A condominium is not just walls: a lift carries the residents, a boiler heats the stairwell or even the whole building, pumps keep the water under pressure, an automated system opens the garage door. These are the building's “expensive organs” – costly to buy and to repair, and immediately missed when they fail. The question follows naturally: what does insurance know about them?
- Natural peril damage to the building systems is typically covered by the base cover as well – but internal, technical breakdowns may need machinery breakdown-type additional cover.
- The lift is the most sensitive item: it is valuable, everyone uses it, and its maintenance is typically a condition of cover as well.
- When comparing, the thing to clarify is: which equipment the cover applies to, for what kinds of damage, and with what exclusions.
Two different types of loss – two logics of cover
If the boiler room is flooded or lightning destroys the controls, that is natural peril damage: this is typically handled by the base cover, since the building systems are part of the insured building. A breakdown of internal origin is a different genre: the motor burns out, the gearbox fails, the electronics die without any external event. Machinery breakdown-type additional cover is made for the latter, and – within the framework of the policy terms – pays the cost of repairing or replacing equipment after a sudden, internal failure. The line between the two differs from quote to quote, which is why it deserves its own row in the comparison table.
The lift deserves separate attention
The lift is the building's most valuable machine and also the most regulated one: regular technical inspections and a maintenance contract go with it. From an insurance point of view this cuts both ways: having a maintenance contract is typically a condition of cover – its absence can put payment at risk – while documented maintenance is the building's best argument in any dispute. In a building with a lift, the quote request should always include the lift's details: its age, its type and who maintains it.
What should go on the list?
When requesting quotes it is worth going through the building's systems item by item: lift(s), boilers and the heat centre, booster and circulation pumps, garage door automation, the door entry and camera systems, ventilation. For each item the question is the same: is it covered by the base cover, does it need an add-on, and what is its replacement value – the last of these also matters when sizing the sum insured. On the more complex systems of newly built blocks: the residential park article.
In claims and in prevention
With damage to the building systems the reporting process is the usual one – the insurer's claims line and online claims portal are the primary route – but in the documentation the technical papers play the leading role here: the maintenance log, the inspection records, the service engineer's fault report. And prevention is literally a requirement under this cover: regular maintenance not only makes breakdowns rarer, it also protects the conditions of payment. Built into the building's annual routine: the annual review checklist.
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