This guide is general information, not insurance or legal advice. Coverage, prices and rules vary by insurer and by state, so read your policy documents and check with your insurer, a licensed agent or your state’s department of insurance before you decide.
Key facts
- Condo insurance, also called an HO-6 policy, covers your belongings, the parts of the building you own, liability, loss of use and loss assessment.
- Your association’s master policy generally covers the building’s exterior and common areas, but it does not always extend to your unit.
- Standard condo policies do not cover floods, earthquakes, sinkholes, wear and tear or intentional injuries; flood and earthquake coverage must be bought separately.
- Loss assessment coverage pays your share when a common-area loss exceeds the association’s master policy and owners are billed for the rest.
- Before getting quotes, ask for a copy of the master policy and confirm which building items are your insurance responsibility.
Buying a condo means two insurance policies at work on the same building. The association insures the structure and the shared spaces; you insure your own unit and everything inside it. This guide explains how an HO-6 condo policy works alongside the association’s master policy, what to confirm with your association before you get quotes, and how to size your coverage once you know where one policy stops and the other starts.
What a Condo Insurance Policy Is and Who It Protects
Condo insurance is also called an HO-6 policy. It is built for people who own a condominium or co-op unit, and it covers your belongings and the structural parts of the building that you own. Like a homeowners policy, it protects against the standard set of disasters, including fire, wind and theft.
It is worth knowing how the policy types differ. An HO-3 policy, the most common homeowners form, covers the whole structure of a single-family house. An HO-4 policy is renters insurance, which protects a tenant’s possessions and parts of the apartment the tenant owns, such as kitchen cabinets they install. The HO-6 sits between the two: you own part of a building, but not the whole thing, so you insure your slice of it.
The policy protects you in several ways at once. It pays to repair or replace your property after a covered loss, it responds if you are found responsible for injuring someone or damaging their property, and it can cover extra living costs if a fire or other covered event makes your unit unlivable. If you have a mortgage on the unit, condo insurance is generally required. Even if the unit is paid off, it is usually worth buying, because the association’s policy alone leaves large gaps.
Start With the Master Policy: How Far It Reaches Into Your Unit
Before you shop for a personal policy, understand what the association already covers. The master policy is the insurance the condominium association buys for the building. It generally covers damage to the building’s exterior, such as storm damage to the roof or siding, and it usually covers injuries that happen in common areas, like a visitor slipping on an icy walkway outside the front door. Shared spaces such as hallways and grounds typically fall under this policy as well.
The complication is that the master policy does not always cover your unit. Associations differ in how far their coverage extends. Some policies address mainly the shared structure, while others reach further into individual units and may touch on interior fixtures. A few associations may not have a master policy at all. Where the master policy stops, your responsibility usually begins, and the dividing line moves from building to building.
Risk to know
Do not guess where the master policy ends and yours begins. Ask your property manager or a condo board member for a copy of the association’s master policy so you know exactly how it works before you buy your own coverage.
What Your Personal Policy Typically Covers Inside the Unit
Once you know what the association handles, the personal policy fills the rest. Most HO-6 policies bundle several types of coverage:
| Coverage | What it pays for |
|---|---|
| Dwelling (building property) | The inside of your unit, such as wall coverings, floor coverings and built-in fixtures, plus upgrades and improvements, depending on what the master policy covers |
| Personal property | Your belongings, such as furniture, clothing, electronics and jewelry, usually whether they are inside your unit or not |
| Personal liability | Legal costs if you are sued for accidentally harming someone or damaging their property |
| Medical payments | Medical bills for a guest with a minor injury in your unit |
| Loss of use | Extra living expenses, above your normal costs, if a covered event makes the unit uninhabitable |
| Loss assessment | Your share when a common-area loss exceeds the master policy and owners are billed for the rest |
Dwelling coverage on a condo policy typically works on an open peril basis. That means it pays for damage from any event except those the policy explicitly excludes. Common covered perils include wind, fire, theft, vandalism and falling objects.
What a Condo Policy Usually Leaves Out
Standard condo policies have exclusions, and some of them surprise first-time buyers. Flood damage is not covered. A separate flood policy, available from the National Flood Insurance Program or a few private insurers, is the only way to cover water flowing into your unit. Earth movement is also excluded, including earthquakes, landslides, mudslides and sinkholes; earthquake coverage can be bought separately or added to your policy as an endorsement. Our guide to what homeowners insurance covers, and what it doesn’t walks through these dividing lines, and most of them apply to condo policies too.
Other exclusions are less dramatic but just as real. Routine wear and tear is not covered, and neither is damage that follows from neglect or poor maintenance, which remains your responsibility. Damage from insects and animals is generally excluded. Sewer backup is not covered by a typical policy, though it can usually be added as an endorsement, often at a nominal cost. And liability coverage responds to accidental harm, not harm you cause intentionally.
