Condo Insurance vs Homeowners Insurance
HO-6 condo policies cover your unit's interior and belongings. Homeowners insurance covers an entire house, including the structure itself.
Free to compare
Where the master policy stops
Your HOA's master policy covers the building's exterior, common areas, and roof. Most master policies are "bare walls," covering only the unfinished structure. That means cabinets, flooring, fixtures, and built-ins inside your unit are often your responsibility. Your HOA's governing documents say exactly where its coverage ends.
Sizing your HO-6
Your policy needs enough dwelling coverage to rebuild everything inside your unit's walls at current material and labor costs, not what you paid for the condo. Check your HOA documents for what the master policy excludes. Then size your coverage to fill that gap.
A loss assessment bill
When damage to common areas exceeds the HOA's master policy limit or deductible, the HOA can bill every owner a share of the difference. Loss assessment coverage on your HO-6 pays your share, up to the limit you choose. Check that limit against your HOA's deductible.
A neighbor's leak
When water travels from a neighbor's unit into yours, whose policy pays often depends on where the water started and whether it was sudden or due to neglect. Your HO-6 covers damage to your belongings and interior regardless of fault. Insurers sort out responsibility afterward.
Check your HO-6 limits before the HOA does
Your master policy's deductible, your loss assessment limit, and your interior coverage all come from different documents. Comparing policies now shows whether yours actually line up, before a claim or a special assessment finds the gap.
How does insuring a townhome differ from a condo
A townhome often sits in a gray area between a condo and a standalone house. Whether you need an HO-6 or a standard homeowners policy comes down to what you actually own. If an HOA owns the roof, the exterior walls, and the land under your unit, you're in condo territory and an HO-6 is the right fit, even though the building looks like a row of separate houses.
Some townhome communities work differently. If you own the structure outright, including the roof and exterior walls, and the HOA's role is limited to shared land, a private road, or a clubhouse, you likely need a homeowners policy that covers the full structure, not just the interior. The HOA's master policy, if one exists, probably covers only those shared spaces, not your building at all. Your HOA's governing documents and your deed spell out which situation applies to you.
Knowing which situation applies changes what you're responsible for insuring. Under an HO-6, your dwelling coverage only needs to rebuild the interior, since the HOA's master policy handles the structure. Under a homeowners policy for a fee-simple townhome, your dwelling coverage has to cover rebuilding the entire unit, walls, roof, and all, because no master policy stands behind you. Getting this wrong in either direction causes a problem. Assume a master policy exists when it doesn't, and you're underinsured. Assume it doesn't exist when it does, and you're paying for structural coverage you don't need.
Loss assessment coverage still matters for townhome owners who belong to an HOA, even without a bare-walls master policy. Shared amenities, private roads, and common landscaping are usually covered by some HOA policy, and damage to those can still trigger a special assessment. How much coverage to carry depends on what the HOA insures and at what limit. That information is in the same governing documents that define your maintenance responsibilities.
What happens to personal property and loss of use
An HO-6 policy covers your belongings wherever the damage happens inside your unit. Furniture, clothing, electronics, and anything else you own gets covered up to the personal property limit you chose. That limit should reflect what it would actually cost to replace everything you own, not a guess. Walking through your rooms and adding up rough replacement costs gives a better number than picking a default off a quote form.
Loss of use coverage, sometimes called additional living expenses, pays for a hotel, temporary rental, and extra meals if your unit becomes unlivable after a covered loss. A fire or a serious water leak can take weeks or months to repair. Without this coverage, you would pay rent on your unit, which doesn't go away just because you can't live in it, and pay somewhere else to stay, all at once. The limit is usually a percentage of your dwelling coverage or a set dollar amount, and your policy's declarations page shows which.
Condo owners sometimes assume the master policy's liability coverage protects them personally if a guest gets hurt in their unit, or if their dog bites someone in a common hallway. It often doesn't. The HOA's liability coverage protects the HOA for incidents in common areas it controls, not for what happens inside your unit or because of something you or your pet did. Your HO-6 includes its own personal liability coverage for exactly this reason, and the limit is worth checking against your own circumstances, especially if you have guests over often or own a dog.
Medical payments coverage works alongside liability and pays small medical bills for a guest injured in your unit regardless of fault, without anyone filing a lawsuit. It's a smaller limit meant for minor injuries, a slip on a wet floor or a cut from a kitchen accident. Between personal property, loss of use, liability, and medical payments, an HO-6 does more than fill the gap the master policy leaves in the walls. It covers the parts of condo life that have nothing to do with the building at all.
One document to pull up
Find your HOA's master policy declarations, specifically the deductible and whether it's bare walls. Compare that deductible to your own loss assessment limit, then check your HO-6 dwelling number against today's cost to rebuild your interior.
