Minutes, Deductibles, Disclosures, Engineers

When unit 510's toilet tank broke and caused water damage to not just unit 510, but in a much greater degree to unit 409 as well, the strata manager did not file an insurance claim. We do not know why.

We have never been able to find out why. However, a note on the Coastal Insurance renewal dated September 23, 2009, may shed some light on this. It states:

"This quotation is subject only to losses being satisfactory at the time of
renewal.."

I'm afraid that in this regard, May 23, 2003, may have been a critical moment in time; to the owners of unit 510 who were handling the insurance on behalf of the strata corporation, and to a new insurance policy which was being negotiated.

It is my understanding that the deductible for water damage up until some time in or about late May 2003 was $1,000, the same as the year before. After that a new insurance policy took effect with a $5,000 deductible. It has never been clear to us what exactly the deductible was on the day that the accident occurred.

If a claim for water damage was made immediately before the new policy was to be signed the negotiated terms may have changed.

No matter what the deductible was, the owners of unit 510 may have been been afraid that they could be held responsible for paying it and trivialized the accident to avoid an insurance claim being made.

In any case, I provided details of the damage to the strata corporation, every step of the way, but it was like I was shouting into an empty room.

No insurance adjuster investigated the damage, and all of my requests for a copy of the insurance details were persistently and inexplicably denied over the years.

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The owners of unit 510 were the only ones who listed with Al MacLeod for years and I think he played a role. Strata management acted as if my correspondence did not exist, it just disappeared without explanation, and it was impossible for me to obtain a copy of the insurance policy from them.

Even if the deductible was 5 times higher than shown here 6 months before the accident,
the cost of replacement value repairs of the water damage to units 409 and unit 510 would obviously exceed the amount of the corresponding deductible at the time.

Coastal Insurance's October 1, 2009 renewal states that the "All Risks" Form, including Guaranteed Replacement Cost, now has a $10,000 deductible for water damage.

Coastal Insurance emphasises the word "Guaranteed" by setting it out in italics. It is my understanding that Guaranteed Replacement Cost repairs could not exclude water damage to the structural elements of a strata lot.






Both levels of unit 409 were flooded so severely that our downstairs was still wet and moldy over a week later, despite our downstairs drains and industrial heaters and blowers that ran 24 hours a day until the upper level was dry. It took the strata corporation nearly 3 months just to dry out the water, saw off our doors, repair our drywall and ceilings, paint, and clean our carpets, upstairs and down. Our walls, floors, and doors were so severely warped after the accident that hardware broke, walls cracked, floors sunk, and doors stuck or stopped staying open or latching shut.

After several years of delays and contradictions, the strata corporation hired an engineer to inspect the unrepaired damage to unit 409. He ignored the structural problems in our floors but confirmed in writing that the damage in our strata lot arose from escaping water. The strata manager advised us that it was our responsibility to repair it. We do not believe this, as the damage is of a nature that could only come from above, and the only water ever escaping in our unit has been from the unit above us. For the strata manager to claim that we are responsible is inconsistent with the terms of the insurance, bylaws, and Strata Property legislation, as well as the repairs provided to unit 227, whose owners were the cause of their own damage.

We have not been able to get council to look at the damage and we cannot sell without signing a Property Disclosure Statement that requires answers to question such as in the examples below:

• What is the monthly maintenance fee per month? Does this include ... Insurance? ...
• Are you aware of any structural problems with any of the buildings on the Property?
• Are you aware of any damage due to water? Are you aware of any unrepaired damage?

After the water damage honest answers to these questions would oblige us to sell our unit as what our realtor calls "a fixer-upper" with a correspondingly lower price - adding further to the damage to us - and to the well-earned stigma to the reputation of the whole strata complex.