What Is Condo (HO-6) Insurance? What Does It Cover? (2024)

As a condo owner, you don’t own the land or building your home sits on, but you still need good insurance for your unit and personal belongings. And you can’t rely on the homeowners association (HOA) master policy.

If you want coverage for problems not covered by the HOA master policy, like theft of your personal belongings or accidental injuries to others, you’re going to need to buy condo insurance. And in some instances, condo insurance may even be required.

In this article

• What Is Condo Insurance?
• What Is HO-6 Insurance?
• What Is Co-op Insurance?
• Is Condo Insurance Required?
• What Does Condo Insurance Cover?
• What Types of Problems are Covered by Condo Insurance?
• What Disasters are Covered by Condo Insurance?
• What Types of Problems are Not Covered by Condo Insurance?
• Optional Condo Insurance Coverage
• What Does HOA Condo Insurance Cover?
• How Much Condo Insurance Do I Need?
• How Much Is Condo Insurance?
• What Factors Impact the Cost of Condo Insurance?
• How to Get Condo Insurance
• How Can I Save Money on Condo Insurance?
• Condo Insurance FAQ

What Is Condo Insurance?

Condo insurance is a mix of coverage types that protect your investment in your condominium in case of problems like fire, theft, accidental injuries to others and extra living expenses if you are temporarily displaced from your condo due to a problem covered by your policy. Condo insurance covers you for problems that are not covered by an HOA master policy.

What Is HO-6 Insurance?

An HO-6 insurance policy is the same as a condo insurance policy. It helps if your personal belongings are damaged or stolen. An HO-6 insurance policy also pays for repairs to the condo unit’s walls, floors and ceilings and any renovations made after you bought the condo.

An HO-6 policy also provides liability coverage and covers additional living expenses if you have to temporarily move from your home during repairs for a problem covered by your policy.

What Is Co-op Insurance?

Co-op insurance works the same as condo insurance. It’s an HO-6 insurance policy that covers your personal belongings and additional living expenses if you must temporarily move after a property loss.

It also covers any renovations you made to the co-op after moving in and offers liability protection.

Is Condo Insurance Required?

Condo insurance is generally required if you have a mortgage. Lenders require condo insurance since they have a financial interest in the property.

Even if you don’t have a mortgage, condo insurance is still a wise decision. Without coverage, you would be on the hook to pay for repairs to your condo unit and possessions if they’re damaged due to a problem covered by the policy, such as a fire.

What Does Condo Insurance Cover?

A condo insurance policy covers your personal property, walls, ceilings and floors. It covers additional living expenses if you need to temporarily move after a problem covered by your policy. It also provides liability coverage, which can pay out to others if you’re legally liable for injury or damage to someone else.

Condo insurance fills in gaps that an HOA master policy doesn’t cover.

Does Condo Insurance Cover Damage to Building Exterior?

No, condo insurance doesn’t cover a building’s exterior walls, so it’s unlike a home insurance policy’s dwelling coverage, which covers the structure.

Condo insurance generally pays for repairs to the inside walls of your condo and other inside items like cabinets and built-in bookshelves if they’re damaged by a problem covered by the policy (like a fire). Damage to the outside of your condo unit is covered by the HOA master policy.

Example: A fire damages the building where your condo is located. Your condo insurance policy pays for repairs to your unit and damaged possessions like furniture and clothing, but it doesn’t cover the building or common areas.

Does Condo Insurance Cover Personal Property?

Yes, condo insurance covers your personal property if it’s stolen or damaged by a problem covered by your policy, such as a fire. These items include your clothes, furniture, TV, dishes, pots and pans, rugs, musical instruments and jewelry up to the policy limits.

Example: A tornado rips through the area, breaking your windows and damaging electronics, furniture and clothes. Condo insurance pays to replace those items, but the amount that’s reimbursed depends on whether you have replacement cost or actual cash value coverage. Actual cash value pays to replace the items and takes into account depreciation, while replacement cost provides enough funding to replace the items as new.

