Massachusetts condominium associations
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A condominium master policy insures the building and the association's liability, and it is bought by the organization of unit owners — not by the individual owner. In Massachusetts, how far into the unit it reaches is decided by your master deed and by-laws, not by statute. Whatever the master policy stops covering is where the unit owner's HO-6 has to start.
Almost every disagreement after a condominium loss comes back to one question: at the moment the water came through the ceiling, whose property was the kitchen cabinet? People look for the answer in the insurance policy. It is usually not there. Massachusetts General Laws chapter 183A does not define the boundary — it leaves that to the recorded master deed and the by-laws, and the insurance is then written to match them.
Three formats cover most Massachusetts condominiums. The labels are industry shorthand, not statutory terms, and carriers word them differently.
| Format | The master policy covers | What the unit owner has to insure |
|---|---|---|
| All-in / all-inclusive | Common areas plus the original unit interior and fixtures, cabinets, flooring, and installed improvements and betterments | Personal property, loss of use, personal liability, loss assessment, and the master deductible |
| Walls-in / single entity | Common areas plus the unit as originally built — often excluding later upgrades and alterations | Everything above, plus any improvement made after the original construction |
| Bare walls / studs-out | Common areas and the structure only — generally to the unfinished surfaces | Everything above, plus cabinets, flooring, fixtures, and interior finishes — a much larger building-property limit |
Two practical consequences. First, a unit owner in a bare-walls building needs a materially larger Coverage A limit on their HO-6 than a unit owner in an all-in building — and the two policies often cost the same at quote, because nobody set the limit against the master deed. Second, an association can change format at renewal without anyone telling the unit owners. That is precisely the year the letters have to go out.
Less than most boards assume about property insurance, and more than most boards realize about fidelity coverage.
We are an insurance agency, not counsel to your association. What your master deed and by-laws require, whether a vote was properly taken, and how chapter 183A applies to your condominium are questions for the association's attorney. What we can do is read the documents alongside the policy and tell you where the two do not line up. Links to the statute are at the bottom of this page.
For most Massachusetts associations the real insurance specification is not in the by-laws. It is in the secondary-mortgage-market guidelines, because a project that falls outside them becomes hard to finance — and a condominium that cannot be financed is a condominium whose units cannot be sold at full value. Fannie Mae restructured these requirements effective August 5, 2026 (Announcement SEL-2026-07), so guidance published before that date may no longer match.
| Requirement | Master policy — B7-3-03 | Unit owners policy (HO-6) — B7-3-04 |
|---|---|---|
| Coverage form | Should be written on a "Special" coverage form or equivalent, and at minimum cover the perils of a commercial "Broad" form | Should be written on a "Special" coverage form or equivalent |
| Amount | At least 100% of the estimated replacement cost value of the project improvements, including common elements and residential structures | The greater of: an amount sufficient to cover the interior and improvements not covered by the master policy, so the unit can be restored to its pre-loss condition; or the amount of the per-unit deductible |
| Loss settlement | Replacement cost basis, with the exception of roofs | Replacement cost basis |
| Maximum deductible | 5% of the master property insurance coverage amount; where the policy carries a per-unit deductible, a maximum of $50,000 per unit | The greater of 5% of the coverage amount, or $2,500 |
| When it is required | Generally required for the common elements and residential structures of a condo project | When any portion of the unit interior or improvements is not covered by the master policy, or the master policy carries a per-unit deductible |
Two details worth carrying into your next renewal meeting. A deductible buy-back policy purchased by the association may be used to meet the maximum-deductible requirement — which is how a project with a large per-unit deductible stays financeable without the association simply absorbing the exposure. And if you have seen "20% of the unit's appraised value" quoted as the HO-6 requirement, check the date on the source: the current Selling Guide text sets the minimum against the master policy and the per-unit deductible instead.
Habitational property deductibles have climbed, and per-unit water deductibles are now common on Massachusetts accounts. The number itself is only half of it. The other half is a question the policy does not answer: when a pipe in unit 3B damages 3B, 2B, and the hallway, who pays the deductible?
That allocation lives in the master deed and by-laws — some associations charge it back to the responsible unit, some absorb it as a common expense, and some have language that does not clearly do either. Where the association can assess it, the unit owner's exposure is real: § 6 makes common expenses a lien on the unit from the time the assessment becomes due, and makes the owner personally liable for their share. That is the exposure a loss assessment limit on the HO-6 is built for — and the reason a $10,000 default loss assessment limit under a $25,000 per-unit master deductible is a gap hiding in plain sight.
The master property policy is one line on the account. The exposures that actually put a board in front of a lawyer are usually somewhere else on this list.
| Coverage | What it responds to |
|---|---|
| Property — master policy | The buildings, common elements, and whatever the master deed puts inside the association's responsibility |
| General liability | Someone injured on the common areas — the walkway, the stairwell, the pool, the parking lot |
| Directors & officers liability | Claims against the trustees for their decisions: rule enforcement, discrimination allegations, assessment disputes, election and governance challenges. Check whether defense costs erode the limit and whether non-monetary claims are covered |
| Fidelity / crime | Theft of association funds — required above ten units by § 10(h), and the coverage that has to reach the managing agent |
| Umbrella / excess liability | The layer above the general liability and D&O. In Massachusetts this is also what stands between a large common-area claim and § 13's residual owner liability |
| Workers' compensation | Association employees, and in many cases uninsured contractors who are treated as employees for premium and claim purposes. Boards that "have no employees" are often surprised here |
| Equipment breakdown | Boilers, elevators, HVAC, and the electrical gear whose failure is excluded by the property form |
| Ordinance or law | The cost of rebuilding to current code — the undemolished portion, demolition, and increased cost of construction. On older Massachusetts brick and wood-frame buildings this is frequently the largest single gap on the account |
| Water damage & sewer/drain backup | The most common habitational loss. Check the per-unit deductible, any water sublimit, and whether backup is included or endorsed |
| Flood | Excluded by the property policy. Coastal and riverine Massachusetts associations frequently need it, and lenders require it inside a Special Flood Hazard Area |
| Cyber liability | The association holds owner names, bank details for assessment payments, and often a portal. Massachusetts breach obligations attach to the data, not to the size of the entity |
| Hired & non-owned auto | The trustee running association errands in a personal car, and the vendor driving on association business |
The master policy is not your policy. It insures the association, its buildings, and its liability — and it very deliberately does not insure your belongings, your temporary housing, your personal liability, or the deductible you may be assessed. A unit owner's policy has five jobs.
