What Does Your Condo HO-6 Policy Actually Cover? The Florida Walls-In Guide for Unit Owners (2026)
By Ricardo Alonso, Founder, Atesa Risk Advisors · July 6, 2026
Key Takeaways
- Your condo association's master policy covers the building "as originally installed," but Florida law (FS 718.111(11)(f)) makes it exclude the floor, wall, and ceiling coverings, cabinets, countertops, appliances, water heaters, and window treatments inside your unit — that gap is what your HO-6 policy fills [1].
- An HO-6 (the unit-owner policy often called "walls-in" coverage) insures six things: the interior finishes the master policy drops, your personal property, your personal liability, loss of use, loss assessment, and improvements you or a prior owner added [1][5].
- Florida law requires your HO-6 to carry at least $2,000 in loss assessment coverage for all assessments from one loss, with a deductible of no more than $250 — but that is a floor, not a ceiling, and it does not pay for milestone-repair or reserve special assessments [4].
- Master-policy hurricane deductibles and uninsured damage are a "common expense of the condominium" under FS 718.111(11)(j), so the association spreads that cost across all owners — your HO-6 loss assessment coverage is what absorbs your share [1].
- Florida's average homeowners premium reached about $3,340 in 2023, and while HO-6 policies cost far less because they only insure inside your walls, under-buying Coverage A is the mistake that leaves owners paying out of pocket after a claim [6].
Your HO-6 policy covers the inside of your unit — the drywall inward — plus your belongings, your liability, and your share of certain association assessments; the condo's master policy stops at the "as originally installed" building and specifically excludes your flooring, cabinets, appliances, and finishes under Florida Statute 718.111(11)(f). In plain terms, two policies protect a Florida condo, and they meet at your interior walls. Knowing exactly where that line sits is the difference between a covered claim and a surprise bill.
Most Florida condo owners buy an HO-6 policy once — at closing, because the lender demanded it — and never look at it again. Then a pipe bursts, a hurricane peels back the roof, or the board issues a five-figure assessment, and the owner learns that "the association has insurance" did not mean what they thought.
This guide walks through what an HO-6 actually insures, where the master policy ends and yours begins under Florida law, and how to size the coverage that keeps you from paying to rebuild your own kitchen.
What "Walls-In" Coverage Really Means for a Florida Condo Owner
HO-6 is the standard policy form for a condominium unit owner. It is nicknamed "walls-in" coverage because it picks up where the building's shared policy stops — roughly at the interior surface of your unit's walls, floors, and ceilings.
Here is the split Florida law actually draws. Under Florida Statute 718.111(11)(f), the condominium association's master policy must insure "all portions of the condominium property as originally installed or replacement of like kind and quality, in accordance with the original plans and specifications" [1]. That is the building shell, the roof, the exterior walls, the elevators, the hallways, and the load-bearing structure.
But the same statute forces the master policy to exclude a specific list of things inside your unit. The law says the association's coverage "must exclude all personal property within the unit... and floor, wall, and ceiling coverings, electrical fixtures, appliances, water heaters, water filters, built-in cabinets and countertops, and window treatments, including curtains, drapes, blinds, hardware, and similar window treatment components... which are located within the boundaries of the unit and serve only such unit" [1].
That list is your HO-6 shopping list. Your cabinets, countertops, flooring, dishwasher, water heater, light fixtures, and blinds. If a covered event destroys them, the association's policy will not pay — by law, it cannot. Your HO-6 is the only policy standing between you and that repair bill.
The Six Things an HO-6 Policy Insures
A well-built Florida HO-6 policy has six moving parts. Owners tend to focus on one or two and leave the others at default limits that were never sized to their unit.
1. Coverage A — Dwelling (your interior build-out). This is the money that rebuilds everything the master policy excludes: flooring, cabinets, countertops, built-in appliances, fixtures, and interior walls [1]. It is the coverage owners most often under-buy. A lender often requires only 20% of the unit's value, but the actual cost to rebuild a modern Florida kitchen and bath in a mid-rise can run well past that. Coverage A should reflect what it costs to redo your specific interior today, not a lender's minimum.
