Effective January 1, 2009, condominium unit owners are required by state law to carry insurance, and condo associations have the right to purchase it bill the unit owners. This has hundreds of calls flooding in to state representatives’ offices from angry condo owners. Insurance can cost from $1,000 to $5,000 a year depending on the unit’s value. Lenders require insurance — and have the right to purchase it on the owners behalf and bill them — but owners whose units have no mortgage have always been able to decide for themselves whether to carry insurance. The new law changed all that.
Condo associations carry insurance to rebuild common property elements, which includes the building itself, pools, clubhouses, etc. But that insurance will NOT repair the individual units — and that means from the concrete structure walls in is all the repsonsibility of the homeowner.
The law has some problems, though, and it’s going to take another act of the legislature to fix them. Read the full story right here.
BoatsAndWaterfront.com 