HO-6 Condo Insurance vs Your HOA Master Policy in California: Who Covers What
Your HOA master policy and your HO-6 split the condo between them. The dividing line lives in the master policy, and a lot of owners find out where it sits the hard way.
Your HOA master policy and your HO-6 condo policy cover two different things, and together they are supposed to cover the whole unit. The master policy handles the building structure and common areas. Your HO-6 handles the inside of your unit, your personal property, your personal liability, loss of use, and loss assessment. The exact line between them depends on what kind of master policy your HOA bought, so you have to read it to know who pays for your kitchen cabinets.
What does an HO-6 condo policy actually cover?
An HO-6 is the unit owner's policy. It covers the inside of your unit (think improvements, fixtures, flooring, and cabinets, depending on where the master policy stops), your personal property, your personal liability, loss of use if you cannot live there, and loss assessment coverage for your share of certain HOA charges. It is the piece the master policy does not handle.
I find it helps to picture the master policy as the outer shell and the HO-6 as everything you would not take with you if you moved out but the HOA also does not insure. That gray zone is bigger than most buyers expect. Your dwelling coverage on an HO-6 (sometimes called Coverage A on a condo form) pays to rebuild the interior, and the amount you need depends entirely on where your master policy draws its line.
Here is the rough split:
- Dwelling/interior: walls, floors, built-in cabinets, countertops, and upgrades, up to wherever the master policy hands off to you.
- Personal property: furniture, clothes, electronics, the contents of your closets.
- Personal liability: if someone is hurt inside your unit, or you cause damage that flows to a neighbor.
- Loss of use: hotel and extra living costs while your unit is being repaired after a covered loss.
- Loss assessment: your share when the HOA assesses owners for a covered loss or the master policy deductible.
What does the HOA master policy cover?
The master policy covers the building structure and the common areas. That usually means the roof, exterior walls, hallways, the lobby, the pool, the elevators, and the shared systems. What it does not always cover is the inside of your specific unit, and that is the part people miss. How far inside it reaches is the whole question.
Common areas are easy. Almost every master policy covers the parts of the property that belong to everyone. The harder question is your unit. Some master policies stop at the studs and bare framing. Some carry the original interior the builder installed. Some cover almost everything inside. You cannot guess this from the outside, and two condos on the same street can have completely different master policies. The only way to know is to pull the master policy declarations and read how it defines the unit.
Where is the dividing line between the two policies?
The dividing line depends on the master policy type. There are three common kinds: bare walls, walls-in (also called single entity), and all-in. Each one hands you a different amount of the unit's interior to insure yourself. Read your master policy to find which one you have, because the words matter more than the label.
Here is how the three usually break down. These are general descriptions, and your actual master policy controls, so use this as a map and not a ruling.
| Master policy type | HOA covers | You cover on the HO-6 |
|---|---|---|
| Bare walls | The structure up to the bare wall studs and subfloor | Everything inside: drywall, flooring, cabinets, fixtures, all upgrades |
| Walls-in / single entity | The structure plus original interior finishes the builder installed | Your upgrades, your personal property, and often your improvements |
| All-in | The structure plus most interior fixtures, sometimes including some upgrades | Mostly personal property, liability, and loss assessment |
A label like "walls-in" tells you the general idea, but the policy language tells you the truth. I have read master policies that called themselves one thing and then carved out exceptions in the fine print. So when you send me a master policy, I am reading the actual definition of "unit" and the property covered section, not the cover sheet.
Say a pipe bursts in the unit above you and floods your kitchen. You assume the HOA covers it because it is the building. Then you read the master policy and it is bare walls. The HOA pays to dry out and replace the structure up to the studs. Your custom cabinets, the quartz counter, the wide-plank floor you put in two years ago, and the new appliances are all on you. If your HO-6 dwelling limit is too low, you cover the difference out of pocket. That gap can run into the tens of thousands, and the first time most owners hear about it is during a claim.
Why does my mortgage lender require an HO-6?
Lenders generally require an HO-6 (they often call it walls-in coverage) before they will close a condo loan, because the master policy does not protect the interior they are lending against. Many lenders set a minimum dwelling limit, often a percentage of the unit value, commonly cited around 20 percent. Confirm your lender's exact number, since it varies.
The lender's logic is simple. They have a security interest in your unit, and if the master policy is bare walls, a fire or flood inside could wipe out the value of what they financed with nothing to rebuild it. So they want proof you carry interior coverage. The 20 percent figure shows up a lot, but I have seen lenders ask for more or for a specific dollar amount, and I have seen the number tied to how much interior the master policy already covers. Get the requirement in writing from your loan officer, and then we size the HO-6 to clear it and to actually cover your unit, which are not always the same number.
One thing worth saying plainly: meeting the lender minimum is the floor, not the goal. If your master policy is bare walls and you have a fully renovated unit, the lender minimum might still leave you underinsured. The point of the policy is to rebuild your interior, so we work backward from what that would cost.
What is loss assessment coverage and why does it matter?
Loss assessment coverage in your HO-6 pays your share when the HOA assesses all unit owners for a covered loss that runs above the master policy limits, or for the master policy deductible. If the building has a large claim and the HOA bills every owner a few thousand dollars to cover the gap, this coverage can step in for your portion, up to the limit you carry.
This one is easy to overlook because it sounds small until it is not. Master policy deductibles on California condo buildings can be large, sometimes tens of thousands of dollars, and the HOA can spread that cost across owners. If a covered loss exceeds the master policy's limit, owners can get assessed for the overage too. Your loss assessment coverage is the piece of the HO-6 that catches your share. The default limit on many policies is modest, so I usually check whether it should be raised based on your HOA's deductible and the size of the building. We cover loss assessment in more depth here: condo loss assessment coverage in California.
What about earthquake coverage for my condo?
Earthquake is usually excluded from the HOA master policy, so it is usually excluded from the standard HO-6 too. If you want your unit's interior and contents covered for a quake, you generally need separate earthquake coverage. The HOA may or may not carry building earthquake on the structure, and that is a separate question you should ask directly.
In California this matters more than it does almost anywhere else. Two coverage questions sit side by side. First, does the HOA carry earthquake on the building? Many do not, because it is expensive, which means the structure itself could be uninsured for a quake. Second, do you carry earthquake on your unit's interior and personal property? That is a separate policy or endorsement you buy for the HO-6. Neither one covers the other. So I tell condo owners to ask the HOA in writing whether the master policy includes earthquake, and then decide separately whether to add it to the unit. You can read more about how master policy types interact with all of this here: HOA master policy bare walls vs walls-in in California.
How do I figure out my own split?
Start with the master policy, not the HO-6. Find the master policy type, read how it defines your unit, note the master policy deductible, and check whether it carries earthquake. Then size your HO-6 to cover everything the master policy leaves to you, clear your lender's minimum, and set a loss assessment limit that fits your building. The master policy is the document that decides everything.
If you are buying and still working through closing, the timing of all this matters too, since the lender needs the HO-6 in place before you fund. I walk through that sequence here: when do I need homeowners insurance before closing in California.
If you want a real answer instead of a guess, send me your HOA master policy (the full declarations, not just the certificate) along with your unit details: square footage, whether you have renovated, and what your lender is asking for. I will read where the master policy stops, find your bare-walls gap if there is one, and size the HO-6 so the inside of your unit is actually covered when it counts.