This is the state of the law as of June 2026 on how much a condominium association's master property policy must cover, read against the unit owner's HO-6 form. It covers the Uniform Condominium Act (UCA) and Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act (UCIOA) framework and the § 3-113 statutes of the uniform-act states, plus Louisiana, Texas, Florida, Illinois, and Massachusetts. It is not a complete fifty-state appendix; states not named here should be confirmed against current code before reliance.
What this resolves
A pure "bare walls" master-policy allocation, under which the association insures only common elements up to the unfinished interior surfaces and the owner carries everything inside, is statutorily foreclosed for stacked residential condominiums in the uniform-act states. The operative mechanism is UCA/UCIOA § 3-113(b): whenever a building contains units with horizontal boundaries (stacked units), the association's property insurance "shall include the units, but need not include improvements and betterments installed by unit owners." For residential condominiums that mandate cannot be waived by the declaration. It is a studs-in floor, not full all-in coverage. The whole mandate is also qualified by a "to the extent reasonably available" market-availability clause that runs through every uniform-act provision.
Key findings
1. The conceptual framework
Condominium master-policy allocations fall on a spectrum.
"Bare walls" (also "bare walls-in" or "studs-out"): the association insures common elements and the structure up to the unfinished interior surfaces, meaning the exterior face of the studs and drywall. Everything inside, including drywall finish, fixtures, cabinetry, flooring, and appliances, is the owner's HO-6 responsibility. This was the pre-1980 norm. As Insurance Journal puts it, "Bare wall settlement provisions were the standard before the Uniform Condominium Act of 1980."
"Single entity" or "studs-in": the association insures common elements plus the units, including original fixtures and interior surfaces to original specifications, but not owner upgrades (improvements and betterments). The owner's HO-6 covers I&B and personal property.
"All-in" or "all-inclusive": the association insures all real property, including owner improvements and betterments. The owner's HO-6 covers only personal property and, frequently, loss-assessment and deductible gaps.
"Modified single entity" sits between studs-in and all-in, covering the units but carving out a specified list of interior items (finishes, floor coverings, appliances).
The HO-6 unit-owner policy fills whatever gap the master policy leaves. The broader the master policy, the narrower the HO-6 Coverage A (dwelling/building property) need be.
2. The UCA/UCIOA § 3-113 standard
The uniform model requires the association to maintain, to the extent reasonably available, property insurance on the common elements at not less than 80 percent of replacement cost or actual cash value. Subsection (b) supplies the units mandate: for buildings "containing units having horizontal boundaries described in the declaration" (stacked units), the insurance "shall include the units, but need not include improvements and betterments installed by unit owners." That is a studs-in mandate, not all-in.
The drafters explained the rationale in the official comment, which Insurance Journal quotes as: "Given the great interdependence of the unit owners in the stacked unit condominium situation, mandating property insurance for the entire building is the preferable approach." Insurance Journal observes that this one explanatory sentence "forever transformed condominium association insurance programs." The UCIOA model also addresses waivers of subrogation against unit owners.
3. Hard floor versus default
The variation clause is the dividing line. Under the uniform model, "The declaration may vary the provisions of this section in non-residential condominiums, and may require additional insurance in any community." State analogs follow suit, permitting variation or waiver only where all units are restricted to nonresidential use (for example, N.C. Gen. Stat. § 47C-3-113(i); Wash. Rev. Code § 64.34.352(8)). For residential condominiums the units-coverage mandate is a hard floor: the declaration may add coverage but may not subtract below the statutory minimum, so a pure bare-walls allocation is foreclosed for stacked residential buildings.
Two practical qualifications belong alongside that statement. First, the "reasonably available" clause makes the mandate contingent on the market; if compliant coverage is not reasonably available, the association's duty is to notify owners, not to breach. Second, as the Louisiana and Florida cases below show, courts have enforced declaration-and-notice schemes that allocate interior repair and insuring responsibility to owners, and have declined to read the statute as compelling an insurer to delete policy exclusions. The floor governs what the association must insure; it does not by itself rewrite every policy or override a properly noticed allocation of interior responsibility.
How many states impose the floor
The "14 plus 9 equals 23" tally that circulates in secondary sources does not hold up: it double-counts several states and miscategorizes others. Built from Community Associations Institute (CAI) and Uniform Law Commission (ULC) enactment data, the accurate picture is as follows.
