HO6 Condo Insurance May Help with Multifamily Roofing Expenses
If you’re a condo resident, you might assume your roofing expenses are taken care of by your insurance policy. After all, much like homeowners’ insurance protects your house, condo insurance helps cover damage to common areas, especially when you aren’t at fault. However, HO6 insurance is a lesser-known addition to condo insurance that can specifically help with multifamily roofing expenses.
At Elite Roofing & Solar, we have firsthand experience in multifamily roofing, handling maintenance, and completing inspections for storm damage. A little-known fact about the commercial and multifamily roofing industry, however, is that insurance frequently does not help much with roof repairs and code upgrades due to higher deductibles.
In these cases, condo residents may find themselves being assessed for these expenses—and HO6 condo insurance can help protect against this cost.
What Is HO6 Condo Insurance?
HO6 insurance is a type of policy that covers your individual condo, as well as several other types of expenses residents may commonly face. Beyond the loss assessment coverage that we’re highlighting in this post, HO6 insurance can also help with several other needs, such as personal property coverage, damage to your unit (such as from burst pipes or leaks), and certain living expenses.
Most condo associations will have an insurance policy already—but this policy only goes so far. Generally speaking, the common condo insurance policy shared by your association primarily covers common areas from certain damages, while the HO6 policy does more to protect you individually.
How Does Condo Insurance Fall Short?
While we aren’t insurance experts—and we always recommend speaking to a financial advisor before making decisions like enrolling in an HO6 policy—what we have seen in the commercial and multifamily roofing industry is that insurance policies often don’t help much with roof damage.
As an example, a typical commercial roofing policy will have a deductible that is 1% of the property. If the cost to repair roof damage does not meet this figure, the insurance company simply won’t cover the damage—and 1% of the value of a commercial property is quite a lot.
For multifamily policies, deductibles are often as high as 5% of the dwelling cost. This means the bar is frequently even higher for insurance to help pay for roofing work such as repairs or a replacement.
Code Upgrades
Beyond storm damage, another expense condo communities often face is the need to upgrade their buildings to keep up with changes to local building codes. These upgrades can be quite expensive, but condo insurance policies typically cap the amount they’re willing to pay to make these upgrades.
While the exact number varies, the limit for code upgrades can be anywhere from 1–10% of the dwelling cost. This will typically leave condo associations fitting much of the bill themselves.
Where HO6 Condo Insurance Comes In
In the event that expenses are incurred in a multifamily property, and insurance won’t be fully covering the cost, it then falls on residents to foot this bill. This is typically done through assessments.
Assessments are used to cover unexpected expenses not covered (or not able to be covered) by the condo or HOA fees a resident of a multifamily building pays each month. These assessments can be significant, unexpected expenses, and difficult for individuals to manage.
This is where HO6 condo insurance can help. HO6 insurance will typically include loss assessment coverage, which kicks in when assessments are levied for costs shared by the condo association.
Invest in Multifamily Roof Maintenance
Unfortunately, we find many condo associations and their residents just aren’t aware of the difficulties of insurance coverage in multifamily roofing—until their roof is damaged and the time comes to foot the bill.
While some expenses will be unavoidable, such as code upgrades and storm damage repairs, investing in multifamily roof maintenance can help mitigate unexpected problems such as leaks and other roofing issues. Multifamily roof maintenance includes ongoing inspections, proactive repairs, and constant monitoring of your roof’s health—preventing expensive issues and ensuring everyone in the condo association knows the state of your roofing system.
Whether you’re a resident in a condo or the owner of a multifamily property, ongoing maintenance is a smart investment that saves money on roofing expenses in the long term. Reach out to the expert roofers at Elite Roofing & Solar to learn more.
