We received this question from a NSW lot owner asking – what does public liability insurance include? The following response has been provided by Lia de Sousa, Whitbread Insurance Brokers.
Question: What does public liability insurance include?
Who pays the excess when a claim is made under public liability insurance in a strata scheme?
EG. what happens if an owner spills milk, cleans it up, but someone slips anyway because it was not cleaned properly on common property in NSW. Is the owner protected by public liability insurance and does the owner pay the excess or the Owners Corporation collectively? We are talking about an accident, not a malice.
Answer: Public Liability under a Strata policy insures against the death or injury to a person, or damage to property for which the Owners Corporation (OC) could be held legally responsible and required to pay compensation for.
Public Liability under a Strata policy insures against:
- The death or injury to a person, or
- damage to property;
for which the Owners Corporation could be held legally responsible and required to pay compensation for.
If an excess is applicable under the policy, it is generally paid by the Insured.
Strata Insurance policies are intended to cover the Owners Corporation for losses that occur in a common area that they can be held legally responsible for. In the aforementioned scenario, a claim may be lodged under the Public Liability section of the Strata policy and the insurer will consider if there is any liability attaching to the Owners Corporation. If an excess is to be paid, it will be paid by the Insured.
Public Liability insurance should also be considered by individual lot owners for any special circumstances involving their lot and not covered by the insurance taken out by the Owners Corporation.