Your one stop for condo insurance.
Stop calling agent after agent for one quote each. One call, and a licensed agent shops your HO-6 with several insurance companies, A-rated options included, then lays the offers side by side. You pick.
You are in the right place. Keep reading for the answer, or call and let the shopping start now.
Townhouse and townhome owners in an HOA
Townhouse Insurance
The licensed agent behind this site settles townhouse insurance by reading how the property is legally set up. A condominium townhouse whose building sits on the association's master policy usually needs an HO-6; a townhouse on your own lot, with an HOA that insures only shared areas, usually needs a whole-home form such as an HO-3.
That legal setup, not the shared walls, is also what separates townhouse insurance from condo insurance. Below: how statutes draw the line, what lenders expect and how to find your form in your own papers.
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Oceanfront mid-rise building and beach houses at Wrightsville Beach, NC. Photo: DiscoA340, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Townhouse vs condo insurance: ownership sets the policy
Townhouse describes the building. Condominium or planned community describes what you own, and the policy follows what you own.
- Condo townhouse: a unit plus a shared interest
- HOA townhouse: usually a lot and the house on it
- Identical buildings can be set up either way
In a condominium you own your unit and, together with every other owner, an undivided share of the common elements. Because much of the structure is shared property, the association often insures it, and your HO-6 fills in around that policy.
In a planned community, the arrangement most people simply call an HOA, you usually hold title to your lot and the home standing on it. The association owns the pool, the entry and the green space, and its insurance usually stays with those.
Two matching rows of townhomes can call for two different policies.
Go deeper: why a listing that says condo or townhome proves nothing
Listings, neighbors and even closing paperwork use townhouse, townhome and condo loosely. A developer may set attached homes up as a condominium in one project and as lots in a planned community in the next. Only the recorded declaration and your deed show which one you bought.
Washington's insurance regulator treats condo or townhome insurance as cover for the owner of a single unit in a condo or townhome community, sitting beside the community's master policy, with the governing documents setting how much of the structure the owner insures1.
That framing travels well: the documents, not the label on the listing, tell you how much of the building is yours to insure.
See where three states draw the condo and HOA line
State law defines a condominium and an HOA community in separate places, and each definition leads to a different insurance job.
- North Carolina: two acts, two insurance sections
- Virginia: a condo act and a property owners' act
- Illinois: one definition that names townhomes
The test that keeps coming up is who holds the shared property. In a condominium the owners hold it together. In an HOA community the association holds it, and owners hold their own lots.
| State | Condominium | HOA or planned community |
|---|---|---|
| North Carolina | Not a condominium unless the unit owners hold the undivided interests in the common elements2 (N.C. Gen. Stat. 47C-1-103(7)2) | Owning a lot binds you, under a declaration, to share costs such as insurance for other lots or common property; a condominium is not a planned community, though it can sit inside one3 (N.C. Gen. Stat. 47F-1-103(23)3) |
| Virginia | Property becomes a condominium by recording condominium instruments, and only when the owners hold the undivided interests in the common elements4 (Va. Code Ann. 55.1-19004) | The Property Owners' Association Act covers lots and common areas whose owners must belong and pay assessments, and its meaning of declaration leaves out condominium declarations5 (Va. Code Ann. 55.1-18005) |
| Illinois | A unit is the part of the property meant for independent use, and the common elements are everything except the units6 (765 ILCS 605/26) | A common interest community is real estate other than a condominium or cooperative where owners pay toward common areas an association runs, and it can include an attached or detached townhome7 (765 ILCS 160/1-57) |
Each state page goes further: North Carolina, Virginia and Illinois.
Go deeper: a condominium can sit inside an HOA community
The North Carolina definition above allows for a layered setup that turns up in many places: a condo building, or a row of condo townhomes, inside a larger planned community. You may then pay two associations, one carrying a policy on your building and one insuring the shared amenities.
Lenders draw the same distinction. Fannie Mae's guide says a unit legally created as part of a condo or co-op cannot count as a PUD unit, and zoning alone does not make a project a PUD8.
Know what your townhouse documents make you insure
Condo documents usually put the building on the association's policy. HOA documents usually leave the house to you.
- Condo: you insure what the master policy leaves
- HOA: you often insure the whole house
- Either way, read the insurance article
Condominium townhouse: the master policy reaches in
North Carolina's condo act has the association's property policy include the units where reasonably available, leaving out improvements and betterments owners install9. Your HO-6 picks up the rest.
Planned community townhouse: common areas only
North Carolina's planned community act requires property and liability insurance on the common elements; set beside the condo act, it has no matching line that pulls the lots into the association's policy10. The house is usually yours.
