Insurance news and information

Tough economic times often force tough economic decisions for apartment and homeowner associations. Board members, eager to trim expenses, will often look to insurance policies for ways to decrease coverage and lower premiums.

Too often associations have claims denied because the coverage they once had was dropped due to budget concerns. Also, many association boards failed to understand critical elements of their policies, leaving them with unnecessary or unknown gaps in coverage. The most common areas that cause trouble for associations include: Read more…

Much has been written about condo and apartment association insurance versus insurance carried by condo / apartment unit owners. The two main types of coverage offered to condo associations are:

 1) Bare Walls In – policies covering all real property from the exterior framing inward, excluding fixtures or other installations within the unit.

 2) All In – policies covering all fixtures, installations, or additions within the interior surfaces of the individual units.

 Obviously the best one for your unit owners would be the All In condo association insurance policy, which would limit the need for owners to purchase additional coverage. Condo associations buying Bare Walls In coverage leave a bit more loss exposure for their unit owners. Most condo associations will advise unit owners on which policy is covering the premises. But what about deductibles? Read more…

One potentially confusing issue in condominium associations is who insures what.  In the past, most condominium association policies would cover whatever the association owned.  Other association policies extended coverage into the units – for example, the sheetrock walls and ceiling, the plumbing, and the electrical within each individual unit.  Association policies would often be written broad enough to cover the floor, kitchen cabinets, appliances, and carpeting.

In recent years, with the rising cost of insurance claims and the ambiguous language in some association CC&R’s, insurance coverage has changed dramatically.  Many condominium documents specifically detail what is to be covered – - for example:  roof repair and replacement only.  In this instance, the documents are explicitly pointing out that all other structure is not covered. Read more…