Does Condo Insurance Cover Liability?

Yes, condo insurance provides personal liability coverage that helps if there are accidental injuries and damage to others, such as your dog biting someone or your child kicking a soccer ball through a neighbor’s window.

Condo insurance also helps to a lesser degree for medical payments to others. That part of a policy covers medical expenses for minor injuries in your condo, like a guest who slips and falls on a wet kitchen floor.

Example: A visitor trips in your condo and dislocates their shoulder. Condo insurance pays for medical expenses and your legal costs if you’re sued.

Does Condo Insurance Cover Additional Living Expenses?

Yes, condo insurance covers additional living expenses, also called “loss of use.” This coverage pays for extra living expenses, such as lodging, meals, laundry and pet boarding if you can’t live in your condo because of a problem covered by the policy, such as tornado damage.

Example: A tree crashes through your condo, leaving it inhabitable and forcing you to find temporary lodging. Condo insurance pays for extra costs associated with lodging, meals and other expenses associated with living elsewhere temporarily.

What Types of Problems Are Covered by Condo Insurance?

A standard condo insurance HO-6 policy typically covers damage caused by problems named in the policy, such as:

• Fire or lightning
• Windstorm or hail
• Explosion
• Riot or civil commotion
• Aircraft, including self-propelled missiles and spacecraft
• Vehicles (including impact from a vehicle, but not the vehicle itself)
• Smoke damage
• Vandalism or malicious mischief
• Theft
• Falling objects
• Weight of ice, snow or sleet
• Accidental discharge or overflow of water or steam
• Volcanic eruption

Better Dwelling Condo Coverage

If you want expanded coverage for your dwelling, you might want to purchase an HO-17 32 endorsem*nt. This expands coverage beyond the 16 named perils on a HO-6 policy to “all risks” (covers everything except for problems specifically excluded in the policy).

For example, damage caused by wind-driven rain is not covered by an HO-6 policy. If wind-driven rain comes in through a window, you wouldn’t be covered for the damage. An HO-17 32 endorsem*nt would typically cover this type of loss.

Better Coverage for Possessions

If you want expanded coverage for your personal property, you can get an HO-17 31 endorsem*nt. Similar to the HO-17 32 endorsem*nt, this expands coverage beyond the “named perils” to “all risks,” so everything is covered except what’s specifically excluded.

What Disasters Are Covered by Condo Insurance?

Condo insurance covers disasters like lightning strikes and winter-related damage. It also provides tornado insurance.

A standard condo policy won’t cover flood damage. You can buy a separate flood insurance policy. Similar to homeowners insurance, condo insurance typically doesn’t cover earthquake damage, but you can buy separate earthquake insurance.

What Types of Problems Are Not Covered by Condo Insurance?

Common exclusions in a standard HO-6 condo insurance policy include:

• Ordinance or law, meaning situations where the government requires you to demolish, remodel, renovate or repair your property.
• Earth movement, including landslides, mudslides, mudflow, sinkhole, earthquakes, land shock waves, tremors due to a volcanic eruption, and any other earth movement such as rising, shifting or sinking.
• Water damage, including floods, surface water, waves, tidal water, overflow of a body of water or spray from a body of water, sewage and drain backup, leaks from swimming pools and other structures.
• Power failure.
• Neglect.
• War.
• Nuclear hazard.
• Intentional loss.
• Governmental action.

Optional Condo Insurance Coverage

Condo insurance companies often provide coverage beyond personal property, liability and additional living expenses coverage. Extra coverage types that you might be able to add to your policy include:

• Building code coverage, which helps fund costs associated with enforcing building codes related to construction or maintenance.
• Identity theft coverage, which provides money to help restore your identity following a stolen credit card or similar identity theft incident.
• Loss assessment coverage, which offers reimbursem*nt to pay HOA special assessments for repairs.
• Replacement cost coverage, which reimburses you the full value of a damaged or stolen item rather than the depreciated value, which is called actual cash value.
• Scheduled personal property, which is higher coverage limits for high-priced items like jewelry.
• Water backup, which pays for repairs to damage caused by a backed-up drain or sump pump problem.