UCIOA states (nine, per CAI): 1982 version, Alaska, Colorado, Minnesota, Nevada, and West Virginia; 2008 version, Connecticut, Delaware, Vermont, and Washington.
UCA (1980) states whose § 3-113 analog imposes a units-coverage floor: Alabama, Louisiana, Maine, Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Texas. (North Carolina's Chapter 47C imposes the same § 3-113 units floor but is UCIOA-derived.)
Three states that secondary lists wrongly fold into the uniform-act group do not belong there:
Arizona did not adopt a uniform act for condominiums. The Arizona Condominium Act (A.R.S. Title 33, Ch. 9) is non-uniform, and its insurance section, A.R.S. § 33-1253, was amended in 2023 (HB 2251) to require property insurance on the common elements and, "if required by the condominium documents, the units." Units coverage is therefore discretionary unless the governing documents compel it. Arizona's UCIOA-style provisions reach planned communities, not condominiums.
Kentucky never enacted the UCA. Condominiums created before 2011 are governed by the Horizontal Property Law (KRS 381.805 to 381.910); condominiums created on or after January 1, 2011 are governed by the Kentucky Condominium Act (KRS 381.9101 et seq.), a UCIOA-derived statute with Kentucky-specific departures. Any floor must be confirmed against the Kentucky-specific insurance analog before reliance.
Virginia enacted a Condominium Act, but its insurance provision is permissive. Va. Code § 55.1-1963 provides that the condominium instruments "may require" a master casualty policy on the structures; there is no horizontal-boundary trigger and no mandatory units-coverage command. The anti-variation rule at § 55.1-1902 bars variation "except as expressly provided," but because the insurance section is itself discretionary, no statutory floor results.
State-by-state detail
Louisiana (studs-in floor). La. R.S. 9:1123.112(A)(1) requires the association to maintain "Property insurance on the common elements and units, exclusive of improvements and betterments installed in units by unit owners," at not less than 80 percent of actual cash value. The act is UCA-derived. A 2019 amendment made the unit owner's policy primary for that owner's betterments and improvements, with the association policy primary for common elements, structural elements and components, and fixtures and improvements not classified as betterments. The statute requires coverage of the units (studs-in) and forecloses pure bare walls, while excluding owner I&B. In State Farm Fire & Cas. Co. v. Chardonnay Village Condominium Ass'n, 171 So. 3d 301 (La. App. 5 Cir. 2015), the court affirmed summary judgment for the association, holding that recorded bylaws and rules, plus actual and constructive notice, validly placed responsibility for insuring the unit interior on the owner consistent with the Act. The case is a useful caution on how the floor operates in practice: it confirms the association's mandatory insuring duty for the units exclusive of I&B, but it also shows that a properly noticed declaration-and-rules scheme allocating interior responsibility to owners will be enforced.
Texas (studs-in floor for stacked buildings). Tex. Prop. Code § 82.111(a)(1) requires property insurance on the insurable common elements at not less than 80 percent of replacement cost or actual cash value. Section 82.111(b) provides: "If a building contains units having horizontal boundaries described in the declaration, the insurance maintained under Subsection (a)(1), to the extent reasonably available, must include the units, but need not include improvements and betterments installed by unit owners." The chapter was added by Acts 1993, 73rd Leg., effective January 1, 1994. Section 82.111 applies retroactively to pre-1994 condominiums: it is one of the sections enumerated in § 82.002(c), which makes listed provisions apply to condominiums whose declarations were recorded before January 1, 1994, but "only with respect to events and circumstances occurring on or after that date" and without invalidating existing declaration provisions. The statute permits variation or waiver only where all units are restricted to nonresidential use. For non-stacked, side-by-side condominiums, only the common elements must be insured under subsection (a)(1).