If you rent your unit out, none of this happens automatically: the deductible and the liability stay with you as the owner, lost rent is your exposure, and your tenant's belongings are covered by a tenant's policy they buy — which is worth requiring in the lease.
Every association we write will get one, and it is the piece most owners have never received. Each year at renewal we prepare a letter for the trustees or the management company to send to every unit owner, stating in plain language what the master policy covers, the format it is written on, the deductible that applies, and what the owner's own policy therefore has to do. Owners take it to their own agent; the association gets fewer phone calls, fewer surprised owners after a loss, and a documented record that the information went out.
We produce it in English, Spanish, and Portuguese. In a great many Massachusetts buildings that is not a courtesy — it is the difference between an owner reading the letter and filing it unread. Alongside it we handle certificates of insurance for unit sales and refinances, evidence of property insurance for lenders, and the questions that arrive from the closing attorney three days before a sale.
Having these ready shortens a renewal from weeks to days. If you don't have all of it, ask anyway — we'll tell you what actually blocks a quote.
On the prevention side, water is where habitational accounts are won or lost. Leak sensors and automatic shutoff valves are inexpensive relative to a single unit-to-unit water loss, and carriers increasingly ask about them. The devices we point associations toward are listed here.
It covers the buildings and common areas and the association's liability, and it is bought by the organization of unit owners. How far it reaches into an individual unit depends on your master deed and by-laws — all-in policies include the original interior and installed fixtures, walls-in policies generally stop at the unit as originally built, and bare-walls policies stop at the structure. Massachusetts chapter 183A does not set that boundary; your recorded documents do.
M.G.L. c. 183A § 10(b)(3) gives the organization of unit owners the power to obtain insurance on the common areas and facilities in its own name, but the obligation to carry property insurance generally comes from the master deed and by-laws and from the mortgage lenders behind the units. One coverage is mandated by statute: § 10(h) requires blanket fidelity insurance in condominiums of more than ten units, in an amount of at least one-fourth of the annual assessments excluding special assessments — subject to modification by a sixty-seven percent vote under § 10(m).
The insurance policy does not decide that — the master deed and by-laws do. Some associations charge the deductible back to the responsible unit, some treat it as a common expense shared by all owners, and some have language that does not clearly do either. Where it is assessed to a unit, § 6 makes that assessment a lien on the unit from the time it becomes due and makes the owner personally liable for it, which is exactly what loss assessment coverage on an HO-6 is meant to absorb.
Start from two numbers: what the master deed leaves you to insure, and the master policy's per-unit deductible. Under the Fannie Mae Selling Guide effective August 5, 2026, the minimum unit-owners policy limit is the greater of an amount sufficient to cover the interior and improvements the master policy does not cover, or the amount of the per-unit deductible, written on a replacement cost basis. If you have seen "20% of the appraised value" quoted, check the date on that source. Ask the association for the current declarations page and set the limit against it.
Loss assessment pays your share when the association assesses unit owners for a covered loss or for the master policy deductible. The limit included in a base unit-owners policy is usually small — often far below a modern per-unit deductible. ISO's Supplemental Loss Assessment Coverage endorsement (HO 04 35) increases it. Size it against the association's current per-unit deductible, and revisit it whenever that deductible changes.
The exposure is real whether or not the coverage is bought: trustees are volunteers making decisions about money, rules, and neighbors, and D&O responds to claims arising from those decisions. Points to check on the quote are whether defense costs erode the limit, whether non-monetary and injunctive claims are covered, and whether the definition of insured reaches committee members, volunteers, and the property manager.
Ask before you assume no. Associations that hire uninsured landscapers, snow removal crews, or handymen frequently find those workers treated as employees for premium and claim purposes, and a claim brought by an uninsured contractor's worker is a common way an association discovers the exposure. Requiring vendors to carry their own coverage — and collecting the certificates every year — is the first control; the policy is the backstop.
Because a unit cannot be financed if the project's insurance falls outside the investor's guidelines. Lenders request evidence of the master property policy, the liability limits, the fidelity coverage, and flood coverage where the buildings sit in a Special Flood Hazard Area, and the buyer is typically required to produce a unit-owners policy at closing. Having a current certificate and evidence of insurance ready is the difference between a closing that happens on schedule and one that does not.
We will read them side by side and tell you where the coverage and the documents disagree, what the per-unit deductible exposes your owners to, and what a renewal submission would need — at no cost and with no obligation. Trustees, management companies, and unit owners are all welcome to ask.
This page is general information for Massachusetts condominium associations, trustees, managers, and unit owners. It is not legal advice, not a quote, and not a promise of coverage. What your master deed and by-laws require, and how M.G.L. c. 183A applies to your condominium, are questions for the association's attorney. Coverage terms, sublimits, exclusions, and availability vary by carrier and by policy; coverage is subject to underwriting and is bound only when confirmed in writing by an insurer. Endorsement form numbers are cited as commonly used ISO forms — carriers file their own equivalents. Nothing here modifies the terms of any issued policy.