You purchased a condo, closed on the mortgage loan, and are now ready to move in to your new home. But what happens if a pipe bursts and floods your unit or an electrical short causes fire damage to your unit? Should you call the insurance company or your Condo Association? Are you covered by your Condo Association’s master policy of insurance? What kind of insurance is required under your mortgage? Are you required to have an HO-6 insurance policy? These important questions need to be answered before you move into your new home. In discussion of these questions, I will utilize Fannie Mae requirements as a guidepost as Fannie Mae is the largest mortgagor in the United States and its rules and guidelines are often used by other mortgagors. Continue Reading Your Condo Association Has An Insurance Policy, But Are You Covered?

Many states require condominium associations to maintain property insurance for the common areas of the building but leave it up to the unit owners whether they want to insure their individual units or personal belongings. Oklahoma, however, is different and does not require the association to obtain insurance for the property. Continue Reading Is Your Oklahoma Condominium In Compliance With The Law? Mandatory Oklahoma Insurance Requirements

Hurricane Florence

Hurricane Florence is currently a Category Four storm and is expected to intensify, bringing with it potential storm surges, excessive rainfall, and damaging winds. With Hurricane Florence quickly approaching the East Coast and posing a serious threat to the State of Virginia, it’s a good time for condominium owners to refresh their memories about what coverages may be available following a loss. Continue Reading Hurricane Florence: What Virginia Condominium Owners Should Know

Many state statutes and condominium bylaws require the purchase of reasonably available property insurance which covers all direct physical risks of loss on an extended and replacement cost basis. One issue I have heard associations and their insurance agents ask: “Is flood insurance reasonably available” so that it has to be insured.

This question was recently answered in Porter v. Beaverdam Run Condominium Association.1 The holding is significant:

[W]e conclude that the Association is obligated by the Declaration and the Condominium Act to maintain insurance against all risks of direct physical loss which are commonly insured against, to the extent that such insurance is reasonably available. We further conclude that flood is a risk of direct physical loss which is commonly insured against for residential buildings located in a FEMA-designated flood zone. Accordingly, we conclude that the Association has an obligation to provide flood insurance for the Community’s buildings located within the FEMA flood zone each year when such insurance is reasonably available.

Condominium associations should be very wary that some insurance agents could leave the Board and Association liable for uninsured or underinsured losses by selling cheap insurance. These agents compete on premium price and propose packages of insurance that do not include commonly available coverages, especially sufficient law and ordinance coverage, flood, and earthquake coverage.

Thought For The Day

“The quality, not the longevity, of one’s life is what is important.” 
—Martin Luther King, Jr.

1 Porter v. Beaverdam Run Condominium Association, No. COA17-793, 2018 WL 2011355 (N.C. App. May 1, 2018).