What Does the HOA Master Policy Cover?
Typically the building itself and common areas, like the roof and grounds. Your unit's interior needs your own HO-6 policy.
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Where the master policy ends and your HO-6 begins
The HOA's master policy is written one of two ways, and it changes what you need. A "bare walls" policy covers the building's structure only, studs, pipes, and wiring behind the walls. You'd need your HO-6 to cover everything from drywall in, including cabinets, flooring, and built-ins. A "single entity" or "all-in" policy goes further, covering fixtures and original finishes too, leaving your HO-6 to handle upgrades, personal property, and liability inside the unit. Your HOA's governing documents or the master policy's declarations page will say which type applies. That's the first thing to check before deciding how much dwelling coverage your HO-6 needs, since guessing wrong in either direction means paying for coverage you duplicate or finding a gap after a loss.
A gap here costs more than a quote
If your HO-6 dwelling coverage doesn't match what your master policy leaves out, a bare-walls loss could cost you tens of thousands out of pocket. Compare quotes built around your HOA's coverage type.
When a neighbor's water damages your unit, who pays
Water from an upstairs unit is one of the most common condo claims, and it usually involves two or three policies at once. If the water came from a neighbor's washing machine or a burst pipe inside their walls, their HO-6 liability coverage may pay for the damage to your unit if they were negligent, say they ignored a slow leak for weeks. If it came from a pipe the master policy considers part of the building, like a shared supply line, the HOA's policy may pay for the structure and your HO-6 covers your belongings and finishes. In practice, your own HO-6 is often what pays first, since it covers your unit regardless of whose fault the leak was, and your insurer sorts out reimbursement from the responsible party afterward. That's one reason the HO-6 matters even when the HOA's policy looks broad.
A special assessment is the HOA billing every owner for a shared cost, and after a loss it usually means the building's master policy didn't cover the full repair, often because of a large deductible or a coverage limit the damage exceeded. If a fire takes out the roof and the master policy carries a $50,000 deductible, the HOA may spread that deductible across all units as an assessment. Loss assessment coverage, a small add-on most HO-6 policies include or offer, reimburses you for your share of that bill up to its limit. The standard amount included is often modest, a few thousand dollars, and buildings with high master policy deductibles or high-value construction can generate assessments well past that. Check your HOA's master policy deductible against your HO-6's loss assessment limit, since a mismatch there is exactly the kind of gap that shows up only after something goes wrong.
Townhome insurance sits a step closer to a standalone house than a condo does. Many townhome HOAs insure only the land, common areas, and sometimes the exterior walls and roof, leaving the owner responsible for insuring the entire structure of their unit, not just the interior. That calls for an HO-3 policy, the same kind used for detached houses, rather than the HO-6 built for condo interiors. Some townhome HOAs do carry a master policy closer to a condo's, so the governing documents still decide which kind of policy fits. Getting this backwards, insuring only walls-in when the HOA covers nothing but the common grounds, leaves the studs, roof, and foundation of the unit with no coverage at all.
How much dwelling coverage does your HO-6 actually need
Guessing this number wrong in either direction costs money. Too much dwelling coverage on your HO-6 means paying premium for rebuilding costs the master policy already covers. Too little means a bare-walls loss leaves you short exactly when you need the payout. The right figure comes from subtracting what the master policy rebuilds from what it would cost to rebuild your unit's interior from scratch.
Start with the master policy type from the last section. If it's bare walls, your HO-6 dwelling coverage needs to account for drywall, flooring, cabinets, countertops, built-in appliances, and any fixtures behind the walls like plumbing and wiring inside your unit. For a typical unit this can run from the low tens of thousands into six figures, depending on size and finish quality. If the master policy is single-entity or all-in, it already rebuilds standard finishes, so your HO-6 dwelling coverage mainly needs to cover upgrades beyond the building standard, like a renovated kitchen or custom flooring you added after buying. Your HOA should be able to tell you what counts as standard finish under the master policy, since that's the line your upgrades sit above.
Some HOAs can tell you this number directly. They've worked through it with their own insurance agent and can point to what the master policy is estimated to rebuild per unit. Others leave it to the owner to work out, which usually means getting a contractor or appraiser's estimate of what it costs to rebuild the interior, not what the unit is worth on the market. A unit's sale price reflects location and demand. Rebuilding cost reflects materials and labor, and the two numbers are rarely close. An insurer writing an HO-6 can also help estimate this based on square footage and finish level, but the starting point is always the master policy's coverage type, since that determines what your number needs to fill in rather than duplicate.
Loss of use coverage deserves a check alongside dwelling coverage. If your unit becomes uninhabitable after a covered loss, this part of the HO-6 pays for temporary housing and extra living expenses while repairs happen. Condo rebuilds can take longer than a standalone house. Repairs to your unit may wait on the master policy's contractor schedule and shared-building logistics. A loss of use limit sized for a few weeks can fall short if the realistic repair timeline runs months, so it's worth sizing against how long a comparable rebuild has taken in the building before, if that information is available from the HOA.
Before you compare quotes
Pull your HOA's master policy type and deductible from its governing documents. Then check those numbers against your HO-6's dwelling coverage and loss assessment limit before deciding what you need.
