HO-6 in Doral and Brickell: walls-in coverage after the master policy

Some associations insure the building down to the bare walls. Improvements, flooring, cabinets, and your contents are yours. Other associations go further — “walls-in” or “all-in” — and pick up more of the unit. You cannot guess which from the lobby. You read the master declarations and the bylaws, or you send them to us.

HO-6 Coverage A (dwelling) has to fill whatever the master does not. If you renovated the unit in 2022 and the master is bare walls, your kitchen is your limit, not the association’s.

When the building has a claim that exceeds the master, or a deductible the association passes through, unit owners get assessed. HO-6 loss-assessment coverage is the line that responds to some of those bills — not all of them, and not unlimited. Hurricane deductibles on master policies can be enormous when split across a tower.

We raise loss assessment when the building is older, when the master deductible is a percentage, or when the association just completed a milestone inspection and the reserve conversation got loud. Cheap HO-6 with $2,000 in loss assessment is a decoration on a Brickell assessment.

Florida’s post-Surfside rules changed how associations inspect and fund reserves. That is a building problem that becomes a unit-owner insurance problem: master premiums up, assessments up, some carriers leaving older buildings, some lenders asking questions. We cannot fix the concrete. We can place an HO-6 that still binds while the association does its work.

If your building is in the news, tell us before we submit. Markets hate surprises. They will take a documented story over a hidden one.

Your furniture, bikes in the storage cage if scheduled correctly, and personal liability live on the HO-6. When a pipe in the unit above opens up, the master, their HO-6, and yours can all get involved. Your contents are still your contents. Loss of use — a hotel while the unit dries — is an HO-6 conversation, not a hope.

Condo liability is easy to underbuy. A claim in a shared hallway still finds the unit owner. We do not quote $100,000 liability in a tower. $300,000 or $500,000 is the starting adult number, then an umbrella if the rest of the household can support it.

Master policy declarations, the HO-6 you have now, a unit A/B/C inventory if you have upgrades, and the association’s latest insurance certificate. If you are closing, the lender’s HO-6 requirements and the closing date. We quote to the close, not to a brochure.

HO-6 quotes through our home market tool when the form fits. If the building is non-standard, an advisor takes it. Either path, you leave with the gap named.