What Does HO-6 Insurance Cover?
It covers your unit's interior, from walls in, plus your belongings, liability, and loss assessment charges the HOA bills you for.
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Where your coverage starts
The HOA's master policy covers the building's exterior, the roof, and shared areas like hallways and the pool. Your HO-6 picks up from there. It covers the drywall, flooring, cabinets, and fixtures inside your unit, including upgrades you made, plus everything you own and your liability if someone is hurt inside. How much of the interior your policy needs to cover depends on your HOA's master policy. Some cover units as they were originally built, leaving you to insure any improvements. Others cover only bare walls, leaving more for you to pick up. Your HOA's governing documents or master policy declarations will say which type you have, and that answer should shape the dwelling coverage you buy.
What your HO-6 limit leaves out
If your dwelling coverage is set too low for how your HOA's master policy splits things, rebuilding your interior after a loss could cost more than your policy pays. Compare coverage options before you renew.
What happens when water comes from the unit next door
When a pipe bursts in the unit above and water comes through your ceiling, your HO-6 is usually the policy that responds first, not your neighbor's. Water damage to your drywall, flooring, and belongings is typically covered under your own dwelling and personal property coverage, regardless of where the water started. If your neighbor was negligent, like ignoring a leak for weeks, your insurer may go after their insurer afterward to recover what it paid out. That process happens between the insurance companies. It doesn't change who you call first or how fast your own claim gets paid.
Loss assessment coverage works differently and it catches a lot of condo owners by surprise. If the building has a shared loss, like roof damage from a storm, and the master policy doesn't cover the full repair cost, the HOA can bill each unit owner a share of the difference. That bill is a special assessment, and it can run from a few hundred dollars to tens of thousands depending on the damage and the size of the building. Most HO-6 policies include a baseline amount of loss assessment coverage, often modest, and it can usually be raised for a relatively small added cost. Given how large a special assessment can get after major damage, it's worth checking your current limit against what your HOA's reserve study or governing documents suggest a worst-case assessment could look like.
Loss assessment coverage typically has conditions attached. It usually applies only when the assessment stems from a cause that would have been covered if you'd been directly insured for it, like fire or windstorm, not routine maintenance or board decisions unrelated to damage. It also typically covers the assessment itself, not necessarily the HOA's deductible if that's what's being passed down to owners, so it's worth reading how your policy defines what's included.
Townhome insurance can look similar to a condo HO-6 but often isn't the same policy. Where a townhome owner holds title to the land and the structure itself, rather than just the interior airspace, an HO-3 policy built for single-family homes is sometimes the better fit, since it covers the whole structure including the exterior walls and roof. Whether a townhome is insured as a condo or as a standalone home depends on how the HOA documents define ownership and what the master policy, if one exists, actually covers. That's worth confirming before assuming either HO-6 or HO-3 is the right form.
What an HO-6 does and doesn't pay for
An HO-6 policy responds to the same categories of loss as other home insurance policies. Fire, windstorm, lightning, theft, and water damage from a burst pipe are typically covered. Flooding from outside, like a river overflowing or storm surge, is not, no matter how the water enters your unit. Earthquake damage is also excluded from a standard HO-6. Both require a separate policy. Whether you need one depends on where your building sits, not on what your HOA's master policy covers.
Liability coverage under an HO-6 works the way it does under any homeowners policy. If a guest is hurt inside your unit and sues, it covers the costs of defending the claim and what you're found to owe, up to your policy limit. It also typically covers damage you accidentally cause to someone else's unit, like if your washing machine overflows and ruins the ceiling below. That's separate from loss assessment coverage, which deals with charges the HOA bills across all owners rather than a claim against you personally.
Figuring out how much dwelling coverage to carry takes more than guessing at your unit's square footage. Some owners use a per-square-foot estimate for interior finishes as a starting point. From there they adjust up for upgrades like higher-end flooring, custom cabinets, or a renovated bathroom, since those additions typically aren't covered by the HOA's master policy and need to be added to your own limit. A renovation that isn't reflected in your coverage is a common gap. It's worth updating your policy any time you finish a project inside the unit.
Personal property coverage and additional living expenses round out what an HO-6 provides. Personal property covers your furniture, electronics, and other belongings, usually up to a percentage of your dwelling limit, though you can often adjust it separately if you have more to insure. Additional living expenses covers the cost of staying somewhere else, like a hotel or short-term rental, if a covered loss makes your unit unlivable while it's repaired. Both work the same way they would under a single-family home policy. The difference with an HO-6 is where the dwelling coverage starts and stops, not these other parts of the policy.
Before you renew
Pull your HOA's master policy declarations and your own loss assessment limit, side by side. If the master policy only covers bare walls or your HOA's reserve study points to a large worst-case assessment, that's the number to raise.