What Does HOA Condo Insurance Cover?

Homeowners association (HOA) insurance, often referred to as the “master policy,” typically covers everything outside a condo unit, such as the building (including the exterior walls and roof) and shared spaces such as hallways, stairwells, elevators and swimming pools.

When buying condo insurance, it’s vital to understand your HOA’s insurance coverage.

An HOA master policy is usually one of two types:

• “All-in” condo master policy. This covers the exterior and some interior of the building, including items like appliances, carpets, plumbing and wiring. An all-in policy does not cover personal belongings, like your furniture, clothes and other possessions.
• “Bare walls” condo master policy. This policy does not cover anything within a unit’s walls or your personal belongings. Some bare walls policies might cover plumbing and electrical systems.

The HOA master policy also covers injuries to guests in common areas. For example, if a guest tumbles down a common stairwell, the master policy could cover the medical expenses.

If you have a mortgage, the lender will most likely require condo insurance. Your HOA might also require it.

Once you understand how much your HOA master policy covers, you can fill the gaps in coverage with your HO-6 condo insurance policy, such as personal belongings and coverage for walls, ceilings and floors.

How Much Condo Insurance Do I Need?

You want enough condo insurance to cover what you could lose in a worst-case scenario, such as a fire.

Depending on what the HOA master policy covers, here are some things to consider to determine how much condo insurance you’ll need:

• The cost to rebuild or repair damage to your unit. If your HOA has a bare walls policy, you’re responsible for repairing and replacing items like cabinets, toilets, built-in bookshelves, flooring and light fixtures.
• The value of your personal belongings. A good way to calculate this is by doing a home inventory of your possessions. A solid home inventory includes item descriptions, purchase dates, estimated values and serial numbers and receipts (if available). You can do a home inventory with a written list, pictures, videos or a mobile app.

Having a home inventory can be crucial for making an insurance claim for everything you’re entitled to, especially with a large claim. If you can’t remember everything you had, you won’t know to include it.

Replacement Cost vs. Actual Cash Value

A standard condo insurance policy typically replaces your personal items based on actual cash value (ACV), meaning it will only pay the depreciated value of your item. If you want your belongings replaced with new, similar items, you can typically buy replacement cost coverage. Replacement cost coverage is more expensive than ACV, but it’s generally better coverage.

Schedule High Value Items

If you have certain high value items, like jewelry or a family heirloom, you may want to schedule the personal property. This insures specific items under a separate insurance endorsem*nt.

Scheduling specific items lets you insure expensive items for their full value and separately from the rest of your belongings.

Condo insurance typically has what are called “special limits” or “sub-limits” for certain types of items if they are stolen. By scheduling specific items you can insure them for their full value and separately from the rest of your belongings.

For example, your policy might have a $1,500 sub-limit for stolen jewelry. If you have a $5,000 watch and it is not scheduled, you would only be covered up to $1,500 if it was stolen.

Loss Assessment Coverage

This optional coverage is also called “special assessment insurance.” It helps cover costs in situations where the condo association’s master policy won’t.

For example, say a fire damages the elevator and hallway in your building, causing $350,000 worth of damage. If the condo association’s master policy has $300,000 in coverage for the building’s structure, that leaves a $50,000 shortfall. The condo association could divide this remaining cost among the building’s condo owners.

Loss assessment coverage can pay for this additional cost. Without it, you could face large and unexpected costs.

How Much Is Condo Insurance?

Condo insurance costs an average of $445 a year, according to Forbes Advisor’s analysis of condo insurance rates. This average cost is for a condo policy with $100,000 in personal property coverage, $300,000 for liability coverage and a $1,000 deductible.