Florida (all-in minus specified interior items). Fla. Stat. § 718.111(11)(f) requires every property insurance policy issued or renewed on or after January 1, 2009 to provide primary coverage for "All portions of the condominium property as originally installed or replacement of like kind and quality, in accordance with the original plans and specifications," together with alterations approved under § 718.113(2). The coverage "must exclude all personal property within the unit or limited common elements, and floor, wall, and ceiling coverings, electrical fixtures, appliances, water heaters, water filters, built-in cabinets and countertops, and window treatments … which are located within the boundaries of the unit and serve only such unit." This all-in-except-specified-interior-items model is a hard statutory floor. The post-Surfside reforms did not change the (11)(f) allocation: SB 4-D (2022, signed May 26, 2022) and SB 154 (2023) added mandatory milestone structural inspections and Structural Integrity Reserve Studies for buildings three stories or higher, and barred reserve waivers for those structural components as of December 31, 2024, but left the property-insurance allocation untouched. On the interpretive side, Citizens Property Ins. Corp. v. River Manor Condominium Ass'n, 125 So. 3d 846 (Fla. 4th DCA 2013), construing the predecessor allocation then codified at § 718.111(11)(b), held that the statute regulates condominium associations rather than insurers and imposes a best-efforts obligation, so an insurer's policy exclusions did not conflict with the statute. River Manor is therefore both supporting and limiting authority: it confirms the statutory allocation but declines to force deletion of policy exclusions.
Uniform-act states with a studs-in hard floor for stacked residential buildings.
- Maine: Me. Rev. Stat. tit. 33, § 1603-113(b). Units (horizontal boundaries), I&B excluded.
- Rhode Island: R.I. Gen. Laws § 34-36.1-3.13. Same; applies to condominiums created after July 1, 1982.
- Vermont: Vt. Stat. tit. 27A, § 3-113. Same; applies to condominiums created after January 1, 1999. The trigger is broadened to include common-wall vertical boundaries.
- Missouri: Mo. Rev. Stat. § 448.3-113(2). Units (horizontal boundaries), I&B excluded.
- North Carolina: N.C. Gen. Stat. § 47C-3-113(b); subsection (i) allows variation only for all-nonresidential condominiums.
- Pennsylvania: 68 Pa. C.S. § 3312. Common elements and units in subsection (a)(1), horizontal-boundary clause in (b), nonresidential waiver in (h). UCA effective November 1, 1980.
- Nevada: NRS 116.3113(2). Units divided by horizontal or common-wall vertical boundaries, I&B excluded. The Nevada Real Estate Division's Insurance Advisory Opinion 20-03 (April 2, 2020) confirms these requirements are mandatory.
- Colorado: Colo. Rev. Stat. § 38-33.3-313(2). Units but "not the finished interior surfaces of the walls, floors, and ceilings," and need not include I&B (with an increased charge assessed to owners if such coverage is carried).
- Minnesota: Minn. Stat. § 515B.3-113(b). Units and common elements with a detailed carve-out list (ceiling and wall finishing materials, finished flooring, cabinetry, finished millwork, single-unit HVAC and plumbing fixtures, built-in appliances, and other I&B). A modified single-entity model.
- Connecticut: Conn. Gen. Stat. § 47-255(b)(1). The most expansive: for buildings with horizontal boundaries or common-wall vertical boundaries, the insurance "shall include the units, and all improvements and betterments installed by unit owners," unless the declaration limits the association's authority or the executive board decides, after notice and an opportunity for owners to comment, not to insure them. A mandatory all-in default with a structured opt-out (added by P.A. 09-225; two-unit-building exception added by P.A. 11-195). Communities over twelve units that opt out must annually distribute a schedule of standard fixtures and I&B.
- Washington: Wash. Rev. Code § 64.90.470(2) (WUCIOA, effective July 1, 2018; applies to all residential condominiums by January 1, 2028). Units and, "unless provided otherwise in the declaration," all improvements and betterments. An all-in default with opt-out. Older "New Act" condominiums under RCW 64.34.352(1)(a) provide that the insurance "may, but need not" include I&B, a weaker default, variable for all-nonresidential under § 64.34.352(8). Pre-July 1, 1990 "Old Act" condominiums under RCW 64.32.220 have no specified allocation.
Further uniform-act states with the same § 3-113 studs-in floor. Each carries a § 3-113 analog imposing the units mandate for horizontal-boundary buildings, I&B excluded:
- Alaska: Alaska Stat. § 34.08.440(b).
- Alabama: Ala. Code § 35-8A-313(b).
- West Virginia: W. Va. Code § 36B-3-113(b).
- Nebraska: Neb. Rev. Stat. § 76-871.
- New Mexico: N.M. Stat. § 47-7C-13(B).
- Delaware: 25 Del. C. § 81-313(b). The trigger is broadened to include vertical boundaries comprising common walls.
