If you’re living in a condo at Lake of the Ozarks, chances are you’re looking into condo insurance. We get asked often about the responsibilities of condo owners. There’s confusion around what’s insured individually and what’s insured collectively.
With condos having some shared spaces and some individually owned spaces, the confusion owners have is understandable. If you’re a condo owner and want to know how to best protect yourself from disaster or costly damages, it’s important you know how you’re insured and what is your responsibility.
Wall-In vs. All-In Condo Insurance
There are generally two different types of condo insurance at Lake of the Ozarks — wall-in and all-in.
Wall-In coverage refers to everything from your drywall and inward. For example, if your condo catches fire, the association will rebuild the condo up until your drywall only. After that, you would be responsible for paying for the damages inside your condo’s drywall. That damage would include anything to your floors, lighting fixtures, cabinetry, and more. If you have wall-in insurance, it would kick in to cover the portion of the loss that happens inside your walls.
All-In coverage refers to when the condo covers everything inside and outside of your condo, but only up to the base level. That means that your condo’s coverage will repay the minimum amount for what was there when the condo was initially built. Any improvements or betterments that you’ve made over the years would not be covered. For example, if you swapped out oak cabinets in your condo for custom cabinets, you would be responsible for paying the difference between the base and the betterment you made.
If you’re not sure the type of coverage your condo has in place, it’s important to find out so you can be properly insured against loss. While you don’t have a choice on which type of coverage your condo uses — walls in or all-in — you do have a choice of what you add on to complement the condo’s policy and cover the inside of your dwelling.
Who Covers the Rest of the Condo?
When a part of the common area of the condo is damaged, it’s possible that a condo association will ask for each unit owner to pay an assessment. These payments cover the costs of the loss based on the portion you own. For example, if you are in a condo with 10 equal-sized units, you’d be responsible for paying for 10% of those damages.
Loss assessment can sometimes be included in condo policies. In other instances, it’s additional coverage that you can add to your insurance to protect you from these types of damages. It’s important to talk to an insurance agent at Lake of the Ozarks to know what you’re covered for on your specific policy.
It’s important to note that loss assessment only covers perilous events, such as fire, flood, vandalism, and others. It does not cover basic upgrades or maintenance. Even if you get the additional loss assessment coverage, you could still be responsible for some condo assessments.
Getting Condo Insurance in Lake of the Ozarks
Condo insurance in Lake of the Ozarks can get confusing, especially as you navigate the condo’s insurance policy against your own. Talking to an insurance agent can help calm the confusion and help you get the level of insurance you want. Contact us today to request a proposal or set up a conversation with one of our insurance agents to help review your needs.
