coverage for roof repairs under home & condo policies?

by Guest » Sat Feb 23, 2013 10:40 am
Guest

Under which circumstances are roof repairs covered by a standard home insurance policy? For the condominiums, does association;s insurance pay for roof repairs or one has to claim against his personal condo policy?

Total Comments: 8

Posted: Sat Feb 23, 2013 02:50 pm Post Subject:

Depends 100% on how the HOA Agreement is written.

Posted: Sun Feb 24, 2013 07:43 am Post Subject:

In most cases, the HOA is responsible for everything from the inside walls out, including the roof. Most CC&Rs discuss how the HOA will replace the roof (the covering materials) every 20-25 years.

Where your HO-6 policy would come into play is when you are negligent and cause damage to the HOA's portion of the structure -- such as a fire you caused that gets into the attic space and damages the roof.

Posted: Mon Feb 25, 2013 09:12 am Post Subject:

If a leak is caused and damages property of the owner below, whose condo policy will be held liable to pay? Or is it the master policy that will cover the damages?

Posted: Tue Feb 26, 2013 02:10 am Post Subject:

Depends on where the leak originated. You don't provide the necessary details, so there is no way to answer the question until you do. Did the leak occur inside the upstairs unit (as in underneath the kitchen sink, or from the ice maker of the refrigerator-freezer), or inside the walls of the upstairs unit due to a sudden bursting of a pipe, or in the subfloor between the upstairs and downstairs units?

Posted: Tue Feb 26, 2013 09:59 am Post Subject:

It's caused by a bathtub water pipe from the condo unit above mine, which was leaking. There is considerable ceiling and floor damage.

Posted: Tue Feb 26, 2013 01:10 pm Post Subject:

That is a maintenance issue, which itself (the cost of repairing the leaking drain pipe) is not going to be covered by any of the policies mentioned. The water damage is payable by your insurance policy -- the one covering the unit that suffered the damage. Had the damage been caused by a water supply pipe that burst, either the HOA or the upstairs unit owner could be responsible (often depends on which wall is involved -- interior or exterior -- according to the CC&Rs).

Behind the scenes, the insurance company that pays your claim may pursue "subrogation" against one or both of the other insurance companies involved -- but that's not your worry, except that if they do, you should get your deductible back. You can try filing a claim against the other two parties' insurance companies, but they are both likely to deny coverage because it does not appear that any negligence is involved. (If the "leak" was not sudden and catastrophic, there should have been "signs" of the problem along the way.)

You could also try suing the HOA or the upstairs unit owner for your deductible, but there is probably no negligence to be found, which renders such a suit moot (the same reason a claim would be denied). But if a court found negligence involved, then the outcome would be different, and the negligent party held responsible.

I just don't see that happening when a drain pipe is involved. Those are usually made of cast iron and that stuff is pretty bullet-proof. Then again, if faulty building materials are involved, then the HOA assumes liability.

When they tear open the ceiling to replace the drywall, the problem will be fixed. That's not your responsibility. It's also possible that when the ceiling is opened for repairs the cause of the damage to your unit will be revealed and someone other than you/your insurance company may be responsible. The cost to repair that leaking pipe (which can be more easily done when you are replacing your ceiling's drywall) should be the responsibility of the HOA because it is inside the walls/subfloor, but the CC&Rs may say something else about that, too, and that's the controlling document.

That's the trouble with living in a condo -- in exchange for the right to occupy lower cost living quarters in a shared-wall structure, you must accept all of the CC&Rs, some of which are never in your favor.

Posted: Wed Feb 27, 2013 01:02 pm Post Subject:

Depends on agreement and quotation your home insurance company has offered to you. Before investing try to compare multiple quotes and clear everything that you wanted to have in agreement. You can compare multiple quotations from iqhomeinsurance.com easily.

Posted: Wed Feb 27, 2013 04:21 pm Post Subject:

Coverage has nothing to do with the amount paid for it. In other words, if you pay $100 for a policy that provides $100,000 in protection, and your neighbor pays $1000 for $100,000 in protection, your neighbor doesn't get ten times more money for a loss than you do. The statement above is a misrepresentation.

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