Does HO-6 Cover Other Structures?
Usually not. HO-6 covers your unit's interior. Detached structures like a shed or carport are the HOA's master policy, not yours.
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Other structures coverage is built for houses with a detached garage or fence sitting on land the homeowner owns. In a condo or townhome, the land and anything standing apart from your unit usually belong to the association, insured under its master policy. If your community has a shared storage shed or a carport, that's typically the HOA's responsibility to rebuild, paid for through association dues or a special assessment if the master policy falls short. Check your HOA's governing documents to see what structures it owns and insures.
The HOA's master policy has its own limits, and when it falls short on shared structures, a special assessment can land on every unit owner to cover the difference. Your HO-6 policy sets a separate limit for loss assessment coverage, and that number varies a lot between insurers. Worth checking that your limit actually covers what your governing documents could leave you owing.
What about a patio, balcony, or the stuff just outside your unit?
Many master policies follow what's called a bare walls or single entity approach. The association insures the building structure from the studs out, including the exterior walls, roof, and sometimes the balcony or patio slab attached to your unit. Your HO-6 picks up from there. It covers the drywall, flooring, cabinets, and any upgrades you made inside. Some master policies go further and cover original fixtures too, which changes how much interior coverage you actually need. The only way to know which setup your building uses is to read the master policy's declarations or ask the HOA for a copy.
A patio or balcony that's exclusively yours to use, even if the HOA technically owns the concrete underneath, often has gray areas around railings, screens, or anything you added yourself, like a pergola or storage box. If you built something there, that's almost always on you to insure, since it didn't exist when the master policy was written. Check your HO-6 declarations page for how it defines your unit's boundaries, and compare that against what the HOA document says it covers. When the two don't line up, that gap is where an unexpected bill shows up after a storm.
Parking is another spot people assume is covered and sometimes isn't. A deeded parking spot or a detached carport assigned to your unit might fall under the master policy, or it might be treated as a limited common element you're responsible for insuring yourself. Some HO-6 policies extend a small amount of coverage to a detached structure you're responsible for, but the limit is often low, sometimes a few thousand dollars, since it wasn't designed with that use in mind. If your parking structure or storage unit has real value, ask your insurer directly whether it falls under your dwelling coverage or needs a separate rider.
None of this is standard from one building to the next, and that's the main difference between insuring a townhome or condo and insuring a detached house. A house owner knows the shed in the backyard is theirs. A unit owner has to actually read two documents, the HOA's master policy and their own HO-6, to find where one stops and the other starts. Keeping both on hand, and checking them again whenever the HOA renews its policy or changes carriers, is the only reliable way to catch a gap before a loss finds it first.
Who pays when water comes from the unit next door?
A pipe bursts in the unit above yours and water comes through your ceiling. Figuring out who pays starts with where the water came from and whose property it damaged, not whose unit it started in. If the leak came from a pipe that serves only that owner's unit, their policy's liability coverage is usually what responds for damage to your place. Your own HO-6 also has a role here, often a bigger one than people expect.
Most HO-6 policies cover sudden water damage to your own unit's interior and belongings regardless of whose pipe caused it. You file with your own insurer first in many cases, since that gets repairs moving faster than waiting on a neighbor's claim to process. Your insurer can then seek reimbursement from the neighbor's insurer if they were at fault, a process that happens between the two companies and doesn't require you to do anything. This is one reason loss of use coverage matters in a condo. If the damage makes your unit unlivable while repairs happen, that coverage pays for a hotel or temporary rent.
The exception is when the leak comes from something the HOA is responsible for, like a shared pipe in the walls or a common plumbing line serving multiple units. Then the master policy's liability coverage is what should respond, and the association's insurer handles the claim. Buildings differ on where the line falls between a unit owner's plumbing and the building's shared systems, and that line is usually spelled out in the governing documents rather than in either insurance policy. If you aren't sure whether a pipe counts as yours or the building's, that's a question for the HOA, not a guess.
Either way, a deductible applies somewhere. If you file under your own HO-6 for the water damage to your unit, you pay your policy's deductible before coverage kicks in, the same as any other claim. If your insurer later recovers the cost from a neighbor's policy, you may get that deductible back, but that isn't guaranteed and depends on how the claim settles. Asking your insurer how they handle neighbor-caused water damage, before anything happens, saves a confused phone call later.
Before you sign anything
Pull your HOA's master policy and your HO-6 declarations page. Check where the master policy's coverage ends, what your loss assessment limit is, and whether your patio or parking spot is named in either one.
