Durkin & DeVries Homeowners Insurance in Boston, Massachusetts Condominium Insurance Basics

Durkin DeVries and Pizzi, Homeowner Insurance in Boston Massachusetts.

Homeowners Insurance Policy Basics Apartment Insurance Policy Basics

Condominium Insurance Basics

Insuring a condominium differs from a homeowners policy in that you are not insuring the actual building only your individual unit and your contents.

It is important to review your master policy since there are a couple different ways it could provide coverage. Your condo association's policy could provide coverage for your unit based on a "single entity" concept in which the association insures your unit as it was originally built- any changes that you or a previous owner have made (new cabinets, carpets, etc.) would be excluded from coverage. The more likely way that your master policy provides coverage is on a "bare walls" basis. According to this concept, you are responsible for insuring everything inside of the bare walls, ceiling, and floor. Everything from floor and wall coverings to cabinets and fixtures and of course, your contents must be covered by your insurance.

Basic condo insurance should cover your personal possessions up to a specified limit as well as provide you with good liability coverage. It is a great idea to take an inventory of your possessions (take some video footage or still photographs of each room and store them in a fireproof box) to ensure that your policy provides adequate protection- this process will also help you in the event of a claim.

Although basic insurance coverage is a good start, you should strongly consider extending coverage through individual endorsements or a policy that includes prebundled endorsements. Some common condo policy endorsements include:

Special Unit Owners Coverage A which increases structure coverage and removes some restrictions on what types of losses are covered by the policy,

Guaranteed replacement Cost on Contents which pays to replace your contents at today's cost with no depreciation,

and Loss Assessment coverage which covers you against any fee that your condo association may assess you for an insurance loss that is not adequately covered by their policy.

Of course, there are multitudes of less common endorsements that apply to specific situations, so its a good idea to work closely with an agent to accurately determine your personal exposures.

Call one of our personal lines agents for more information about condominium insurance or simply complete our short online quote form with no obligation.