As some BC condo owners are reporting insurance premium hikes of 300 per cent, the MLA for Kamloops-South Thompson says he knows his bill to try and reduce skyrocketing strata insurance rates won’t solve the problem.
Todd Stone – the BC Liberal Municipal Affairs Critic – says he believes his bill would provide some relief to condo owners, especially in the Lower Mainland.
“It will offer some initial practical, do-able legislative actions that the province can take that would begin to apply some downward pressure on these rate increases that strata owners are facing,” he said on NL Newsday.
Stone says something the government should do is ensure the core components of the units – like the walls and the floors – be part of the strata corporation’s insurance, while non-core components – like appliances or the light fixtures – should fall on the owners insurance.
“So the liability attached to that insurance would be less because in both cases it’s not covering the entire unit,” he said. “It’s not a silver bullet, it’s not going to solve the overall problem, but again, it’s a practical, doable action that the government can take today.”
Finance Minister Carole James admits there isn’t a quick solution to this problem, something that Stone agrees with.
“There are fewer underwriters here providing insurance products here in the strata world, really three companies that are responsible for about 85 per cent of the policies that are written,” he noted. “And we’ve had our own fair share of wildfires and flood events.”
“So it’s kind of all coming to a culmination that’s resulted in a lot of people knocked over sideways with huge increases in their strata insurance costs.”
However, Stone says the government can’t sit back and wait to take action in what he says is full-fledged crisis.
(Photo via Wikimedia Commons)