Homeowners Insurance for Condominium Units

When purchasing a condominium unit, you technically share some space with the building administration and the other residents as well. What type of homeowners insurance should you choose? What should be covered? What is covered by the management and what should you have covered by your own insurance company? Here are guidelines on buying insurance for condominium homes.

In most cases, a master insurance policy is provided by the condominium or building management itself. This covers the common areas that you share with everyone in the building: spaces like the lobby, pool, roof, elevator, garbage disposal units, fire exits, boiler, laundry areas, walkways, corridors, and others. To ensure which parts of the unit itself are under the coverage of the master policy, seek for documentation from the condominium management. Some of the structures that may be included here are your ceiling, the structural base of the floor, exterior walls, and plumbing.

Your own space or apartment should be protected by a homeowners insurance policy of your choice, in order to cover the structure itself and any items and personal belongings inside your home. The things you can consider in finding a policy that would suit condominium unit living are outlined below.

Shared costs reimbursement

If a part of your floor is damaged and this is not covered by the master policy, this coverage may be needed. In case of fire damage that is charged to all homeowners living in your floor for example, you can reimburse this from the insurance company.

Flood or earthquake coverage

This is needed for all homeowners, but especially for those who live in areas prone to these natural disasters. Just because you live 20 floors above the ground doesn’t mean you are safe from flooding. Sometimes water can seep in through windows during storms, or even pass through ceiling structures and flood upper floors during a strong thunderstorm.

Floater

If you have jewellery or other rare and pricey collectibles in your unit that can be subject to theft, insure them through this add-on coverage to homeowners insurance.  A regular or standard policy can have coverage for this, but most of them are limited to a particular amount. If your possessions exceed that amount, include this in your policy.

An important thing to remember is that it is easiest and most convenient if you can use the same company that insured your condominium building for your homeowners insurance. This way, any claims or reports are supported by both you and the building authorities or management.