After a Condo fire: What’s Covered and By Whose Policy?
Living in a condo has lots of perks such as shared yard care, snow removal, and community amenities, but what happens if there’s a house fire? Living in a home attached to your neighbors means you need to worry about your own disasters as well as your neighbors’. Having to worry about someone else’s problems (as well as your own) can make for a stressful situation. This is what insurance is for.
Thanks to your sometimes large HomeOwners’ Association dues, the development carries insurance that covers some of your property as well. This is where it can get confusing... who covers what? It is always important to have a copy of your condo association’s bylaws and insurance policy to go over with your own insurance agent. This way you can reduce your costs by making sure you get a policy that covers only what you need without overlapping with the association’s policy. There is a shared responsibility when living in this type of housing, and you need to know what is yours and what isn’t.
Typically, insurance coverage depends on where the fire originated. If it is in your home, most of the responsibility falls to you. This usually goes for the interior of the home and your belongings. In many shared living communities, the exterior of the home is covered by the association’s policy and is even “owned” by them. This is one of the reasons you can’t choose your own house color or even the type of front door you can install.
If the fire starts in someone else’s home, chances are, your own homeowners' policy will compensate you directly for the damages and look to your neighbors’ and association’s policies to compensate them for losses. Most often your insurance adjuster will seek your permission to work directly with the other companies’ agents, saving you from doing it on your own.
House fires are stressful enough. Be sure to understand your policy so you can be prepared if disaster strikes. Call the team at A GRADE Property Restoration for a free consultation today at 973-4REPAIR, we are always here to help you every step of the way! #CallTheTwins
