When protecting your condominium, a smart question to ask is, “What does condo insurance not cover?” Once you understand that, you can more easily fill in any gaps in your coverage. For example, you may decide to add flood insurance or cyber coverage.
What is condo insurance
To start, let’s review all those things that your condo insurance does cover. Similar to homeowners insurance, condo insurance protects the interior of your unit as well as your personal property. It also offers liability coverage in case someone is injured and you’re responsible.
While condo insurance is not required by law, mortgage lenders usually require proof that you have a certain amount of condo insurance before issuing a loan.
Here are the main areas of coverage you’ll get with a condo policy, which is also known as an HO6 policy:
Personal Property Coverage
Cabinets and Fixtures
Liability and Medical Coverage
Emergency Living Expenses
Personal property coverage
Condo insurance pays to repair or replace your personal belongings if they get damaged or stolen. Examples of items covered by condo insurance include computers, bicycles, clothing and furniture.
Your items don’t have to be inside your unit to be covered by condo insurance. They can be away from your home too. Here are some examples:
| From a Hotel Room |
| If you’re on vacation and someone steals your laptop from your hotel room, your condo insurance can cover you. |
| From Your Car |
| If your camera gets stolen from your car in a parking lot, your condo policy would kick in—not your auto policy. |
| From a Storage Unit |
| If a personal item gets stolen or damaged from a storage unit, your condo policy can cover the loss. |
Cabinets and fixtures
Typically, your condo association’s master policy extends right up to the walls of your unit. From that point on, your condo insurance takes over. It protects what is inside the walls plus anything attached to the walls, such as your cabinets, appliances and flooring.
For example, let’s say a pipe bursts and damages the kitchen cabinets. In that case, your condo insurance will provide coverage up to the value of the cabinets, as they are attached to the inside wall.
Liability and medical coverage
In addition to protecting your belongings, condo insurance can also cover you if someone gets hurt and you’re responsible. For example, if a guest at your condo accidentally trips and falls, and then files a lawsuit against you, condo insurance can help pay for your guest’s medical expenses, as well as your defense and court costs.
Furthermore, liability is not tied to the condo, so the incident could happen anywhere at all. Let’s say your dog knocks someone down at a park and injures them. If you were sued and found liable, your condo insurance could pay up to the liability limit amount on the policy.
Emergency living expenses
If you’re temporarily forced out of your condo due to a fire or some other covered event, condo insurance will help with emergency living expenses. That means it would help pay for your hotel, meals and other related expenses.
What’s not covered
If you have condo insurance, you’re not responsible for anything outside the walls of your unit; the condo association’s master policy will cover that. That’s why, generally speaking, individual condo insurance policies are less expensive than home insurance policies.
Damage covered by condo association
Here are some things you don’t have to worry about, as they’re typically covered by your condo association’s master insurance policy:
- Damage to exterior of building (e.g., the roof after a storm)
- Common areas (e.g., hallway, lobby, elevator, parking lot)
- Shared amenities (e.g., gym, swimming pool, tennis court)
The cost of insuring these things with a master insurance policy can be expensive. Your condo fees help pay for the master policy.
Damage caused by uncovered events
Bear in mind, condo insurance will only cover your property if it’s damaged by a peril that is listed on your condo insurance policy. This would make it a covered event. Here are examples of both.
| Covered Events | Events Not Covered |
| Fire or smoke | Earthquake |
| Windstorm or hail | Flooding |
| Vandalism | Wear and tear |
| Theft | War or illegal acts |
| Weight of ice or snow |
Some of these covered events can be complicated. For example, let’s say the ceiling of your condo caves in from too much ice and snow, and your television is damaged as a result. In this case, your condo association’s master policy will pay to repair the ceiling, while your condo insurance policy will help pay to replace the television.
Flood coverage
If you live in an area prone to flooding, you may want to purchase a separate flood insurance policy. Remember, condo insurance does not cover damage caused by flooding. A separate earthquake insurance policy is something else you may want to consider depending on where you live.
Cyber and identity protection
Cyber protection is not part of your standard condo insurance policy. As such, it is a good example of a valuable add-on coverage. It will keep you and your family one step ahead of cyber criminals. Here are some things it may cover:
| ID Theft Monitoring |
| Your credit report is monitored for online fraud. You’ll get an alert if a change is detected. |
| Cyber-Attacks |
| Your coverage could pay to restore your computer to its previous level of functionality. |
| Cyber-Extortion |
| Your coverage could pay for a professional to advise you on how to respond to the threat. |
Supplemental loss assessment
This optional coverage pays for damages to shared areas that exceed your condo association’s policy limits. For example, if a fire causes $500,000 in damage to the building and your association’s insurance limit is $300,000, then the remaining $200,000 must be covered by the condo owners. If there are 20 units in the building, each condo owner will be responsible for $10,000. Supplemental Loss Assessment would help pay that amount.
