In New Zealand? Visit quarter.nz for body corporates.
Building insurance is compulsory for a owners corporation everywhere in Australia and New Zealand, and almost every building holds a policy. Far fewer can tell you when the sum insured was last checked against a real valuation, what the excess is, or what the policy does not cover. Construction costs have moved sharply since 2020 and many policies have not moved with them. That gap is not discovered at renewal — it is discovered at the claim.
ACT owners corporations must hold building and public liability insurance under the Unit Titles (Management) Act 2011. Canberra's advantage is that the Act's sinking fund plan obligation gives the executive committee a document that already describes the building's condition and its replacement costs — which is exactly the evidence an insurance valuation and a renewal conversation both need.
Governed by the Unit Titles (Management) Act 2011, administered by Access Canberra.
They are describing the same building. If they disagree about its condition or its replacement cost, find out which is wrong.
In Quarter: Put the agreement in your documents register and ask the Manager to summarise it — when it expires, how much notice it needs, what leaving early costs, and what they have to hand back. It reads the forty pages so the committee does not have to, and will turn the answer into a task with a date on it.
Canberra construction costs have risen materially since 2020.
In Quarter: Quotes, studies, assessments and correspondence attach to the decision that authorised them, so the file an assessor, an owner or a buyer's solicitor asks for is already assembled.
Statutory minimums are floors. A large scheme with shared facilities usually needs more.
And ask for the commission arrangement in writing.
In Quarter: Upload the policy and Quarter reads the insurer, policy number, dates, premium and broker straight off it, then puts the renewal on the calendar far enough ahead that you can go to market rather than accept a rollover.
The ACT expects the record.
In Quarter: The ownership register, financial records, insurance, contracts and documents sit in one searchable place, so a handover is an export rather than an archaeology project — and they are still there when the committee turns over.
They inform each other, so review them on the same cycle.
In Quarter: Upload the plan you already have and Quarter reads it into a costed schedule of items, lifecycles and due years. From there it projects the fund thirty years out and tells you the annual contribution that actually funds it.
One of them is misinforming a decision. Reconcile them.
The statutory floor is not a recommendation.
The ACT's record-keeping expectations make this an avoidable weakness.
The premium is one of the largest single lines in most buildings' budgets, and it is the one most often accepted without a question. Two questions — is the sum insured right, and what are we actually covered for — change the answer more than shopping around does.
A renewal handled well takes an hour and saves years of exposure. Quarter is what makes that hour possible.
Certificate of currency, schedule, valuation and claims history in one place, current, and visible to owners rather than sitting in a broker's inbox.
Diarised well before the date, so the building goes to market rather than accepting a rollover three days out.
Building details, claims history, maintenance records and the valuation date, ready to hand over instead of reconstructed each year.
When it was done, when it is next due, and what the sum insured is against it.
Which policy, at what excess, on whose recommendation, minuted — so next year's committee knows why, and so does an owner who asks.
General information about Australian Capital Territory, not legal or financial advice for your building. Legislation is amended and grant programmes open and close — check the current position with Access Canberra or the administering body before you act on anything here.
Tell us about your building in Australian Capital Territory and we will show you exactly how Quarter would run it.