Illinois, non-uniform but mandatory units coverage. 765 ILCS 605/12(a)(1) requires the master policy to insure "the common elements and the units, including the limited common elements and except as otherwise determined by the board of managers, the bare walls, floors, and ceilings of the unit," at full insurable replacement cost. Section 605/12(b) provides that the policy "must include the units" but "need not cover improvements and betterments to the units installed by unit owners." This is a units-coverage mandate that exceeds bare walls. Common elements are defined to include developer-installed fixtures within unfinished interior surfaces but to exclude floor, wall, and ceiling coverings.
Massachusetts, no statutory allocation floor (declaration controls). M.G.L. c. 183A requires fidelity coverage and an adequate replacement reserve fund and references insurance, but it does not impose a studs-in or all-in property allocation. The master deed and bylaws control, and a bare-walls allocation is permissible. Massachusetts typifies the non-uniform states where no statutory floor exists.
Court interpretations
- State Farm Fire & Cas. Co. v. Chardonnay Village Condominium Ass'n, Inc., 171 So. 3d 301 (La. App. 5 Cir. 2015). Interpreting La. R.S. 9:1123.112 on appeal from summary judgment, the court affirmed that the association's mandatory insuring duty covers common elements and units exclusive of owner improvements and betterments, and that recorded bylaws and rules plus statutory notice could validly allocate interior insuring responsibility to owners.
- Citizens Property Ins. Corp. v. River Manor Condominium Ass'n, Inc., 125 So. 3d 846 (Fla. 4th DCA 2013). Construing the allocation then at Fla. Stat. § 718.111(11)(b), the court held the statute regulates condominium associations rather than insurers, imposes a best-efforts obligation, and does not compel an insurer to delete policy exclusions.
- Canner v. Governor's Ridge Ass'n, Inc., 348 Conn. 726, 311 A.3d 173 (2024), aff'd in part, rev'd in part, 210 Conn. App. 632, 270 A.3d 694 (2022). Interpreting Conn. Gen. Stat. § 47-255, the court tied the association's repair duty to its statutory insuring duty, held that foundations excluded from the required insurance carried no corresponding repair duty, and held that the negligent-construction CIOA claims sounded in tort and were time-barred under the three-year statute while the contractual declaration and bylaw repair claims were governed by the six-year contract statute. This is the closest Connecticut high-court authority on the insuring-and-repair allocation; it is not a clean improvements-and-betterments holding.
State-by-state reference table
| State | Primary statute | Floor type | Association must insure | Variation, override & notes | Statutory model |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | Ala. Code § 35-8A-313(b) | Mandatory (studs-in) | Units (horizontal boundaries), I&B excluded | Variation only if all units nonresidential | UCA |
| Alaska | Alaska Stat. § 34.08.440(b) | Mandatory (studs-in) | Units (horizontal boundaries), I&B excluded | Variation only if all units nonresidential | UCIOA (1982) |
| Arizona | A.R.S. § 33-1253 | None (documents control) | Common elements; units only if the condominium documents require | Amended 2023 (HB 2251); the state's UCIOA-style provisions reach planned communities, not condominiums | Non-uniform |
| Colorado | C.R.S. § 38-33.3-313(2) | Mandatory (studs-in) | Units, but not the finished interior surfaces of walls, floors, and ceilings; not I&B | Variation only if all units nonresidential; an increased charge is assessed to owners if I&B coverage is carried | UCIOA (1982) |
| Connecticut | Conn. Gen. Stat. § 47-255(b)(1) | Mandatory (all-in default) | Units plus all owner improvements and betterments | Structured opt-out by declaration limit or board vote (after notice and comment); communities over 12 units that opt out must distribute an annual fixtures/I&B schedule. Added P.A. 09-225; two-unit exception P.A. 11-195 | UCIOA (2008) |
| Delaware | 25 Del. C. § 81-313(b) | Mandatory (studs-in) | Units, I&B excluded | Trigger broadened to vertical common-wall boundaries; variation only if all units nonresidential | UCIOA (2008) |
| Florida | Fla. Stat. § 718.111(11)(f) | Mandatory (all-in minus listed items) | All condominium property as originally installed; excludes personal property and a listed set of interior items (floor/wall/ceiling coverings, electrical fixtures, appliances, water heaters and filters, built-in cabinets and countertops, window treatments) | No declaration variation; exclusion list effective for policies issued or renewed on or after 1/1/2009; post-Surfside SB 4-D (2022) and SB 154 (2023) added structural inspections and reserves only, leaving the allocation untouched | Non-uniform |
