Glass breakage will never be the building's largest loss – but it is almost certainly its most frequent small annoyance. A stairwell window sacrificed to a move-in furniture delivery, the glass panel of an entrance door in a strong wind, a rooflight in the path of a ball: small losses that, without cover, keep nibbling at the common funds. Glass breakage cover is made for exactly this high-frequency, low-value type of damage.
- Glass breakage cover typically pays for breakage and cracking of the glass surfaces in the common areas – stairwell windows, entrance doors, shared entrances.
- The key questions: which types of glass are included (flat glass, safety glass, special surfaces), and how large the limit and the deductible are.
- With small losses the share of admin is high – it is worth thinking through at what deductible this cover is worthwhile for the building.
What does the cover apply to?
Glass breakage cover typically pays for the breakage and cracking of glass surfaces structurally built into the insured building. In a condominium the commonly owned surfaces play the leading role: stairwell windows, the glass panels of entrance doors, corridor windows and rooflights, the glazing of the common areas. The flats' own windows usually belong to the residents' home insurance – once again the common–private boundary decides, building by building, according to the deed of foundation.
The small print: types of glass and boundaries
Policy terms typically distinguish ordinary flat glass from special glazing – safety glass, insulating glass units, wired glass, decorative glazing: the latter may need to be named separately, or may call for an extended glass cover. In old, heritage-style buildings the replacement cost of ornate door glazing can be surprisingly high – this is where it pays to weigh up the extended version. And as with every small-claims cover: the limit and the deductible decide its real value – more generally on that in the policy terms reader.
Is it worth it for the building?
Glass breakage is a classic frequency cover: many small losses, each of modest value. The building's own place lies somewhere between two extremes. If there is a lot of traffic and a lot of glass in the building – large stairwells, several entrances – the cover works regularly and spares the common funds a steady drip of small expenses. If there is little glass and claims are rare, the basic version with a higher deductible, or narrowing the cover, may be the sensible choice – that is a question of deductible logic. The building's claims history gives the best guidance for a good decision.
In a claim: simple, if the paperwork is in order
A glass claim is one of the simplest types: a photo of the broken surface, a report through the insurer's claims line and online claims portal, an invoice for the replacement. Glass damage caused by criminal damage – a stone thrown through a pane, an attempted break-in – can overlap with vandalism cover and with burglary and criminal damage cover: in such cases it is worth describing the event precisely in the report and leaving the classification to claims handling.
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