Your lender no longer requires it — but your financial exposure is exactly the same. Without an HO-6 policy, a fire, water damage, theft, or liability claim inside your unit comes entirely out of pocket. For most condo owners, the unit represents a significant portion of their net worth, plus everything inside it. A policy is one of the most cost-effective protections you can carry — paid-off mortgage or not.

Only if your policy is written to include them. Standard personal property coverage protects your belongings — furniture, electronics, clothing. But if you’ve upgraded your kitchen, installed custom flooring, or renovated your bathroom, those improvements are considered “betterments” and require a separate coverage designation. Without it, a covered loss would reimburse you for builder-grade finishes, not the actual cost of what you installed. We account for this when we design your policy.

Yes — and it can arrive with little warning. When a covered loss to common areas exceeds your association’s master policy limits or deductible, the remaining cost is divided among unit owners as a special assessment. A single building incident — a lobby fire, a major pipe failure, a liability judgment — can result in assessments of $5,000 to $20,000 or more per unit. Most basic condo policies include only $1,000 in loss assessment coverage by default. We build that limit up to match the realistic exposure of your specific building.

It depends on the type of master policy — and most unit owners don’t know which one their building carries until after a claim. A “bare walls-in” policy covers only the exterior and common areas, leaving everything inside your unit — flooring, fixtures, cabinets, and all improvements — your responsibility. A “single entity” policy covers original finishes but not upgrades you’ve made. An “all-in” policy is the broadest but still excludes your personal belongings and personal liability. Knowing which type your association carries is the first step in making sure your HO-6 coverage fills the right gaps.