| Illinois | 765 ILCS 605/12(a)(1),(b) | Mandatory (units incl. bare walls) | Common elements + units, including the bare walls, floors, and ceilings; not I&B | Board may adjust the interior detail, but units coverage is mandatory; full insurable replacement cost | Non-uniform |
| Kentucky | KRS 381.9101 et seq. (post-2011) | Unconfirmed (post-2011: KCA, analog unverified; pre-2011: Horizontal Property Law, no § 3-113) | Confirm against the Kentucky-specific insurance analog | Post-2011 condominiums fall under the UCIOA-derived Kentucky Condominium Act; pre-2011 condominiums under the Horizontal Property Law (KRS 381.805 et seq.) | UCIOA-derived |
| Louisiana | La. R.S. 9:1123.112(A)(1) | Mandatory (studs-in) | Common elements + units, I&B excluded; at least 80% of actual cash value | No variation for residential; 2019 amendment makes the unit-owner policy primary for that owner's I&B | UCA-derived |
| Maine | Me. Rev. Stat. tit. 33 § 1603-113(b) | Mandatory (studs-in) | Units (horizontal boundaries), I&B excluded | Variation only if all units nonresidential | UCA |
| Massachusetts | M.G.L. c. 183A | None (declaration controls) | Fidelity coverage and an adequate replacement reserve only; property allocation set by the master deed and bylaws | Bare-walls allocation permissible; the master deed and bylaws control | Non-uniform |
| Minnesota | Minn. Stat. § 515B.3-113(b) | Mandatory (modified single-entity) | Units + common elements, with a detailed carve-out list (ceiling/wall finishes, finished flooring, cabinetry, millwork, single-unit HVAC and plumbing fixtures, built-in appliances, other I&B) | Variation only if all units nonresidential | UCIOA (1982) |
| Missouri | Mo. Rev. Stat. § 448.3-113(2) | Mandatory (studs-in) | Units (horizontal boundaries), I&B excluded | Variation only if all units nonresidential | UCA |
| Nebraska | Neb. Rev. Stat. § 76-871 | Mandatory (studs-in) | Units (horizontal boundaries), I&B excluded | Variation only if all units nonresidential (§ (i)) | UCA |
| Nevada | NRS 116.3113(2) | Mandatory (studs-in) | Units divided by horizontal or common-wall vertical boundaries, I&B excluded | Mandatory per NV Real Estate Division Insurance Advisory Opinion 20-03 (2020); added 1991, amended 2011 and 2017; variation only if all units nonresidential | UCIOA (1982) |
| New Mexico | N.M. Stat. § 47-7C-13(B) | Mandatory (studs-in) | Units (horizontal boundaries), I&B excluded | Variation only if all units nonresidential | UCA |
| North Carolina | N.C. Gen. Stat. § 47C-3-113(b) | Mandatory (studs-in) | Units if horizontal boundaries, I&B excluded | Variation only if all units nonresidential (§ (i)) | UCIOA-derived |
| Pennsylvania | 68 Pa. C.S. § 3312(a)(1),(b) | Mandatory (studs-in) | Common elements + units, I&B excluded | Variation only if all units nonresidential (§ (h)); UCA effective 11/1/1980 | UCA |
| Rhode Island | R.I. Gen. Laws § 34-36.1-3.13 | Mandatory (studs-in) | Units (horizontal boundaries), I&B excluded | Applies to condominiums created after 7/1/1982; variation only if all units nonresidential | UCA |
| Texas | Tex. Prop. Code § 82.111(a),(b) | Mandatory (studs-in) | Common elements; units if horizontal boundaries, I&B excluded | Effective 1/1/1994; applies retroactively via § 82.002(c) to events on or after that date; variation only if all units nonresidential | UCA |
| Vermont | Vt. Stat. tit. 27A § 3-113 | Mandatory (studs-in) | Units divided by horizontal or common-wall vertical boundaries, I&B excluded | Applies to condominiums created after 1/1/1999; variation only if all units nonresidential | UCIOA (2008) |
| Virginia | Va. Code § 55.1-1963 | None (permissive) | Permissive only; instruments "may require" structural coverage; no units-coverage command | No horizontal-boundary trigger; the anti-variation rule (§ 55.1-1902) creates no floor because the insurance section is itself discretionary | Non-uniform |
| Washington (WUCIOA) | RCW 64.90.470(2) | Mandatory (all-in default) | Units plus I&B unless the declaration provides otherwise | All-in default with opt-out; waiver if all units nonresidential; effective 7/1/2018, universal by 1/1/2028 | UCIOA (2008) |
| Washington (New Act) | RCW 64.34.352(1)(a) | Default (weak; I&B optional) | Condominium; I&B "may, but need not" be included | Weaker default for pre-WUCIOA condominiums; waiver if all units nonresidential (§ (8)); pre-1990 "Old Act" condominiums (RCW 64.32.220) have no specified allocation | Pre-WUCIOA |
| West Virginia | W. Va. Code § 36B-3-113(b) | Mandatory (studs-in) | Units (horizontal boundaries), I&B excluded | Variation only if all units nonresidential | UCIOA (1982) |
Recommendations
- Triage for attorneys and underwriters. First ask whether the state adopted UCA or UCIOA § 3-113. If yes, and the building has stacked (horizontal-boundary) units, and the condominium is residential, the master policy must insure the units (at least studs-in), and a bare-walls master policy is non-compliant. Confirm the local section number and the variation clause.
