What Strata Insurance Do I Need? A 2026 Guide for Australian Apartment Owners

What Strata Insurance Do I Need? A 2026 Guide for Australian Apartment Owners

If you own an apartment in Australia, the question "what strata insurance do I need?" actually breaks into three separate questions: what does the owners corporation insure on your behalf, what gap is left over, and what kind of cover fills that gap. Most of the answers people find online are written from the perspective of the strata manager, explaining what the building needs. That misses the more useful question for an individual owner, which is what you personally need to hold on top.

This guide answers it directly.

The short answer

As an Australian apartment owner, you need three things, but only two of them are your responsibility:

1. Strata insurance (also called residential strata insurance, body corporate insurance, or building insurance): held by the owners corporation, paid through your levies. You do not buy this individually.
2. Home contents insurance: held by you, covers your personal belongings, internal fittings you've installed, and your personal liability. You do buy this.
3. Landlord insurance (only if you rent out your apartment): held by you, covers loss of rent, malicious damage by tenants, and tenancy-related liability. You buy this if you're an investor.

The most common, and most expensive, mistake is assuming that the strata policy covers everything. It doesn't. The gap between what the owners corporation insures and what you own personally is exactly where most uninsured losses occur.

Insurance #1: Strata insurance (held by the owners corporation)

Strata insurance is mandatory in every Australian state and territory. The owners corporation must hold a policy that includes, at minimum:

• Building cover: the physical structure, common property, and original fixtures and fittings as installed at registration, insured for full replacement value
• Public liability: protects the owners corporation if someone is injured on common property
• Workers compensation: required where the owners corporation employs anyone (cleaners, building managers, contractors)
• Office bearer's liability (in some jurisdictions): protects committee members from personal liability for decisions made in good faith

You contribute to the cost of this policy through your quarterly strata levies. The policy is held in the name of the owners corporation, not in your name.

What strata insurance covers on your apartment specifically: the building structure, walls, floors, ceilings, common doors and windows, the original kitchen and bathroom fixtures as installed when the building was registered, and shared infrastructure (lifts, fire systems, lobbies, car parks, pools).

What strata insurance does not cover: anything inside your lot that you own personally, anything you've upgraded or replaced since the original installation, and anything the building's by-laws make your responsibility (typically internal walls and finishes, and improvements).

For the full state-by-state breakdown of what's mandatory and what's optional in your jurisdiction, see our detailed guide:

Insurance #2: Home contents insurance (your responsibility)

Home contents insurance for an apartment owner needs to cover three categories, and the third one is what most owners miss:

Category A: Your personal belongings. Furniture, clothes, electronics, appliances you own (rather than ones built-in), kitchenware, books, art, jewellery, bikes. Standard contents cover handles this.

Category B: Your personal liability. If a guest trips over your rug and breaks a wrist, your contents policy's liability extension covers it. The owners corporation's public liability covers common property only; it does not extend into your lot.

Category C: Fixtures, improvements, and replacements you've made since registration. This is the gap. If you've replaced the kitchen, upgraded the bathroom, installed timber floors, added air conditioning, fitted custom built-ins, or made any improvement that goes beyond the original-as-installed condition, those things are on your side of the line, not the owners corporation's.

For Category C to be covered, you need a contents policy that explicitly extends to "fixtures and fittings", "owner's improvements", or "internal building items". Most standard apartment contents policies offer this as an option, but it's an option you have to actively select. Without it, an owner who spent $40,000 on a kitchen renovation has $40,000 of uninsured exposure to fire, water damage, or theft.

The full breakdown of how to structure contents cover for an apartment:

Insurance #3: Landlord insurance (investors only)

If you rent out your apartment, you need a landlord insurance policy on top of contents cover. Landlord insurance generally covers:

• Loss of rent if the property becomes uninhabitable
• Malicious or accidental damage by tenants
• Theft or vandalism by tenants
• Liability arising from the tenancy
• Legal costs for tenancy disputes

Landlord insurance does not replace contents cover for owner-occupiers; it's a layer specifically for the landlord-tenant relationship. Many policies bundle landlord cover with contents cover for fixtures and fittings, which is the more efficient option for investors.

What about water damage from the apartment above?

