If you’re a treasurer who came onto council during or after the 2019–2021 insurance crisis, you’ve inherited a market that looks fundamentally different from the one your strata signed up for a decade ago. Quietly, that market has moved again in the past 18 months — not back to the soft-market world of 2017, but to a more underwriting-disciplined version of where it landed in 2022. Here’s the 2026 read.

What’s stabilised

Capacity is back. The carriers that exited the BC strata segment in 2019–20 mostly haven’t returned, but a handful of MGAs (managing general agents) have built capacity into the space, and Lloyd’s syndicates continue to write select risks. As of 2026, most BC strata risks have meaningful market — meaning brokers can shop a renewal across multiple underwriters, which they often couldn’t in 2020.

Year-over-year premium movement has narrowed. The 30–80% renewal increases of 2020 have been replaced by 0–15% movement for well-managed risks, with some risks flat or modestly down. This is still well above general property-market inflation, but it’s not the runaway pricing of the crisis years.

Per-unit deductibles for owners have moved up. The crisis-era policy structure where the strata’s deductible flowed straight onto the owner who had a water-loss claim has hardened into a fixture: the BC standard is now typically a $50,000–$100,000 strata deductible for water damage with that deductible passing to the responsible unit owner, and most unit-owner condo policies underwrite to that reality. Buying a unit-owner deductible-assessment policy is now table stakes; most lenders require evidence of one at refinance.

Earthquake coverage is widely available again. It was uncertain for a couple of years; it’s not anymore. Pricing varies by building age and structure type, but earthquake capacity is generally there.

What’s still hard

Buildings with claims history. A single water-damage claim above $250,000 in the last three years is still material at renewal. Two of them is still a reason to be shopping six months ahead, not six weeks.

Aluminium-wired buildings, polybutylene plumbing, and Kitec. Underwriters are now explicitly carving these out, surcharging, or in some cases declining quotes on buildings with known materials issues. If your building has any of these and you haven’t been asked about it at renewal, your broker hasn’t been pushed yet — but they will be.

Buildings over 35 years old without a current envelope review. Age alone isn’t the problem; absence of documentation about envelope condition is. An older building with a recent envelope review and a credible capital plan can renew on roughly the same terms as a newer one. The same building with no envelope documentation in the file is increasingly being treated as an unknown-risk renewal.

Very small stratas (under 10 units). Insurance capacity for very small BC stratas has thinned, partly because the underwriting cost per unit doesn’t scale down. Some of the small-strata business has moved into bespoke MGA programs at meaningfully higher per-unit pricing.

Stratas with unresolved depreciation-report status. As we wrote in the insurance broker piece, a current depreciation report has become one of the most important documents in the renewal submission. A strata that’s clearly going to miss the July 2026 deadline is having that conversation at renewal whether the broker raises it or not.

What’s actually moving renewals in 2026

If you ask BC brokers what differentiates a strata that renews flat from one that takes a double-digit increase, the answers cluster around documentation rather than the building itself. The three items that consistently come up:

A current depreciation report. Dated 2021 or later, ideally with the cover page showing the preparer’s designation and registration number under the post-October-2025 disclosure standard.

A current building envelope review. For buildings over 25 years old, a third-party envelope review within the last five years has become the documentation underwriters want most. If you don’t have one, this is the single highest-leverage building-side investment your council can make before renewal.

A claims-mitigation narrative. For buildings with recent claims, a one-page memo from council explaining what was changed (sub-meter water shutoffs, in-suite leak detectors, a tightened insurance bylaw, a documented vendor for fast water response) goes further than councils realise. Underwriters reward evidence of process change.

What’s coming for 2027

Two things are worth watching for next year’s renewals.

The BC strata insurance reform package is still being worked through. The Province has signalled further legislative change around bare-land strata insurance, water-loss deductible allocation, and the relationship between council bylaws and policy structure. None of it is settled. Brokers expect at least one material amendment by mid-2027.

Climate-driven exposure is becoming a real underwriting factor. Wildfire smoke and atmospheric-river flood exposure are starting to show up in underwriting questionnaires for stratas outside the historical concern zones. This isn’t a 2026 renewal issue for most buildings; it will be for some buildings in 2027 and 2028.

What councils can do

The honest playbook hasn’t changed much from 2024.

• Start the renewal conversation 90 days out, not 30.
• Submit complete documentation — depreciation report, envelope review, claims history, capital plan — at the start of the broker engagement, not in response to follow-up requests.
• Ask for the underwriter’s commentary, not just the price.
• Treat the depreciation-report deadline and the insurance renewal as one connected planning exercise, not two separate tracks.

If your strata is one of the many threading the depreciation-report deadline and an insurance renewal in the same six months, the 2026 deadline guide and the insurance broker piece cover the connection in detail. Our matching service is the fastest path if you still need quotes.