The government of HKSAR ("Hong Kong") has gazetted that all Owners' Corporations of buildings are required to effect compulsory third party liability insurance and such regulation will start to take effect in Jan 1, 2011. As such, all Owners' Corporations of buildings must be insured with a third party liability insurance to fulfill the requirement by law.

It depends on the insured details of the insurance policy. The Ordinance requires the Owners' Corporations of buildings to have standalone third party's death or bodily injury legal liability coverage with minimum insured amount of HK$10,000,000. In most cases the legal liability insured amount bought by your Property Management Company is shared between themselves and the Owners' Corporations, as such it may not be able to fulfill the requirement by the Ordinance. Therefore, the Property Management Company should check the coverage of their insurance policy to see if it complies with the requirement by law.

Yes, the insured must disclose the period of maintenance work in the proposal form under "item A Insurance History" and return the form to Underwriting Department of Bank of China Group Insurance Company Limited ("BOCG Insurance") for further underwriting considerations.

Yes, insured buildings must be single block buildings aged 40 years old or below, the structure of buildings must also be entirely built of non-combustible materials including but not limited to brickwork, reinforced concrete and/or autoclaved aerated concrete, and is in a good state of repair.

Yes, both legal liability for third party's "death or bodily injury" and "property damage" have excess.

5.1	"third party's death or bodily injury": insured amount HK$25,000,000 or below is HK$3,000 for each and every loss.
5.2	"third party's property damage": insured amount HK$10,000,000 or below is HK$3,000 for each and every loss; in respect of damage by water, excess is HK$10,000 or 10% of each and every loss (whichever is greater).

If the insured amount exceeds the limit as shown above, the excess will be subject to further negotiations.

Yes, but the increased insured amount will be subject to extra costs.

If the insured cancels the policy during the period of insurance, HK$400 minimum premium or the premium amount calculated in accordance with the short period rate as stated in the policy (whichever is greater) shall be payable. If any claims were made, 100% of annual premium will be charged.

Insured should give written notice to BOCG Insurance as soon as possible. In case of any third party's property damage or third party's death or bodily injury, the insured must report to the police immediately and at its own expense submit the followings: description of the event with full particulars, list of damaged/loss items, repair or replacement quote and other relevant documents. Any writ, summons or other legal proceedings issued or commenced against the insured by a third party must be immediately sent to BOCG Insurance for processing. The insured must not make any commitment to pay or any compensation to any third party without prior written consent from BOCG Insurance.