Townhouse forms a regulator names
North Carolina's insurance department lists the Broad, Special and Comprehensive homeowners forms for a single family dwelling or townhouse, and the unit-owners form for a condominium11.
On a condominium townhouse, Coverage A is sized to the slice of the unit the documents leave you. On a lot-based townhouse, dwelling coverage rebuilds the whole home, often including your side of a shared wall.
Go deeper: Illinois, Virginia and older North Carolina condos
In Illinois, a condominium association's property policy has to cover the common elements and the units, bare walls, floors and ceilings included unless the board decides otherwise12. A townhouse community created under that act carries the rule with it.
Virginia's condo act does not require a master property policy on its own; it lets the condominium instruments require the association to carry one13. A Virginia condo townhouse owner needs those instruments in hand before choosing a form.
North Carolina's current condo act covers condominiums created after October 1, 1986, and older ones remain under the earlier Unit Ownership Act14, so an older condo townhouse there may follow a different insurance rule.
Master policy or common-areas policy: learn which your HOA carries
An association policy on your building and one on the clubhouse look the same on a dues statement. They lead to different forms.
- Ask for the certificate, not the budget line
- Look for residential buildings as covered property
- Note the deductible and who owes it
Ask the manager for the association's certificate or summary of insurance. On a condo master policy, covered property usually lists the residential buildings, often with a valuation basis and a deductible. A common-areas policy usually lists amenities, such as a pool or clubhouse, plus general liability.
If the certificate names your building, ask how far into the home it reaches. If it names only amenities, plan to insure the house yourself.
Go deeper: what to ask the association in writing
- Does the property coverage include the residential structures, and if so, roofs, exterior walls, interior walls, or some mix?
- Is it written at replacement cost, and what deductible applies to each kind of loss?
- Does the declaration make owners pay the deductible, or pay for damage that starts in their home?
- Which parts of the home, if any, must the owner insure?
The condo master insurance policy guide covers requesting and reading the policy. Where a deductible can be passed to owners, your share is what loss assessment coverage is for.
Buying a Virginia condo townhouse? The resale certificate must describe the association's insurance, name any coverage owners are told or required to carry, and warn that the documents may leave an owner with all or part of a deductible15.
Know what your lender expects: condo rules or PUD rules
Mortgage rules split townhouses the way the law does, and the lender's category often points to the form.
- Condo project: a master policy on the structures
- PUD: usually a policy on each home
- Ask which category your loan uses
For a condo project, Fannie Mae's guide requires a master policy on the common elements and residential structures unless the project documents require each unit to carry its own16 (Fannie Mae Selling Guide B7-3-0316).
For a PUD, the guide wants an individual policy on each home unless the project documents provide a master policy covering both the common elements and the residential structures17.
PUD, short for planned unit development, is the lending term for many HOA communities that are not condominiums.
Go deeper: when a condo townhouse loan still needs your own policy
In a condo, the guide still asks the borrower for a unit owners policy when the master policy leaves out any part of the unit interior or improvements, or uses a per-unit deductible18 (Fannie Mae Selling Guide B7-3-0418).
The amount it asks for is the greater of what it takes to restore the uncovered interior and improvements, or the master policy's per-unit deductible19.
Other loan programs set their own terms, so get your lender's wording in writing. Closing teams' usual requests are on the realtors and lenders page.
Townhome insurance, HO-3 or HO-6: find your form in four steps
You can usually settle the form question at the kitchen table with papers you already have or can request.
- The deed shows what you bought
- The declaration shows who insures what
- The certificate shows what the HOA bought
- Read the legal description on your deed. A unit in a named condominium points one way. A lot in a recorded subdivision plat points the other.
- Check the title of the declaration. A declaration of condominium and a declaration of covenants, conditions and restrictions are different documents with different insurance articles.
- Open the insurance article. Note who must insure the buildings, the roof and exterior, and the interior, and who carries the deductible.
- Match it to the certificate. Confirm the association's policy covers what the declaration says it should. If they disagree, ask the board which governs before you buy.
Go deeper: signs your townhouse is a condominium, and signs it is not
Leans condominium:
- The deed conveys a unit plus a share of the common elements
- Your dues carry a line for insurance on the buildings
- Recorded plans show unit boundaries drawn inside buildings
Leans planned community:
- The deed conveys a lot with its own boundary lines
- The association's certificate lists only amenities and liability
- Your tax bill treats the lot and house as one parcel
None of these settles it alone. Read them together, and when they point different ways, treat the setup as mixed.
Mixed setups: the HOA insures the roof, you own the lot
Some townhouse documents split the building between owner and association. These are the cases where no form fits cleanly.
