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The master policy insures the buildings. Each owner's HO-6 covers everything walls-in. The coverage form draws the line between the two, and it decides who pays when a claim hits.
Trusted by 60+ carrier partners
Aligned with the board's fiduciary duty
The master policy is usually the association's largest line item after reserves. Commission brokers earn more when that premium climbs, which works against a board that answers to owners for every dollar. A flat fee removes the conflict and keeps the renewal review honest.
Lines that have to agree with the bylaws
The master coverage form has to match what the CC&Rs promise owners, the fidelity bond has to meet the Fannie Mae standard, and D&O has to cover covenant enforcement disputes. We place these together so the program reads as one, instead of three policies that contradict each other at claim time.
Questionnaires and certificates without the wait
Unit sales stall when a lender's condo questionnaire or an evidence-of-insurance request sits unanswered. Coverwatch turns around Fannie Mae Form 1076 questionnaires, mortgagee certificates, and mid-term endorsements on the closing's timeline, not at renewal.
A condominium association needs a master property policy on the buildings and common elements, general liability, and directors and officers coverage for the volunteer board. Fidelity, equipment breakdown, and umbrella limits round out most programs.
Condominium association insurance sits beside each owner's HO-6 policy. The master coverage form, bare-walls or all-in, decides where one stops.
Condominium association insurance is the master program a condo association buys to cover the buildings, common elements, the volunteer board, and association funds. Each unit owner carries a separate HO-6 policy for their interior and personal property; the master coverage form sets the boundary between the two.
Replacement cost of all buildings and common elements is the primary property rating base. The bare-walls, single-entity, or all-in form decides how much of each unit interior sits inside that insured value, and carriers apply a coinsurance clause against it.
Frame, joisted masonry, and fire-resistive construction rate very differently. Roof age plus the state of the plumbing, electrical, and HVAC drive the property rate, and an aging roof often forces a separate wind or hail deductible.
Multi-year loss runs set the rate and the deductible. Repeated water claims from shared supply lines and risers are a leading reason a condo master policy is non-renewed, so carriers weight water frequency heavily.
Send the current dec pages, the reserve study, the governing documents, and the loss runs. We check that the coverage form matches what the CC&Rs obligate the association to insure, that the building is insured to value, and that the fidelity bond clears the Fannie Mae three-month standard.
Coverage matched to condo association exposures.
The bylaws and state condo act both obligate the association to insure the buildings and common elements. The coverage form must match what the CC&Rs promise owners.
Volunteer boards make decisions about money, rule enforcement, and unit sales every month. D&O is the line that defends them personally, and lenders increasingly ask whether it is in force.
Common-area injuries are the most frequent claim an association sees. GL is required by the bylaws and by any lender financing units in the building.
Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and FHA all require fidelity coverage for projects over 20 units. Without it, owners cannot get conforming loans and the project loses warrantable status.
Older buildings carry the largest code-upgrade gap. After a fire or storm, rebuilding to current code can cost far more than the structure was insured for.
Elevators, boilers, and central HVAC fail without warning and sit outside standard property coverage. Mid-rise and high-rise associations treat this as core, not optional.
Recommended once the building has a pool, parking garage, or a unit count that raises the chance of a claim exceeding the primary limit.
Required by lenders for buildings in a FEMA special flood hazard area, and worth carrying for any low-lying or coastal property.
Standard once the association has an on-site manager or maintenance payroll, and useful as protection against uninsured contractor injury claims.
Need coverage not listed here? Let's talk about your specific exposures.
Real exposures your broker should understand and have a plan for.
A supply line or riser fails on an upper floor and the water travels down through several units before anyone shuts it off. The master policy, the affected owners' HO-6 policies, and the master deductible all collide, and a run of these losses is a leading cause of condo non-renewal.
After a loss inside a unit, the owner assumes the master policy rebuilds the interior while the board reads the form as bare-walls. The coverage form and the CC&Rs decide who pays, and a mismatch between the two leaves an owner holding a repair bill they expected the association to cover.
The master policy was written years ago and never adjusted to replacement cost. A fire or storm triggers a coinsurance penalty, and ordinance-or-law code upgrades push the rebuild well past the limit. Owners absorb the shortfall through a special assessment.
The board fines an owner, denies an architectural request, or rejects a buyer, and gets sued for selective enforcement or discrimination. Defense costs run for months, and without D&O the volunteer directors face personal exposure for decisions made on the association's behalf.
A board treasurer or outside manager with access to operating and reserve accounts diverts assessment funds over many months before an audit catches it. The fidelity bond is the only line that responds, and an undersized bond leaves the reserves short.
