The third lead character in insurance matters – besides the building and the insurer – is paper. In a claim, documents decide: the policy, the terms, photographs, records, invoices. A tidy insurance archive is not bureaucratic fussiness but the foundation of the building's position in claims handling – and the safeguard of a smooth succession. This article sets out how a building's “insurance file” should be built.
- The six compartments of the file: policy and terms, premium payment, resolutions, claims, the building's technical papers, contacts.
- The golden rule of documenting a claim: photograph everything, immediately – before any repairs.
- An archive is good when someone else can find their way around it too: the next property manager, the managing agent, or in a claim whoever happens to be available.
The six compartments
Policy and terms: the policy in force, the terms booklet and every amendment – together with the earlier versions, because a claim is always assessed under the terms of its own period. Premium payment: the due dates and the proof of payments (details: the article on premium payment). Resolutions: the general meeting decisions relating to insurance and the mandates given to the manager – texts drafted along the lines of the article on resolutions. Claims: a separate folder for each case – the report, photographs, correspondence, the loss adjustment record, invoices, closure. Technical papers: maintenance logs, inspection records, the documents of refurbishments – the best defence against the maintenance objection. Contacts: the insurer, the claims line, the broker and, if needed, the building's lawyer.
The rules of documenting a claim
In a claim, documentation is time-critical: photos and video of the damage and its source before any repairs, with the date; a record of the loss mitigation steps taken and what they cost; contact details for witnesses and those affected; a short note on every conversation (who, when, what was said). Every document going to the insurer and arriving from it should go into the folder – together with the case number. This is not overkill: a significant share of stalled cases stall on gaps in the documentation, and when it comes to how the broker helps, the file is my first question.
Paper or cloud?
Both: in practice the digital archive (a tidy folder structure, in the cloud, shared with the managing agent or the audit committee) is the working copy, while the paper original is the legal reserve. The great advantage of the digital version is succession: at a change of property manager, handing over a single access changes the owner of the entire insurance history. On retention periods, the longer horizon is your friend: the papers of closed claims can gain value later – in a dispute, at the next round of competing quotes, or simply to evidence the claims history.
The file as a tool
A tidy archive is not an end in itself: at the quote stage half the survey data list can be filled in from it; at renewal the checklist runs right through it; at the annual report the figures come from it. A building that has a file is faster and stronger in every insurance situation – that is the whole secret.
A question about your own building? Book a free 20-minute consultation →