- HOA insures exteriors of lot-based homes
- Condo owners told to insure their own buildings
- Shared roofs with split upkeep duties
A frequent mixed case: the community is not a condominium, yet the declaration has the association insure or repair roofs and exteriors. Your policy then needs the interior, your belongings and liability, plus any part of the structure the association leaves out.
The reverse happens too: a condominium whose documents have each owner insure their own building. That owner needs coverage sized to rebuild, even though the deed says unit.
Companies differ on how they write these. Some may quote a homeowners form with the HOA's coverage noted; others may use a unit-owner form with a larger Coverage A. Ask each one.
Go deeper: fences, sheds, open perils and tenants
North Carolina's coverage list for the unit-owners form shows no Coverage B (other structures) line, unlike the homeowners form20. If you alone own a fence, shed or detached garage on a townhouse lot, ask how your form covers it before assuming it does.
A unit-owner form with a large Coverage A may also be widened from named perils to open perils; see unit-owners Coverage A special coverage.
Renting the townhouse to tenants changes the form question again. See rental condo insurance.
Get both forms quoted when the townhouse papers leave doubt
If the documents do not settle it, have each form quoted and lay the answers next to the paperwork.
- An HO-6 and a homeowners form on one home
- Matching contents and liability limits on both
- A quote binds nothing
The agent behind this site reads your deed, declaration and the association's certificate, then asks several companies to quote the form that fits. When the fit is unclear, both forms are quoted with matching contents and liability limits, so the gap shows up in the coverage.
Ask each company which discounts or credits apply to your townhouse. A quote does not bind coverage; a policy starts only after you accept it and it is issued.
Send a quote request with what you have. For a coverage-by-coverage comparison of the two forms, see HO-6 vs HO-3; for the wider picture, condo insurance vs homeowners insurance; for the unit-owner form, the HO-6 insurance guide.
Townhouse insurance questions owners ask
Insurance for a townhouse with an HOA: HO-3 or HO-6?
Neither by default. If the declaration makes your townhouse a condominium unit and the association's policy insures the building, an HO-6 usually fits. If you own the lot and the house and the HOA insures only shared amenities, a homeowners form such as an HO-3 is the usual match. Mixed documents need a closer read.
How is townhouse insurance different from condo insurance?
Condo insurance is a unit-owner policy built to sit on top of an association master policy. Townhouse insurance is not one product; it is whichever form your ownership calls for. A condo townhouse gets condo coverage. A lot-based townhouse in an HOA usually gets a homeowners policy that rebuilds the whole home.
Can I get HO-6 insurance for a townhouse?
Yes, when the townhouse is legally a condominium unit and the association insures the structure. The HO-6 then covers your share of the interior, your belongings and your liability. If the townhouse sits on your own lot and nobody else insures the building, an HO-6 alone could leave the structure uninsured, so check the deed first.
My townhouse community is not a condo, but the HOA handles the shared roof. Which policy fits?
That is a mixed setup. Because you likely own the lot, many companies start from a homeowners form and account for what the association insures. Get the declaration's insurance article and the HOA's certificate, confirm which parts of the structure the association covers, and have both approaches quoted on the same limits.
I have always had an HO-3 on my end-unit townhome, and the HOA sent an insurance letter. Should I switch?
Not until you know what changed. Ask the association whether it is starting, dropping or changing a policy on the buildings, and get the new certificate. If the HOA will now insure the structure, a unit-owner form may fit. If it will not, switching could leave your roof and walls uninsured.
My lender wants betterments and improvements coverage on my townhouse. What is that?
It usually means a unit-owner policy that insures the interior finishes and upgrades the master policy leaves out. Under Fannie Mae's guide, the minimum is the greater of the cost to restore the uncovered interior and improvements or the master policy's per-unit deductible19. Ask the lender for its exact wording.
Does my mortgage escrow pay my HO-6 or the HOA master policy on a townhouse?
When your loan escrows insurance, the servicer usually pays the policy in your own name, whether an HO-6 or a homeowners form. The master policy premium is normally built into the dues you pay the association. Ask your servicer which policy it has on file, and update it if you change forms.
The HOA's master policy is changing. Do I raise the building coverage on my own policy?
Possibly. Get the new certificate and compare it with the old one. If the association is narrowing what it insures, such as moving from interiors to bare walls, or raising its deductible, your Coverage A or loss assessment limit may need to rise. If nothing shifts to you, your limits can stay.
Before you renew, make one call.
A licensed agent compares several companies on the same limits. Asking changes nothing on your policy, and a quote never binds you.