Washington condo and townhome insurance
Two different Washington statutes govern condo associations, and they place different property-insurance duties on the association. Which one applies to your building decides what your own policy has to pick up.
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Three things to settle before you buy a Washington condo policy
- 1
Find out which statute your association was formed under
Associations created on or after 1 July 2018 generally fall under the Washington Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act, RCW 64.90. Older ones sit under the 1989 Condominium Act, RCW 64.34, or under the even older Horizontal Property Regimes Act. The property-insurance duties differ between them. Ask the manager which statute governs your association, then read the master policy rather than the summary page.
- 2
Bare walls and all-in are not the same purchase
A bare-walls master policy stops at the unfinished structure, leaving cabinets, flooring, fixtures and built-ins to you. An all-in policy reaches the original finishes but not your upgrades. Your dwelling limit on an HO-6 has to be set against whichever line the master policy actually draws, and that is a document question, not a guess.
- 3
The master policy deductible can land on your unit
Large-building deductibles can run into five and six figures, and governing documents often allow the association to charge the deductible to the unit where the loss started. A burst supply line in your kitchen can therefore produce a bill with your name on it. Loss assessment coverage on your own policy is what answers that, and the default limit is usually far too small.
Water is the claim, in every Washington building
Supply lines, washing-machine hoses, water heaters and failed shower pans cause more condo claims in this state than fire and wind combined. Damage running downward into two other units turns one failure into three claims and a conversation about who pays the master deductible. A water heater past ten years old and braided-steel hoses on the washer are the two cheapest things you can fix before a renewal.
High-rise, mid-rise, and converted
Downtown Seattle and Bellevue towers, Tacoma warehouse conversions and three-story walk-ups in Spokane underwrite differently. Sprinklers, the age of the plumbing stack, whether the building has had a reconstruction project, and whether the association is in litigation all show up in the questions. A converted building with original plumbing behind new finishes is a different risk from a 2019 tower, whatever the finishes look like.
Earthquake, for a unit owner
The association may or may not carry earthquake on the structure, and if it does not, nobody is insuring the building you live in against the fault beneath it. Unit-owner earthquake coverage exists and typically covers your interior, your belongings and loss assessment arising from a quake. Ask the association what it carries before you decide whether you need it.
Documents to have in hand
The association should give you all of these on request. The master policy itself is the one that matters.
- The declaration page of the association master policy, not the summary
- The master policy deductible, and whether the documents allow charging it to a unit
- Whether the master policy is bare walls or all-in
- Whether the association carries earthquake on the structure
- The statute the association was formed under — RCW 64.90, 64.34 or earlier
- Any special assessment voted in or pending
- The year of the plumbing stack and of your own water heater
Frequently asked questions
What does an HO-6 condo policy cover?
Your belongings, your liability, your interior finishes and improvements to the extent the master policy does not cover them, loss of use if the unit becomes uninhabitable, and loss assessment. The association insures the building to whatever line its own policy draws.
Who pays if my dishwasher floods the unit below?
Your liability and the master policy interact, and the governing documents usually decide where the master deductible lands. This is where loss assessment coverage earns its place on the policy.
Does a townhome need a condo policy or a homeowners policy?
It depends on ownership rather than architecture. If you own the structure and the land it sits on, that is a homeowners policy. If you own the interior and an association owns the building, that is a condo policy, even where it looks like a row of houses.
How much loss assessment coverage should I carry?
Enough to meet the master policy deductible your documents could charge you, which is a number you can read rather than estimate. The default limit written into many policies was set long before building deductibles reached their current size.
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