If you’re considering buying a condominium as your first home or as a retirement home in a few years, you may be thinking that you won’t need to carry homeowners insurance because the condominium association will have everything covered. This, however, isn’t true at all.
Home Insurance
You still need homeowners insurance if you own a condo, but the insurance will be more specialized. In fact, a condominium insurance policy is sort of like a mix between traditional homeowners insurance and renters insurance that you would have if you lived in an apartment.
What it Covers
Because you don’t actually own the structure of the condominium, your condo association will pay damages for anything up to the outside, structural walls of your condo and any damages to the common areas of the condominium units. You, however, technically own everything inside those walls, and you’ll have to pay for insurance to cover any damages that may happen to them.
So your condominium insurance, like a homeowners insurance policy, will cover all the structural parts of the condo that you actually own. If you have a kitchen fire, it will replace drywall, repair electrical and plumbing, and put down new tile on the floor, for instance. Your condominium association will most likely not take care of these damages.
Condo insurance will also pay for your personal belongings inside your condo. In order to figure out what these things are worth, take an inventory down to the last pair of jeans. That way, you know you can take out an insurance policy for the right amount. If you have very valuable things like original artwork and expensive jewelry in your condo, you may have to take out a separate insurance policy for them.
Like homeowners insurance, condo insurance will also cover liability up to a certain amount. So if your dog bites someone or your kitchen fire causes damage to your neighbors walls or roof, your insurance will cover the damages and any legal proceedings that they cause.
How to Get it
Before you apply for condo insurance through a private insurance company, check your condominium association’s by-laws to see what is and is not covered by your association fees. Some aspects of liability, for instance, may be paid by the association, while others may not.
Home Insurance
Then, start asking around about condo insurance. Search online or call insurance companies you know of. Not every insurance company offers condo insurance, and those who do may have widely differing rates. Get lots of quotes on condominium insurance until you find the provider and the plan that are right for your needs and your budget.