Loss Assessment Coverage: The Part Many Owners Skip
Loss assessment is the coverage most likely to be overlooked, and it exists because of how condo buildings are insured. Suppose a storm damages a shared area, such as the roof or a common hallway, and the repair cost exceeds what the association’s master policy pays. The association can require a special assessment, a bill split among all unit owners to cover the shortfall. Loss assessment coverage helps pay your share of that extra cost.
The scenario matters because the bill arrives whether or not the damage touched your unit. An owner whose own apartment was untouched can still owe money for repairs to shared property. When you compare quotes, look at the loss assessment amount offered and ask what it would take to raise it. The cost of the additional coverage is usually small next to the assessment it is designed to absorb.
Checking Your HOA Documents Before You Get Quotes
Your association’s paperwork tells you what your own policy needs to do. Before collecting quotes, review the building’s insurance documents and bylaws. Many buyers find it useful to sit down with a qualified insurance agent early in the purchasing process and go through those documents together, because the master policy’s wording determines which building items are yours to insure.
Go in with specific questions:
- What exactly does the master policy cover, and does it extend into individual units?
- Does it cover interior fixtures, or only the shared structure and common areas?
- Does the association require unit owners to carry a minimum amount or specific types of coverage?
- Does the association actually have a master policy, and is it current?
- Who is responsible for fixtures and improvements inside the unit under the association’s rules?
The answers change the limits you ask for. If the master policy stops at the shared structure, you need more dwelling coverage than if it already reaches into units. If the association mandates certain coverage, your personal policy has to meet that requirement at minimum.
How Much Coverage for Personal Property and Upgrades
Two decisions shape most condo policies: how much personal property coverage to buy and which settlement method to choose. For personal property, a home inventory is the practical starting point. Walk through your unit and list your possessions, room by room. Only about 47 percent of homeowners said they had prepared an inventory to document losses for their insurers, according to a 2023 Triple-I/Munich Re Consumer Survey, so doing this puts you ahead of most people when a claim has to be proved.
Upgrades deserve separate attention. If you renovate, the increased value of your unit needs to be reflected in your dwelling coverage, whether that means new flooring, updated cabinets or a remodeled bathroom. Fixtures and improvements you add may be your insurance responsibility even if the master policy covers the original finishes.
Settlement method matters as much as the dollar amount. An actual cash value policy pays to replace damaged items minus a deduction for depreciation, so an older sofa or floor pays out at its used value. A replacement cost policy pays the cost of replacing items without that deduction. Some policies offer guaranteed or extended replacement cost, the highest level of protection, which can pay to rebuild even if the cost exceeds the policy limit. Our guide to replacement cost vs. actual cash value explains how each method changes the size of a payout.
Comparing Quotes When You Know What the Master Policy Covers
With the master policy understood, you can compare quotes on equal footing. Prices for essentially the same coverage can vary by hundreds of dollars between insurance companies, so it pays to get quotes from several. Your state insurance department and the National Association of Insurance Commissioners publish information that can help, including complaint data by company, and many states share typical rates charged by major insurers.
Give each insurer the same information: what the master policy covers, which building items are your responsibility, your dwelling and personal property limits, and the settlement method you want. That way the differences you see are real differences in price and terms, not differences in what each quote assumed. Price should not be the only filter. An insurer should offer a fair price and deliver the quality of service you would expect when filing a claim, so use complaint information and ask each company how it would handle your questions. If the quotes introduce terms you have not seen before, our guide to insurance shopping terms explains what they mean before you commit.
One Small Step to Start With
Request a copy of your association’s master policy, or at least a written summary of it, from your property manager or condo board. Everything else in this guide flows from that document: your dwelling limit, your loss assessment needs and the questions you bring to each quote. One email is enough to begin.
From there, two of our guides make useful companions. The walkthrough of what homeowners insurance covers, and what it doesn’t explains the exclusions that carry over to condo policies, and replacement cost vs. actual cash value helps you decide how your claim would be paid before you ever need to file one.
Questions we hear
Do I need condo insurance if my building has a master policy?
In most cases, yes. The master policy generally covers shared areas and the building’s exterior, but it usually does not cover your belongings, the inside of your unit or your personal liability. A personal HO-6 policy fills those gaps.
Is condo insurance required?
It is generally required only if you have a mortgage on the unit, though lenders and associations can set their own rules. Even if your condo is paid off, the coverage is usually worth buying because the master policy alone leaves large gaps.
Does condo insurance cover floods or earthquakes?
No. Standard HO-6 policies exclude flood damage and earth movement such as earthquakes, landslides and sinkholes. Flood coverage is available separately through the National Flood Insurance Program or some private insurers, and earthquake coverage is available as a separate policy or an endorsement.
What is loss assessment coverage?
If a covered incident damages a shared area and the cost exceeds what the association’s master policy pays, the association may bill unit owners for the shortfall. Loss assessment coverage helps pay your share of that bill.