- Sort jurisdictions into three buckets. (a) Mandate more than bare walls: the UCA and UCIOA § 3-113 states for residential stacked buildings, Louisiana, Texas (stacked), Florida (all-in minus listed interior items), Illinois, Connecticut (all-in default with opt-out), and current-WUCIOA Washington. (b) Default only or weak: older Washington condominiums under RCW 64.34.352, and uniform-act provisions for non-stacked or all-nonresidential condominiums. (c) No statutory allocation: Massachusetts, Arizona, Virginia, and other non-uniform states where the declaration controls and bare walls is freely permitted.
- Watch the improvements-and-betterments line. Most studs-in statutes exclude owner I&B, so even where the floor applies, owners still need HO-6 building-property coverage for upgrades. Connecticut and current WUCIOA (both by default) and Florida (all-in minus a list) reach further.
- Watch the benchmarks that change the analysis. A change from residential to all-nonresidential use unlocks the variation or waiver clause. A building with only side-by-side units (no horizontal or common-wall boundary) may fall outside the units-coverage trigger in pure-UCA states. WUCIOA's January 1, 2028 universal-applicability date will convert many older Washington communities to the all-in default. In Connecticut, a board opt-out vote plus the annual fixtures schedule signals that the community has stepped down from the all-in default.
- Account for the practice reality. The floor sets what the association must insure; it does not guarantee an outcome. As Chardonnay shows, a properly noticed declaration-and-rules scheme allocating interior responsibility to owners can be enforced, and as River Manor shows, the statute does not compel insurers to delete exclusions. Pair the statutory floor with the actual declaration and the actual policy on every file.
Caveats
- The "reasonably available" qualifier in every uniform-act provision makes the mandate contingent on market availability. If compliant coverage is not reasonably available, the association's duty is to notify owners, not to breach.
- The studs-in floor for stacked buildings excludes owner improvements and betterments in most states. It is not full all-in coverage, except in Connecticut (default), WUCIOA Washington (default), and Florida (all-in minus a specified interior-items list).
- Pre-uniform-act condominiums in several states may be governed by predecessor statutes with weaker or no allocation mandates (for example, Washington RCW 64.32; older Connecticut and Texas Chapter 81 condominiums, except for the enumerated retroactive sections that include Tex. Prop. Code § 82.111).
- Delaware and Vermont broaden the trigger to vertical common-wall boundaries; Colorado and Minnesota modify the standard I&B exclusion. Read the local subsection, not the model.
