If you live in an apartment building in Argentina, your consortium should have at least five active insurance policies. This is not a recommendation: it's a legal obligation established by the Civil and Commercial Code, the Horizontal Property Law, and current labor regulations. However, the reality is alarming. According to insurance sector data, a significant percentage of consortiums operate with incomplete, outdated, or outright nonexistent coverage. Some administrators only purchase basic fire insurance thinking that's enough. Others let policies expire without renewing them. And many property owners have never checked what insurance their building carries. In this guide, we explain exactly what the five mandatory insurance policies are, what each one covers, what consequences come from not having them, and how you can verify that your consortium is complying with the law.
1. Building Fire Insurance: The foundation of everything
This is the oldest and most basic insurance of all, mandatory since the Horizontal Property Law 13,512 and ratified by Article 2067 of the Civil and Commercial Code. It covers material damage from fire, explosion, lightning, riots, strikes, lockouts, vandalism and terrorism in common areas of the building. It also includes smoke damage, collision of aerial and ground vehicles, and costs of fire extinguishing means used. A key fact many don't know: for coverage to be valid, the building must have at least one ABC-type 5kg fire extinguisher every two floors. If at the time of a claim the required extinguishers aren't present, the insurer can reject the claim. The insured sum must cover the total reconstruction value of common areas. With accumulated inflation, it's essential to review this amount at least twice a year. A building whose insured sum has become outdated may only collect a fraction of the actual damage.
2. Comprehensive Liability Insurance: When someone gets hurt
This coverage is mandatory as part of the Comprehensive Consortium Insurance and covers lawsuits for injuries to third parties or damage to others' property that occur in common areas of the building. The scope is broad: use of elevators and freight lifts, gas installations and boilers, signage that comes loose, vehicle storage in parking areas, environmental damage generated by the building. Liability lawsuits are the most expensive a consortium can face. A person who falls in a wet lobby, a visitor trapped in the elevator, a car damaged by a leak in the parking area: all these scenarios can lead to multimillion-peso lawsuits. Without this coverage, the cost is paid by all property owners from their own pockets, prorated by functional units. The recommendation is to purchase high insured sums, as the additional cost is minimal compared to the risk of a lawsuit.
3. Glass Coverage: More important than it seems
Together with fire and liability coverage, glass coverage is part of the three minimum mandatory consortium insurances. It covers the breakage of glass, mirrors, crystals and glazed elements in common areas: entrance doors, hallway windows, elevator panels, lobby mirrors, skylights and roof lights. It may seem like a minor insurance, but replacing bulletproof entrance door glass or an elevator panel can cost several hundred thousand pesos. If the building has decorative stained glass, tempered glass or designer glass structures, the cost multiplies considerably. Many consortiums discover they didn't have this coverage only when something breaks and the administrator informs that an extraordinary expense is needed to replace it.
4. Workers' Compensation (ART) for Building Staff: Labor insurance
Every consortium that employs staff (doormen, custodians, cleaning personnel, maintenance workers) is required to contract a Workers' Compensation Insurer. This is not optional or negotiable: Law 24,557 requires it for every employer. Argentina closed 2025 with a historic record of 134,000 ART lawsuits, representing a 2,200% increase compared to countries like Chile. Each paid lawsuit averages 27 million pesos. The most common accidents among building staff include falls on stairs during cleaning, injuries from waste handling, accidents with maintenance tools, and commuting accidents (in itinere). If the consortium doesn't have ART and an employee suffers an accident, liability falls directly on the consortium, meaning on all property owners. Compensation in these cases can be astronomical.
5. Mandatory Group Life Insurance: The most forgotten one
Decree 1567/74 establishes that every employer must insure the death risk of 100% of their dependent workers. This applies to consortiums as employers of building custodians and staff. It's probably the most forgotten insurance by administrators, but non-compliance generates direct liability toward the deceased worker's beneficiaries. The premium is very low (calculated on the employee's salary) and there's no excuse for not having it. It's often contracted together with the ART, but not always. It's important to verify that it's a separate, current policy and not assume the ART automatically includes it.
6. How to verify your consortium complies: Practical checklist
As a property owner, you have the right to request all consortium insurance documentation from the administrator. We recommend following this checklist: first, request copies of all five current policies (fire, liability, glass, ART, group life insurance). Second, verify the validity dates, as none should be expired. Third, review the fire insurance insured sums and ensure they're updated to the actual reconstruction value. Fourth, confirm that the liability policy has sufficient insured sums for the building type (number of floors, elevators, parking areas). Fifth, verify that the ART payments are current, because if there's debt it could be without coverage without anyone knowing. If the administrator cannot show all five policies, or if any is expired or outdated, it's grounds to address it at the owners' assembly. The law is clear: the administrator has the obligation to keep all consortium insurance policies current.
Conclusion
Having the five mandatory insurance policies isn't an expense: it's protecting the most important asset you have. Your apartment, your building, and the people who live and work in it deserve to be properly covered. If after reading this article you have doubts about your consortium's situation, the first step is simple: ask the administrator for a copy of all current policies and verify that all five coverages are active. If something is missing or outdated, an Insurance Advisor can help you regularize the situation quickly and without unnecessary bureaucracy. Don't wait for a claim to show you what was missing.
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