Governments should protect condo owners from skyrocketing insurance costs: advocates

NEW WESTMINSTER (NEWS 1130) — Condo owners in B.C. who have been battling for months for relief from skyrocketing strata insurance rates say the pandemic has shown what governments can do to help.

The woman leading the charge for change says the federal and provincial governments have stepped in and supported Canadians experiencing unprecedented financial struggles, and now they can help with unprecedented insurance increases.

The governments have shown they can be fast and flexible, says Asifa Lalji, and they must do the same to rein in unreasonable insurers levying untenable rate increases on stratas for essential insurance.

“When you make insurance an essential service and tell everybody they have to get it, it’s part of your mortgage terms, it’s part of your buying and selling terms, it’s going to eventually be part of your just plain living terms,” she said, adding she believes governments have an obligation to step in and make sure such companies are not taking advantage of Canadians.

Since January, Lalji has been fighting for change as her New Westminster building saw its insurance increase 300 per cent.

Owners were prepared for a 40 per cent rise.

Some buildings, she says, can’t get insurance at a deductible allowable in B.C.

Lalji adds governments need to stop looking at each other to solve the problem and reign in insurers. She suggested they subsidize rates in the short-term, until they can fix the entire structure.

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