Cost of Condo Insurance by Company

*USAA is open only to military members, veterans and their families.
Source: Quadrant Information Services. Rates are based on a 30-year-old female and include liability insurance of $300,000 and a $1,000 deductible.

How Much is Condo Insurance in Your State?

Source: Quadrant Information Services. Rates are based on a 30-year-old female and include liability insurance of $300,000 and a $1,000 deductible. Not all states are listed due to data availability.

What Factors Impact the Cost of Condo Insurance?

There are several factors that insurance companies use to calculate condo insurance rates, including:

• Location: Where you live is a big factor, including crime rates and proximity to a water source and fire department.
• Coverage and policy limits: If you need to insure items like high-end appliances and expensive rugs, expect to pay more for higher personal property limits.
• Your personal claims history: If you filed claims in the past, you could pay higher rates.

How to Get Condo Insurance

The best way to get condo insurance is to compare condo insurance quotes among several different insurers. The price for the same policy will vary by company.

You can get free condo insurance quotes:

• Online. You can get condo insurance quotes at an insurance company’s website or by visiting a comparison site that will gather multiple quotes at once.
• From an insurance agent. You can contact an insurance agent if you prefer to talk with someone. It’s a good idea to speak with an independent agent who sells policies from multiple companies compared to a captive agent that only sells policies from one specific company.

It’s best to get quotes from multiple condo insurance companies when shopping for a policy. You may also want to ask about what optional coverages you could add to a policy. Here are some large insurers that sell condo insurance:

Allstate

Condo insurance offered by Allstate includes optional coverages like:

• Building code coverage.
• Extended protection coverage, which can pay for the HOA’s deductible and repairs to your unit.
• HostAdvantage, which covers stolen or damaged items if you rent your condo to others.
• Loss assessment coverage.
• Water backup coverage.

American Family

American Family offers additional condo coverage, including:

• Hidden water damage coverage, which covers you for damage that happens behind walls and under floors, and may also provide reimbursem*nt for mold and other damage caused by water damage.
• Water back-up or overflow coverage for a sump pump failure.

Amica

Expanded condo insurance from Amica includes:

• Computer coverage for laptops, smartphones and tablets.
• Identify fraud coverage.
• Scheduled personal property coverage.

Chubb

Beyond standard condo insurance, Chubb also offers additional coverages:

• Additions and alterations coverage, which covers the full cost of upgrades to a condo up to the policy limit if the upgrades are damaged due to a problem covered by your policy.
• Up to $50,000 in loss assessment coverage.

Nationwide

Condo coverage from Nationwide that goes beyond standard condo insurance includes:

• Brand new belongings, which pays to repair or replace damaged and stolen items with new items.
• Earthquake coverage.
• Expanded personal belongings coverage.
• Identity theft coverage.
• Water backup coverage.

USAA

USAA, which is only available to military members, veterans and their families, provides expanded coverages, including:

• Earthquake coverage.
• Expanded electronics coverage.
• Loss assessment coverage.
• Up to $5,000 in Identity theft coverage.
• Water backup coverage.

Westfield

Westfield provides condo insurance coverage add-ons, such as:

• Flood insurance
• Equipment breakdown coverage, which pays when equipment in your home breaks down, such as washers, dryers, sump pumps, dishwashers and refrigerators.
• Up to $20,000 identity theft coverage.

How Can I Save Money on Condo Insurance?

Shopping around and comparing condo insurance quotes for the same level of coverage is the best way to lower your condo insurance premiums.

Insurance companies use different formulas for determining rates, so costs for the same amount of coverage can vary significantly from one company to the next. If you don’t shop around, you may wind up overpaying.

Another way to cut your condo insurance costs is to ask for discounts. For example, you might qualify for a bundling discount if you buy your car insurance from the same insurance company as your condo insurance.

You can take other steps such as increasing your condo insurance deductible, installing safety devices (such as a burglar alarm and deadbolt locks) for a discount, and improving your credit.

Condo Insurance FAQs