2. Coverage C — Personal Property (your belongings). Furniture, clothing, electronics, and everything not bolted down. Ask whether it is written as replacement cost (pays to buy new) or actual cash value (pays depreciated value) — the difference is large after a total loss.
3. Coverage E — Personal Liability. Pays if someone is injured in your unit or you cause damage to a neighbor's unit — for example, your washing-machine hose fails and floods the unit below. Standard limits start around $100,000 to $300,000; a Florida umbrella policy sits on top for larger exposure.
4. Coverage D — Loss of Use. Pays your added living costs — a rental, meals — while your unit is uninhabitable after a covered loss. In a hurricane-displacement scenario this coverage matters more than owners expect.
5. Loss Assessment. Pays your share when the association levies an assessment tied to a covered property loss or a liability claim against the association. Florida law requires your HO-6 to include at least $2,000 of this coverage for all assessments arising from the same loss, subject to a deductible of no more than $250 [4]. That is a floor. Given today's master-policy deductibles, many Florida owners should carry far more — $25,000 or $50,000 is common and inexpensive to add.
6. Betterments and Improvements. Upgrades made by you or a previous owner beyond the unit's original specification — the renovated bathroom, the hardwood floors that replaced builder-grade carpet. Because the master policy only insures the unit "as originally installed" [1], anything upgraded past the original plans is yours to insure. If your unit has been renovated, confirm your Coverage A is high enough to cover the upgraded version, not the 1985 original.
Where the Master Policy Ends and Your HO-6 Begins
| Item | Association master policy | Your HO-6 policy |
|---|---|---|
| Roof, exterior walls, structure | Covers [1] | No |
| Hallways, elevators, shared amenities | Covers [1] | No |
| Unit's interior drywall surface, paint | Your HO-6 (excluded from master) [1] | Covers |
| Flooring, cabinets, countertops | Excluded by statute [1] | Covers |
| Appliances, water heater, fixtures | Excluded by statute [1] | Covers |
| Window treatments (blinds, drapes) | Excluded by statute [1] | Covers |
| Your furniture and belongings | No | Covers |
| Your liability for injury or damage you cause | No | Covers |
| Master-policy deductible passed to owners | Assessed as common expense [1] | Loss assessment coverage responds |
The one row owners misread is the last one. When a hurricane hits and the master policy has a large deductible — often 3% to 5% of the building's insured value — that deductible is not paid by the insurer. Under Florida Statute 718.111(11)(j), "all property insurance deductibles and other damages in excess of property insurance coverage under the property insurance policies maintained by the association are a common expense of the condominium" [1]. In plain English, the board spreads that unpaid amount across every owner as an assessment. Your loss assessment coverage is designed to absorb your share — which is exactly why the $2,000 statutory minimum is often not enough.
How the Master Policy's Hurricane Deductible Lands on You
Say a 100-unit oceanfront building in Northeast Florida is insured for $30 million and carries a 5% hurricane deductible. A named storm causes $4 million in covered damage. The master policy's deductible is $1.5 million (5% of $30 million), and the insurer pays the rest.
That $1.5 million does not disappear. Under FS 718.111(11)(j) it becomes a common expense, and the board assesses it across the ownership [1]. Split evenly across 100 units, that is roughly $15,000 per owner from the deductible alone. An owner carrying only the $2,000 statutory minimum in loss assessment coverage pays the remaining $13,000 out of pocket; an owner who raised loss assessment to $25,000 pays only their own deductible. Same storm, same building, very different bank statement.
This is why "the association is insured" is a dangerous thing to rely on. The association's insurance is real, but its deductible is designed to flow back to you.
What Your HO-6 Will Not Cover — And Why It Matters in 2026
Two categories of cost routinely surprise Florida condo owners, and neither is an HO-6 failure — it is simply outside what the policy is built to do.
