Association

Should the condo association Master insurance cover the repairment?

If the damage was caused by the condo association property failing. Should the Master policy of the HOA cover the cost of the repair of my interior damage? Is it part of the liability of the insurance? The detail is that the recent hurricane Ike damaged the roof of our building, what cause the water to pour into my neighbours unit upstair and further down to the ceiling of my condo. Thanks a lot.

Public Comments

1. Nope, failure to maintain the property isn't a covered cause of loss. Liability, isn't going to cover them, for damage to your unit. Whatever the problem is, you should file the claim under your condo unit owner's policy.
2. It depends on what happened. If you don't give any details about the claim we can't give you any helpful advice. So without further details the best answer that can be given is: Maybe.
3. The Master Assocation policy covers the buildings common areas and building from the outside. This means that any damage to the inside of your unit is subject to your own responsibility. If there are common walls, piping between walls etc that is not considered "your" unit, then HOA covers that. Now in your case, since you dont mention what the cause of damage is, its hard to determine. In the scenario where their is a damage due to wear/tear which the HOA has been negligent about, then that is NOT a covered loss. If its an accidental damage that started from a common area, affecting damages in your unit, then YES, you can file the claim under the HOA policy. Lets say a pipe broke in a common area, and resulted in a water damage in your unit, then that would be a covered loss for you. Give more details if you can. If you are not sure, then I suggest you ask the HOA to give you a copy of their master declaration policy, and call the company and ask. I would advise you to get a condominiun/townhouse policy to cover your dwelling on the inside and personal property for any future claims. These policies are really not that expensive, and a good way to cover your investment. It will also include a liability coverage, which is good to have in case of a lawsuit.
4. In my experience, they should. I live in South Florida. After the hurricanes of 2004 we had many of our roofs fail. Because of this, many owners experienced damage to their internal walls. Our master policy for the condo association covered paid the damages. I'm sorry, I don't know if they are required to do so, but I'm pretty sure they contacted our Association attorney. My advice is move quick, you don't want mold to become an issue. Also, the Association did not cover paint, so the owners were left with bare drywall. Best of luck, I know it's tough recovering from a hurricane.