The stairwell has been flooded, the glass in the entrance door is smashed, a flat on the third floor is soaked – and here is the question that derails so many claims: who should report it? The owner, for their own damage? The manager, for everything? The answer follows from the logic of the policies: the report is made by the party whose insurance the loss affects. Let's go through it case by case.
- On the building's policy – where the loss affects common property – the report is typically filed by the property manager or the managing agent.
- Damage to a flat's private property and contents is reported by the owner to their own home insurer.
- Where cases overlap (a leak from above, for example), reporting on both lines is the good practice – on both, with an agreed description of the facts.
When the building reports
If the damage affects common property – roof, façade, stairwell, riser, shared rooms – it is a matter for the building's policy, and reporting is the manager's or the managing agent's job: they hold the policy number, they have access to the building's data, and they can deal with the insurer on the community's behalf. Residents help most by flagging the damage to the manager immediately – with photos and the time – and by giving access for the loss adjustment if their own property is affected. The process itself is in the article on reporting a claim.
When the resident reports
Damage inside the flat, to privately owned property – a soaked parquet floor, ruined furniture, a fault in the flat's own pipework – belongs to the owner's home insurance: there they are the policyholder, and they report on their own insurer's claims line. The property manager typically has no formal role in this, but it is good practice for the resident to inform them too – because damage inside a flat may have its source in common property (and the other way round), and because the building's claims statistics need the complete picture.
Overlapping cases: reporting on both lines
A good share of condominium claims are borderline cases: a leaking riser causes damage inside a flat; a roof leak soaks the top-floor flat; a neighbour's negligence reaches the building's corridor as well. Here the good practice is parallel reporting: the building on its own policy (the damage to common property), the resident affected on theirs (the damage to the flat) – with an agreed, identical description of the facts. The question of “which insurer ultimately pays” is settled during claims handling, on the basis of the ownership boundaries and liability; parallel reporting is exactly what makes sure that neither line misses a deadline. The classic case is worked through in the article on leaks from above.
Good practice for the building: a single point of entry
What reduces confusion is everyone in the building knowing that after a loss the first message goes to the manager, who then decides – or checks with me – which policy is affected and who should report where. That is what the printable process guide and the owner information sheet were made for. The aim is not bureaucracy but speed: a report filed in the right place at the right time is the shortest route to getting things repaired.
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