Condo Confusion
March 31, 2021
Did you recently buy a condo or have you owned one forever? Either way, there is lots of confusion when it comes to insurance and condos. The condo association may say one thing, but it may not match up to their master policy, so be sure to do your due diligence when it comes to your insurance and what is your responsibility to cover. You could potentially have too much coverage, thus overpaying for your insurance, or worst case scenario...you don't have enough coverage, so at time of loss you wouldn't be covered.
4 Exterior Walls and Roof
Most of the time, it is the condo association's responsibility to cover the 4 exterior walls and the roof. This is the biggest and main item you need to ask the condo association about.
If it is like it is most of the time and the condo association covers the 4 exterior walls and roof, then your responsibility becomes the stud in. With this situation, in the event of a total loss (condo burning down), the dwelling coverage (coverage A) on your condo policy would then help pay to replace the drywall, flooring and cabinetry. Make sure the dwelling amount is high enough to be able to replace all of those things if your condo were to burn down.
You could be overpaying for your insurance. If your insurance policy is a homeowners policy and the dwelling amount is a lot higher than what it would cost to replace the drywall, flooring and cabinetry, then you may want to call your agent and ask about that. Before you do that, confirm with the condo association that they would cover the 4 exterior walls and roof if there was a coverable loss, like hail damage.
Most importantly, the confusion on who covers the 4 exterior walls and roof could lead to a huge gap in coverage. If the condo association said they will cover the 4 exterior walls and roof but actually don't cover them and your insurance policy does not either, then you would not be covered if their was a total loss of your condo or your roof got hail damage. If it is your responsibility to cover the 4 exterior walls and roof, that changes the type of policy we have to write as your agent.
Things To Do When Buying a Condo or If You've Owned One Forever
Get a hold of the condo association to see if you can get a copy of the master insurance policy, and see whose responsibility it is to cover the 4 exterior walls and roof, don't just take somebody's word.
Call your insurance agent, and they will do what they can to help assist in getting a copy of that master policy.
Based on what the condo association's master insurance policy says, your insurance agent will write the policy or confirm that your policy has the correct coverage.