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I moved into a townhome in summer 2020. I just got a letter from the homeowner's association stating that they are claiming insurance from a hail event back in July of 2019 (a year before I moved in). The master insurance deductible is around $2.7k/per member. The association suggests using the required HO-6 policy each member has to pay only their individual deductible ($500 in my case), and the HO-6 policy will pay the remaining $2,200.

Am I making a claim on my HO-6 against

  1. The hail damage itself, or
  2. The usage of the master insurance policy?

I assume that if it is the former, the HO-6 claim would be rejected because the date of the damage was before I moved in (and therefore before my policy took effect) and if the latter, my HO-6 should cover it.

Of course, I will be speaking to the association and my insurance, and I understand it is hard to say if you can't see my specific policy, and all that. But I just want to know if anyone has gone through something similar first.

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  • I am assuming this is the United States. Did the HOA provide any indication that there was an outstanding claim dating back to 2019, and that the responsibility would be transferred from the previous owner? Did existing owners contact their insurance company back in 2019?
    – mhoran_psprep
    Oct 16, 2020 at 14:10
  • Yup, US - tagged appropriately now. This wasn't disclosed by the previous owner. I contacted the HOA and asked if they provided information to the previous owner. I'm still waiting on a response. Now I'm wondering if this is one of million things you need to ask an HOA before buying.
    – Yoshiyahu
    Oct 16, 2020 at 16:07

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I am surprised it wasn't in the financial disclosure packet from the HOA.

A long time ago when I lived in a condo, there was dispute between the community and builder over leaks into some of the units due to problems with the balcony for each upper unit.

The dispute lasted years and all units would be charged for the repairs if the builder wouldn't pay for them. In the final stages of the dispute the HOA had to disclose the obligation of each owner to pay for the repairs. How each buyer/seller addressed the financial obligation I am not clear because I didn't sell at that time.

Even with units that weren't sold in the last year they may find that unless they made a timely claim their insurer might not cover it.

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  • Thank you for bringing attention to the disclosure aspect of this issue. None of this was disclosed, because (per the HOA) the damage was just revealed during a recent inspection and they are blaming the storm a year ago. Now it becomes an interesting conversation with my insurance company.
    – Yoshiyahu
    Oct 17, 2020 at 6:08

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