Property Insurance for Condo Associations
Protect The Physical Assets Of Your Condominium
Property Insurance changes all the time and it is important for a Condo Association to have an insurance agent who specializes specifically in associations to help them manage their risk.
Condominium Associations have all kinds of property that the association may want to insure. All of the items in this list can be covered on the association’s property insurance policy to help protect the unit owners from a loss.
- Residential buildings
- Club houses
- Fitness centers
- Pools
- Pool pump buildings
- Car ports and garages
- Tennis courts
- Shuffle board courts
- Fences
- Signs
- …and many other things
What Does Condo Property Insurance Cover?
Some of the types of loss that can be covered under the property policy are fires, busting pipes or other leaks, sewer backup, wind damage, and catastrophic ground collapse. Sometimes Condo Associations will have two separate policies for the property; one that covers for wind loss like hurricanes and tornadoes, and one that covers for fire and other losses but excludes wind coverage.
The most expensive item to insure is the residential condo buildings and this is a lot of Condo Associations’ biggest budget item. The cost to insure the buildings varies and some of the main factors affecting the cost are: the year built, total replacement cost value of the buildings, construction, deductibles, and updates.
How Can I Save Money On Condo Property Insurance?
Updates to the construction of your condo buildings are a potential way to save money on your insurance. Has your roof recently been redone? Was your electrical updated? Any updates to plumbing? Do you have a modern HVAC system? These are items which will help us find you credits to lower your premium or locate an insurance carrier who will offer better pricing to quote your Condo Association based on these factors.
When is the last time your agent asked if you have had any updates?
Florida Condominium Associations are required by Florida Statute to get an independent insurance appraisal every 36 months to get an updated replacement cost value for their property. They are also required to insure their buildings for the full replacement cost value that comes from the appraisal. This protects the unit owners to ensure that there is enough insurance coverage to replace the building due to a covered loss.
Ordinance Or Law Coverage For Your Condo
Have you been quoted on Ordinance or Law coverage on your property policy?
An item your Condo Association may need to consider purchasing with your property insurance is Ordinance or Law insurance. This coverage can be added on to your property policy and helps to protect the association from building codes that have changed and that will increase the cost of reconstruction. For example, consider that your condo association suffers a total loss of a building that did not have a sprinkler system. When it is time to rebuild the building, the new building code states you have to have a sprinkler system installed in any new construction. This is an extra cost, because you never had a sprinkler system before, so the only way to cover this expense is by adding Ordinance or Law coverage. In fact, this coverage is becoming so important that many mortgage companies now require Condo Associations to carry this coverage if it is available.