The four things we check every year
- The owners corporation is the named insured — "The Owners – Strata Plan No. XXXXX", not one owner's name. A policy in the wrong name can leave a claim unpaid.
- Sum insured is at or above the last valuation. The law requires the building to be insured for its full replacement cost (s 161). A professional valuation every 3–5 years is the standard way to keep that figure right; the sum insured must cover full replacement including demolition, removal and professional fees (s 160).
- Public liability of $20 million or more (s 164; Regulation cl 39).
- Expiry date — we remind both owners 60 days and 14 days before renewal.
When the new certificate arrives we run those four checks and email both owners the result: pass, needs attention at renewal, or fail with what to fix.
Two detached homes on one plan?
If the two dwellings are physically separate, the owners can resolve in writing not to insure jointly and each insure their own home (s 160(4)). We record the resolution and hold both certificates.
We don't sell insurance and we don't earn from it. Our job is to make sure the certificate says the right thing, every year. — Alan Hunter, Class 1 Strata Manager
Common problems we find
- Policy in one owner's name from before the second lot was sold.
- Sum insured never updated since the plan was registered — sometimes a third of today's rebuild cost.
- Home-and-contents policies on each half instead of a strata policy on the building.
- No public liability at all, because nobody knew it was required.
Where the law is at (03-10-2026)
- From 1 October 2026 (now in force): 2-lot schemes no longer lodge the annual Strata Hub report (NSW Fair Trading, "Changes to strata laws").
- Small strata scheme rules (no meetings, decisions by written resolution of both owners, new s 7A): in a Bill that has passed the Legislative Assembly and is before the Legislative Council. They start on a date to be proclaimed. Until then, where the law still requires a meeting, we give you a simple template pack so you can hold it yourselves in a few minutes.
- Unchanged: the duty to insure the building for full replacement value in the owners corporation's name, to keep common property in repair, to keep a strata roll and records, and to provide a Section 184 certificate when a lot is sold.