This is the single most common strata insurance question, and it's the one that causes the most disputes. The short version:

• If the leak originates from common property (e.g., a burst pipe in the wall cavity, a roof leak), the owners corporation's strata policy responds
• If the leak originates from inside the upstairs lot (e.g., a leaking dishwasher, a flexi-hose burst in their kitchen), the upstairs owner's contents/liability cover usually responds, though the owners corporation may have strict liability obligations depending on the state and circumstances
• If the leak originates from your own appliance or fixture, your contents cover responds for your own damage; you may be liable to the downstairs owner

Water leaks are now the largest category of NCAT strata cases in NSW, growing 45% over five years. The full breakdown of who pays:

State-by-state quick reference: what owners must have

The principle is uniform across Australia: the owners corporation handles the building, you handle everything else.

How to check what you actually have

Three steps:

1. Get a copy of the current strata insurance certificate of currency. You're entitled to it as a lot owner. Read what's covered, what's excluded, and what the excess is. The 2025 NSW reforms tightened the obligation on owners corporations to make this information available; equivalent reforms are following in other states.

2. Check your own contents policy. Look for a section called "fixtures and fittings", "owner's improvements", or similar. If it's not there, contact your insurer about adding it. The premium difference is usually small.

3. Match the two against your actual situation. Walk through your apartment and ask, for each significant item: "If this was destroyed tomorrow, who pays?" If the answer isn't clear, you have a gap to close.

Strata insurance premiums have risen 40–80% in many buildings since 2022, which means strata cover has become a bigger line item on your levy notice, not because you're getting more cover, but because the same cover costs more. The cost pressures are likely to continue.

Common mistakes

• Assuming the strata policy covers your kitchen renovation. It doesn't. Anything you've replaced or upgraded is on your side.
• Assuming the strata policy covers personal belongings. It doesn't. Furniture, electronics, clothes, etc. are always your responsibility.
• Buying contents cover without the fixtures/improvements extension. This leaves the most expensive items in your apartment uninsured.
• Not checking the strata policy excess. Some policies have $5,000+ excesses on water damage claims. Knowing this in advance changes how you handle a small leak vs. a big one.
• Renting out the apartment without landlord cover. Owner-occupier contents cover often doesn't respond when there's a tenant.

How UnitBuddy helps

UnitBuddy is built for owners and committees, not for strata managers. The insurance section of the platform tracks what your building's strata policy covers, when it renews, what the premium history looks like over time, and what claim activity has occurred. Committees use it to benchmark renewals and challenge premium increases; individual owners use it to understand exactly what their levies are buying.

See how the platform handles insurance · Get started

Further reading

• Insurance Factsheet — via LookUpStrata
• NSW: Owners Corporation Insurance Requirements in Strata — via LookUpStrata

Frequently asked questions

Do I legally have to have contents insurance as an apartment owner?

No, contents insurance is not legally required in Australia, but the gap between what the strata policy covers and what you own personally is significant. Going without contents cover is a significant uninsured exposure for almost any apartment owner.

Can I be required to insure my own apartment separately?

In most cases, no. The owners corporation's strata policy is the building cover. However, in rare structures (some company title schemes, some leasehold arrangements), the apartment owner is required to hold their own building cover. If you're not in standard strata, check your contract.

What's the difference between strata insurance and body corporate insurance?

They're the same thing under different names. "Strata insurance" is the term used in NSW, Victoria, WA, SA, and most of the southern states; "body corporate insurance" is the term used in Queensland and parts of the NT.

Does my mortgage lender require contents insurance?

Most lenders require building insurance (which the owners corporation already holds) but do not require contents cover. Check your loan documents to be sure.

What is "office bearer's liability" and do I need it as a committee member?

Office bearer's liability protects committee members from personal liability for decisions made in good faith on behalf of the owners corporation. In most states it's included as part of the strata policy. As an individual committee member, you generally don't need a separate personal policy, but check the certificate of currency to confirm coverage.

Last updated: 5 May 2026. UnitBuddy publishes general information for Australian strata owners and committees. It is not insurance, financial, or legal advice. For advice specific to your situation, consult a licensed insurance broker or your owners corporation's professional advisers.