A guest is injured at the pool, a resident falls on an icy walkway, or a parking-garage defect causes harm. These premises claims fall on the association, and a serious pool or structural injury can exceed the primary general liability limit.
The licenses, endorsements, and proofs buyers and regulators want to see before they let you on the job.
The codes, limits, and underwriting facts that come up when a condo association gets quoted, answers a lender questionnaire, or reviews its master policy against the bylaws.
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac require fidelity or crime coverage of at least three months of total assessments for projects over 20 units, rising to the maximum funds the association holds when it lacks segregated financial controls. Falling below it makes units non-warrantable.
Source: Fannie Mae Selling Guide B7-4-02
The three master forms set how far the association's policy reaches into each unit. Bare-walls stops at the studs; all-in includes original fixtures; single-entity sits between. The form must match the CC&Rs to avoid claim disputes.
Source: ISO / NAIC condominium coverage standards
After the Surfside collapse, Florida requires a milestone structural inspection for buildings three stories or taller at 30 years (25 near the coast) and a mandatory Structural Integrity Reserve Study, both of which carriers now weigh at renewal.
Source: Florida Statutes 553.899 & 718.112 (SB 4-D, 2022)
A standard unit-owner HO-6 includes a small loss-assessment default, frequently $1,000. Owners can raise it to $50,000 or more cheaply, which matters when a master deductible or over-limit loss is passed through as a special assessment.
Source: Insurance Information Institute
For FHA-insured loans, the project must carry hazard, liability, and fidelity coverage, and owners must hold HO-6 walls-in policies where the master is bare-walls. Without approval, buyers cannot use FHA financing in the building.
Source: HUD Condominium Project Approval (HRAP/DELRAP)
Water losses from shared supply lines and risers are the highest-frequency condo master claim and the most common reason carriers raise deductibles or non-renew. Carriers underwrite water history harder than almost any other factor.
Source: Insurance Information Institute loss data
The master policy is the association's insurance on the buildings, common elements, and association liability. An HO-6 is each owner's personal policy covering their belongings, interior improvements, loss assessment, and personal liability. The master coverage form, bare-walls or all-in, sets the dividing line. Under a bare-walls form, everything from the studs in is the owner's HO-6 responsibility; under all-in, the master policy reaches original fixtures inside the unit.
These are the two ends of the master coverage form spectrum. Bare-walls (studs-out) insures the structure and common elements but stops at the unfinished interior, leaving cabinets, flooring, and fixtures to the owner's HO-6. All-in (all-inclusive) extends the master policy to original unit fixtures and built-in improvements. Single-entity sits in between. The form should match what the CC&Rs promise, because a mismatch is where claims get disputed.
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac require coverage equal to at least three months of total assessments plus the association's reserve balances for projects over 20 units. Many governing documents set their own minimum. The bond covers theft of association funds by board members, employees, and the management company. Falling below the Fannie Mae standard makes the units non-warrantable, which blocks most conforming mortgages.
Yes, in practice every association needs it. Volunteer board members make decisions about assessments, rule enforcement, vendor contracts, and unit sales, any of which can draw a lawsuit. D&O defends the directors and the association against claims like selective covenant enforcement, wrongful denial of a sale, or discrimination. Look for a form that includes broad association liability and covers monetary damages, not just defense.
The most common driver is water-damage frequency. Shared supply lines and risers produce repeated claims that erode the loss ratio, and carriers respond with higher deductibles, separate water sublimits, or non-renewal. Aging roofs, deferred maintenance flagged after Surfside-era inspections, and coastal wind exposure are the other leading reasons. A clean loss run and a current reserve study are the best defense at renewal.
Lenders selling to Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac require the master policy to carry replacement-cost coverage on the buildings, general liability, and fidelity coverage for projects over 20 units. They verify it through a condo questionnaire, often Form 1076, and an evidence-of-insurance certificate. Since the Surfside collapse, lenders also review deferred maintenance, reserve adequacy, and any special assessments before approving the loan.
It depends on the coverage form. Under an all-in form, the master policy reaches original fixtures and built-in improvements inside the unit. Under a bare-walls form, interior damage is the owner's HO-6 responsibility. Either way, the owner's personal property and any upgrades they installed are covered by their HO-6, not the master policy. This is why every owner should carry an HO-6 even when the master form is broad.
Loss assessment is an HO-6 coverage that pays an individual owner's share when the association levies a special assessment after a large claim, such as a loss that exceeds the master limit or the master deductible. A standard HO-6 includes a small default amount; owners can buy higher limits cheaply. It protects owners from a surprise bill when the master program falls short.
Send us your current policy and a licensed advisor will benchmark your condo association insurance across 60+ carriers — showing you where the gaps and the savings are. If your program is already solid, we'll tell you. Either way, you get a free expert review.
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