whether it's a claim against the strata's policy.
3. The claim goes in. If it's a strata-policy claim, the strata corporation files it and pays the deductible up front.
4. Repairs. The strata's portion (common property, the lot as originally built) is repaired under the strata claim; the owner's portion (upgrades, contents, anything the bylaws put on the owner) is on the owner and their own policy.
5. Deductible recovery. If the loss traces to an owner's responsibility, the strata pursues the deductible from that owner, who, if they're insured properly, claims it under their loss-assessment coverage.
6. Aftermath. The claim history feeds into the next renewal, which is why a building with frequent water claims sees its premium and deductible climb.

The thing to take from that flow: the strata's policy is the building's safety net, not yours. Your contents, your renovations, your liability, your displacement, and your share of the deductible all live on your own condo policy. A council that walks owners through this sequence ideally before a claim, not during one, saves itself a great deal of grief.

Form B and the insurance summary, disclosure

Insurance information is part of what gets disclosed about a strata, and buyers and owners should know where to look:

• Form B Information Certificate. Includes information about the strata's insurance, alongside strata fees, the CRF balance, special levies, bylaws, and more. It's a core document in any purchase.
• The insurance summary. Sets out the coverage, the insurer, the amounts insured, and the deductibles by category. This is where you see how big the water-damage deductible actually is.

Reviewing these, together with the depreciation report, the contingency reserve fund balance, recent minutes, and any pending special levies, is standard due diligence before buying into a strata, and it's worth a current owner's attention at renewal time too. Keeping the insurance summary current and accessible is part of the manager's job. (For how the reserve picture ties in, see our depreciation report guide.)

What a council can actually do about the cost

Councils can't change the market, but they're not powerless either:

• Reduce risk. Most strata losses are water losses, and insurers know it. Proactive maintenance of plumbing, supply lines, valves, hot-water tanks and the building envelope; fast leak response; in-suite shut-offs and leak sensors where feasible; clear policies on appliances, hoses, and in-suite renovations. Insurers ask about all of this at renewal.
• Plan for deductibles. Keep a realistic reserve so a deductible doesn't force an emergency levy, and make sure your deductible-recovery bylaw is clear and current so chargebacks to responsible owners actually hold up.
• Shop the policy properly. Use a broker who knows the BC strata market, give them time, and present the building well. A current depreciation report and visible maintenance discipline help.
• Disclose and educate. Keep the insurance summary current; make sure Form B is accurate; and every AGM, in plain language, remind owners they must carry their own condo policy with loss-assessment coverage. The gap between "the building's insured" and "I'm insured" is the council's to close.
• Watch the renovation pipeline. Owner upgrades change what the strata's policy is being asked to rebuild and can complicate claims; clear renovation rules help.

A council can't fix the insurance market. It can stop being the building that gives an underwriter pause, and it can make sure no owner is blindsided by a deductible they didn't know they were on the hook for.

What every owner should actually do

The council's job is risk management, reserves, disclosure and education. The individual owner's job is shorter but non-negotiable:

• Carry a strata (condo) unit owner's policy. Not optional. The strata's policy does not cover your contents, your upgrades, your liability, or your displacement.
• Get loss-assessment coverage on it, with a meaningful limit. This is the piece that responds when the strata charges back its deductible to you, and the deductible is the number that can hurt. Look at the size of the strata's water-damage deductible (it's in the insurance summary) and make sure your loss-assessment limit is realistic against it.
• Insure your upgrades. Renovated kitchen, new flooring, that bathroom you redid: that's "betterments and improvements" on your policy, not the strata's.
• Tell your insurer about renovations. Material changes to the unit can affect coverage and claims.
• Know your bylaws on responsibility. Some bylaws expand the deductible-recovery right and shift maintenance obligations onto owners; know what's yours.
• Review it when the strata's policy renews. A jump in the strata's deductible may mean you need to bump your loss-assessment limit.

If you're a renter in a strata-titled unit, none of the above is yours, but tenant insurance still is, for your own belongings and liability.

When insurance becomes a dispute

Insurance touches several of the common strata disputes we see: a deductible charged back to an owner who disputes responsibility; a special levy to cover a shortfall; arguments over whether damage to upgrades is the strata's problem or the owner's; complaints about a premium jump. Most of these are softened by the same things that soften everything else: a clear deductible-recovery bylaw, a transparent budget and CRF, owners who actually carry proper personal coverage, and a manager who runs any chargeback or claim cleanly and on paper.

Our renewal jumped and the deductible doubled, and half the owners had no idea their own policy needed loss-assessment coverage. Our manager turned the next AGM into a plain-English insurance briefing, best meeting we've had.

The bottom line for your council

Strata insurance is more expensive than it was, the water-damage deductible is the number that can actually hurt an individual owner, and the strata's policy doesn't cover anyone's contents, upgrades, liability, displacement, or deductible exposure. That's every owner's own condo policy, ideally with loss-assessment coverage. What your council controls is risk, reserves, a clean deductible-recovery bylaw, a properly shopped policy, and honest owner education.

If your council wants a licensed manager who handles the renewal process, keeps the disclosure right, runs deductible chargebacks cleanly, and turns the insurance conversation into something owners actually understand, that's part of what we do on Sea to Sky strata files. Start on our owners and councils page, see how local councils hire strata management, or get in touch to talk through your building.