Sources
Primary sources (statutes and official materials):
- UCIOA model text and comments: https://suglaw.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/UniformCommonInterestOwnershipAct.pdf
- La. R.S. 9:1123.112 (Louisiana Condominium Act, insurance)
- Tex. Prop. Code § 82.111: https://law.justia.com/codes/texas/property-code/title-7/chapter-82/subchapter-c/section-82-111/
- Tex. Prop. Code § 82.002 (applicability): https://codes.findlaw.com/tx/property-code/prop-sect-82-002/
- Fla. Stat. § 718.111(11)(f)
- 765 ILCS 605/12: https://law.justia.com/codes/illinois/chapter-765/act-765-ilcs-605/
- 68 Pa. C.S. § 3312: https://codes.findlaw.com/pa/title-68-pacsa-real-and-personal-property/pa-csa-sect-68-3312/
- Conn. Gen. Stat. § 47-255: https://law.justia.com/codes/connecticut/title-47/chapter-828/section-47-255/
- NRS 116.3113: https://law.justia.com/codes/nevada/chapter-116/statute-116-3113/
- RCW 64.90.470: https://app.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=64.90.470
- RCW 64.34.352: https://app.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?Cite=64.34.352
- Me. Rev. Stat. tit. 33 § 1603-113: https://legislature.maine.gov/statutes/33/title33sec1603-113.html
- Va. Code § 55.1-1963: https://law.justia.com/codes/virginia/title-55-1/chapter-19/section-55-1-1963/
- Nevada Real Estate Division, Insurance Advisory Opinion 20-03: https://red.nv.gov/uploadedFiles/rednvgov/Content/Publications/Division_Advisory_Opinions/Insurance%20Advisory%20Opinion%2020-03.pdf
Case opinions:
- Canner v. Governor's Ridge Ass'n, Inc., 348 Conn. 726 (2024): https://www.jud.ct.gov/external/supapp/Cases/AROcr/CR348/CR348.14.pdf
- Citizens Property Ins. Corp. v. River Manor Condominium Ass'n, Inc., 125 So. 3d 846 (Fla. 4th DCA 2013): https://caselaw.findlaw.com/court/fl-district-court-of-appeal/1627873.html
- State Farm Fire & Cas. Co. v. Chardonnay Village Condominium Ass'n, Inc., 171 So. 3d 301 (La. App. 5 Cir. 2015)
Industry commentary:
- Insurance Journal, "Condo Insurance Requirements Not Cookie-Cutter" (June 30, 2008)
Frequently asked questions
Does a condominium association have to insure more than "bare walls"?
In the uniform-act states, yes, for stacked residential buildings. Under UCA/UCIOA § 3-113(b), whenever a building contains units with horizontal boundaries, the association's property insurance "shall include the units, but need not include improvements and betterments installed by unit owners." That is a studs-in floor, not full all-in coverage, and for residential condominiums it cannot be waived by the declaration.
What is the difference between bare-walls, studs-in, and all-in condominium coverage?
Bare-walls (studs-out): the association insures common elements and the structure only up to the unfinished interior surfaces; everything inside is the owner's HO-6 responsibility. Studs-in (single entity): the association also insures the units, including original fixtures and interior surfaces, but not owner improvements and betterments. All-in: the association insures all real property, including owner improvements, and the HO-6 covers mainly personal property and loss-assessment gaps.
Which states require all-in condominium coverage, including owner improvements?
Three reach beyond studs-in. Connecticut (Conn. Gen. Stat. § 47-255) makes all-in including owner improvements and betterments the default, subject to a structured opt-out. Current-WUCIOA Washington (RCW 64.90.470) also makes all-in the default unless the declaration provides otherwise. Florida (Fla. Stat. § 718.111(11)(f)) requires coverage of all condominium property as originally installed, minus a listed set of interior items.
Is a bare-walls master policy ever allowed?
Yes. It is permissible in non-uniform states with no statutory allocation (such as Massachusetts, Arizona, and Virginia), in buildings with only side-by-side units and no horizontal boundary in pure-UCA states, in all-nonresidential condominiums where the variation clause unlocks, and where compliant coverage is not reasonably available (in which case the association's duty is to notify owners, not to breach).
Does the studs-in floor cover a unit owner's improvements and betterments?
In most states, no. The § 3-113 mandate "need not include improvements and betterments installed by unit owners," so owners still need HO-6 building coverage for their upgrades. The exceptions are Connecticut and current-WUCIOA Washington (both all-in by default) and Florida (all-in minus a specified interior-items list).
Does the floor apply to non-stacked, side-by-side condominiums?
In the pure-UCA and UCIOA states, no. The units-coverage mandate is triggered by horizontal boundaries (stacked units, and in some states common-wall vertical boundaries). A condominium of side-by-side units with no such boundary falls outside the trigger, and only the common elements must be insured. Florida and Illinois, by contrast, mandate units coverage regardless of stacking.