What Does an HOA Master Policy Look Like?
It usually covers the building's structure and common areas, leaving interior walls, floors, and your belongings for your own HO-6 policy.
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The master policy's declarations page usually tells you which of two types your HOA carries. A bare walls policy covers only the building's structure as originally built, meaning your HO-6 has to cover drywall, flooring, cabinets, and fixtures you'd otherwise assume are the building's problem. A single entity or all-in policy covers those same interior finishes, so your HO-6 only needs to cover upgrades, belongings, and liability. Ask the HOA which type it carries before deciding how much dwelling coverage your own policy needs.
If your HOA carries a bare walls policy and your HO-6 is written for an all-in building, a fire or burst pipe could leave you covering drywall, cabinets, and flooring entirely out of pocket. The gap between those two outcomes is often thousands of dollars, and it only shows up after a loss. Comparing policies now, while you can still match coverage to what the master policy actually excludes, is worth the time.
What does loss assessment coverage actually pay for
When a loss affects the whole building, like roof damage from a storm or a fire in a common hallway, the HOA's master policy pays first. If that claim is bigger than the master policy's limit, or if the master policy has a high deductible, the HOA can bill each unit owner a share of the difference. That bill is called a special assessment, and it can land weeks or months after the event, often at a cost of several hundred to a few thousand dollars per unit.
Loss assessment coverage, usually an add-on to your HO-6 policy, reimburses you for that bill up to the limit you've chosen. The standard amount built into many HO-6 policies is modest, often around $1,000 to $5,000, which may not cover a real assessment after major damage to a roof or a shared structure. Raising that limit costs little compared to the gap it closes, and it's worth checking what limit your policy currently carries rather than assuming it's enough.
Water from a neighbor's unit works differently depending on where the water started and whose negligence, if any, caused it. If a pipe inside the building's common wall fails, that's usually the master policy's problem. If a neighbor's washing machine overflows and water seeps into your unit, your own HO-6 covers your flooring, drywall, and belongings, and their policy may cover the damage to their unit and could owe you for yours if they were responsible. These situations often involve two or three policies at once, which is part of why documenting the source of the water matters as soon as it happens.
Townhomes complicate this further because many townhome owners hold title to the land under their unit and sometimes to the exterior walls and roof, unlike condo owners who typically own only the interior space. Some townhome communities have no master policy at all, leaving each owner responsible for a policy that looks more like a standalone house policy than an HO-6. Others are structured like condos, with an HOA master policy covering shared structures. The HOA's governing documents, not assumptions based on what the building looks like, determine which situation applies, so it's worth reading them or asking the HOA directly before assuming your coverage needs match a neighbor's.
What does a master policy's declarations page actually list
The declarations page is the summary at the front of the master policy, usually two or three pages, and it's where the HOA's coverage type, limits, and deductible are spelled out in plain numbers rather than legal language. If you can get a copy from the HOA board or property manager, this is the page worth reading before you buy an HO-6 or raise your coverage limits, because everything else in the master policy is detail that expands on what this page states.
Near the top, it names the building coverage limit, which is the total dollar amount the insurer will pay to rebuild the structure if it's destroyed. Compare this to the building's actual rebuild cost, not its market value, since those two numbers often differ by a wide margin. An HOA that hasn't updated this limit in years can be underinsured without anyone noticing until a major loss forces the question.
Below that sits the deductible, and master policy deductibles can run much higher than a typical homeowner's, sometimes tens of thousands of dollars, because the HOA is insuring an entire building rather than one unit. This number matters to you directly. If a loss happens and the master policy's deductible is high, the HOA may pass some or all of that deductible on to unit owners as a special assessment, separate from any gap in the coverage limit itself. Some HOAs carry a specific endorsement for this, sometimes called loss assessment or deductible assessment coverage, which caps what they can bill owners for the deductible alone.
The declarations page also states whether the policy is bare walls or all-in, sometimes written plainly and sometimes only implied by a list of what's excluded further into the policy. If it isn't clear from the declarations page itself, the full policy document or a call to the property manager should settle it. This single detail changes how much dwelling coverage your own HO-6 needs more than almost anything else in the master policy, so it's worth confirming directly rather than guessing from what similar buildings typically carry.
Before you buy or renew
Ask the HOA for the master policy's declarations page. Check whether it's bare walls or all-in, note the deductible, and match your HO-6 dwelling and loss assessment limits to what it leaves uncovered.