Milestone and reserve special assessments. Since Florida's 2022 building-safety reforms, associations with buildings three habitable stories or higher must complete a milestone structural inspection under FS 553.899 and a Structural Integrity Reserve Study under FS 718.112(2)(g), then fund the repairs those studies identify [2][3]. When the board levies a special assessment to replace a failing concrete deck or refill reserves, that is a maintenance and construction cost — not an insured property loss. Loss assessment coverage does not pay for it, because no covered peril caused it. This is the assessment blindsiding Florida owners in 2026, and no HO-6 policy on the market covers it.
Flood. Like every property policy in Florida, an HO-6 excludes flood from rising water and storm surge. If your unit is on a lower floor in a coastal building, you need a separate flood policy for your interior and contents; the association's flood policy, if it has one, stops at the same "as originally installed" line as the rest of the master policy.
Routine deductibles and wear. Your own HO-6 deductible applies to each claim, and normal maintenance — a worn dishwasher, aging paint — is never a covered loss.
Florida-Specific Considerations
Florida writes the unit-owner split into statute, which is unusual and works in your favor because it removes ambiguity about who insures what.
- FS 718.111(11)(f) defines the master-policy scope and the mandatory exclusions that become your HO-6 responsibility [1].
- FS 718.111(11)(j) makes master-policy deductibles a common expense assessed across owners — the mechanism behind post-hurricane assessments [1].
- FS 627.714 sets the loss assessment coverage floor at $2,000 for all assessments from one loss, with a deductible capped at $250; if a deductible already applied to your own loss from the same event, no separate deductible applies to the loss assessment portion [4].
- FS 718.112(2)(g) and FS 553.899 require the reserve study and milestone inspection that drive today's non-insurable special assessments [2][3].
A quick note on reading your declarations page: the master policy is either "all-in" (covers original fixtures and installations inside units) or "bare walls" (covers only the structure to the unfinished wall). Florida's statutory exclusions apply either way, but a bare-walls building shifts even more onto your HO-6. Ask your association's manager which type your building carries, then size Coverage A to match.
As an independent agent in Northeast Florida, the call I take most often after a storm is not "is this covered" — it is "why am I getting a $12,000 assessment when the building had insurance." The honest answer is that the master policy did its job; the deductible was always going to land on the owners, and the person who added loss assessment coverage two years earlier barely felt it. Sizing that one line is the cheapest protection a condo owner can buy.
— Ricardo Alonso, Founder, Atesa Risk Advisors
Your 5-Step HO-6 Review Timeline
| Step | What to do |
|---|---|
| 1. Pull your declarations page | Find your current Coverage A, personal property, liability, and loss assessment limits. Note whether property is replacement cost or actual cash value. |
| 2. Get the master policy summary | Ask your association manager for the current master policy declarations, including the hurricane/named-storm deductible and whether it is all-in or bare-walls. |
| 3. Estimate your rebuild cost | Price what it would cost to redo your specific interior today — flooring, cabinets, counters, appliances, fixtures — including any upgrades a prior owner made. |
| 4. Right-size loss assessment | Divide the master policy's likely deductible by the number of units for a rough per-owner exposure, then raise loss assessment coverage to cover it (often $25,000–$50,000). |
| 5. Compare and bind | Have an independent agent quote the corrected limits across multiple carriers before your renewal date. |
FAQ for Florida Condo Unit Owners
Q: Does my condo association's insurance cover the inside of my unit?
A: No. Under Florida Statute 718.111(11)(f), the master policy must exclude your flooring, cabinets, countertops, appliances, water heaters, fixtures, and window treatments. Those interior items are insured by your own HO-6 policy, not the association's.
Q: What does HO-6 "walls-in" coverage actually include?
A: An HO-6 covers six things: your interior build-out (Coverage A), your personal property, your personal liability, loss of use, loss assessment, and any betterments or improvements added beyond the unit's original construction. It fills the exact gap the master policy leaves inside your walls.
Q: How much loss assessment coverage do I need on my Florida condo?
A: Florida law requires at least $2,000, but that is a floor, not a recommendation. Because master-policy hurricane deductibles are spread across all owners as a common expense, many Florida owners carry $25,000 to $50,000 — often for a small annual premium — to cover their share of a post-storm assessment.
Q: Will my HO-6 pay for a special assessment to fix the building?
A: No. Milestone-inspection and reserve-study repairs are maintenance and construction costs, not insured property losses, so loss assessment coverage does not apply. Loss assessment coverage only responds when a covered peril — like a hurricane or a liability claim — triggers the assessment.
Q: Who pays the master policy's hurricane deductible?
A: The owners. Under Florida Statute 718.111(11)(j), the master-policy deductible and any uninsured damage are a common expense of the condominium, which the board assesses across all units. Your HO-6 loss assessment coverage is what absorbs your share.
Q: How much Coverage A (dwelling) should I carry on a condo?
A: Enough to rebuild your interior as it exists today, including any renovations. Lenders often require only about 20% of the unit's value, but that figure rarely reflects the real cost to replace modern flooring, cabinets, and appliances — so many owners are underinsured on the coverage that matters most.
Q: Does my HO-6 cover flood damage in my Florida condo?
A: No. Like every Florida property policy, an HO-6 excludes flood from rising water and storm surge. If you are in a lower-floor or coastal unit, you need a separate flood policy for your interior and contents.
Q: My unit was renovated before I bought it — am I covered?
A: Only if your Coverage A is sized for the upgraded version. The master policy insures the unit "as originally installed," so any improvements beyond the original plans are your responsibility to insure under the betterments and improvements portion of your HO-6.
Q: Is HO-6 required in Florida?
A: The state does not mandate it, but mortgage lenders almost always require it as a condition of the loan, and it is the only policy that covers your interior, belongings, and liability. Even owners without a mortgage carry it because the master policy leaves those exposures uninsured.
Related Reading
- Florida Condo Loss Assessment Coverage: What It Is and the 3 Most Common Claims — a deeper look at the one HO-6 coverage that pays your share of an association assessment.
- Condo & HOA Insurance: What Board Members Need to Know in 2026 — the master-policy side of the same coverage line, from the board's perspective.
- What Your Florida Homeowners Policy Actually Covers (and What It Doesn't) — how the coverage-by-coverage structure works on a standard home policy.
How Atesa Risk Advisors Can Help
Most Florida condo owners are quoted an HO-6 at the lender's minimums and never revisit it — until a claim or an assessment exposes the gap. We read your declarations page against your association's master policy, find where the two overlap or leave a hole, and size Coverage A and loss assessment coverage to your actual unit and building instead of a generic default. Because we are independent, we quote those corrected limits across multiple Florida carriers, not just one.
If your building is coastal, older, or carrying a large hurricane deductible, the loss assessment line alone can save you five figures after a storm — and it usually costs very little to raise. We would rather fix that on a quiet Tuesday than explain it to you after a named storm.
Want to know if your condo policy has a gap where the master policy stops? Get your free quote and consultation at atesariskadvisors.com/get-quote or call (904) 900-5063.
Sources
[2] Florida Statutes § 718.112(2)(g) — Structural Integrity Reserve Study requirement
[4] Florida Statutes § 627.714 — Residential condominium unit owner insurance; loss assessment coverage
[6] Insurance Information Institute (Triple-I) — Florida homeowners premium data ($3,340 average, 2023)
External Resources for Florida Condo Owners:
*Ricardo Alonso is the Founder of Atesa Risk Advisors, a Florida independent insurance agency. Licensed 2-20 General Lines Agent and 2-15 Health & Life Agent, with a Master of Liberal Arts in Finance from Harvard University. He places condo unit-owner and association coverage across Northeast Florida's coastal market, where master-policy deductibles and post-storm assessments make HO-6 sizing a recurring conversation.