Texas Condo Insurance: Your HOA's bad day becomes your bill.

An HO-6 policy covers your world from the drywall in: your unit's interior and improvements, your personal property, your personal liability, loss of use if the unit becomes uninhabitable, and loss assessment — the piece almost everyone under-buys.

It does not cover the roof, exterior, hallways, pool, or parking; those belong to the HOA's master policy, and the boundary between the two is drawn by your declaration and bylaws, not by either insurance policy.

When a loss exceeds the master policy limits or triggers a large master deductible, the board can levy a special assessment and divide the bill among all owners. Loss assessment coverage on your HO-6 pays your share.

The catch: many policies default to $1,000, while North Texas master policies often carry percentage hail and wind deductibles that can reach six figures on the building. Raising the limit to $50,000 or more often costs relatively little, and it is one of the best values on the policy.

Bare walls-in covers the structure but nothing inside your unit. Single entity covers the unit as originally built, but not your upgrades.

All-in covers interior fixtures and finishes too. Which one your building carries determines how much dwelling coverage you personally need. In Texas, condos created after January 1, 1994 fall under the Uniform Condominium Act, which by default requires the association to insure the units excluding your improvements — close to single entity — but declarations can and do vary, so read yours.

Many DFW master policies carry a wind and hail deductible calculated as a percentage of the building's insured value, commonly 1 to 2 percent and sometimes higher. After a hailstorm, that deductible is real money: on a hypothetical Arlington building insured for $12 million, a 2 percent deductible is $240,000, and associations commonly assess it to owners.

Here is the fine print that matters: some HO-6 policies cap the portion of an assessment that arises from a master policy deductible, sometimes near $1,000, regardless of your overall loss assessment limit. Ask that question specifically before hail season.

No HO-6 covers rising water. The association insures the building against flood through an RCBAP — a Residential Condominium Building Association Policy — with limits up to $250,000 per unit times the number of units, and if the building is underinsured, the shortfall can come back to owners as an assessment.

Your belongings need a separate contents flood policy through the NFIP, which may be available and is often inexpensive for a condo owner. For buildings near Arlington's creeks or in low-lying areas prone to flash flooding, we check both layers.

The most common dispute in condo living, and it is fact-specific: it turns on where the water came from, who owns the plumbing that failed, and negligence.

Roughly, water from HOA-owned lines is the association's responsibility for the structure, though your interior may still fall to your HO-6 depending on master policy type. Water from a pipe inside your unit is yours, and if it floods the units below, your liability coverage answers for their damage.

Not by state law. By your lender, almost certainly, if you have a mortgage.

And often by your declaration or bylaws, which can require unit owners to carry an HO-6 with minimum limits. Even without a requirement, going without means your interior, belongings, liability, and share of any assessment all sit uncovered.

It depends entirely on the master policy type. Under bare walls-in, you insure everything from the studs in — flooring, cabinets, fixtures, interior walls — which is a substantial number.

Under single entity or the Texas statutory default, you insure your improvements and betterments at what they would cost to redo today. Under all-in, you need relatively little dwelling coverage. Start with the master policy declarations page, then build the HO-6 to fit the gap.

Often a few hundred to around a thousand dollars a year, depending on the dwelling limit the master policy leaves you, your location, and your deductible.

Hail-prone locations and claims history can push it higher. Bundling condo with auto may lower what you pay on both, and one Allstate agent handles both policies, with an annual coverage and discount review.

Ownership. A renters policy (HO-4) covers belongings and liability but no part of the structure, because you own none of it.

A condo policy (HO-6) adds dwelling coverage for the interior you do own, plus loss assessment for your share of the association's shortfalls. If you rent out a condo you own, you need a landlord policy instead, and your tenant needs renters insurance.

Three documents before you fall in love: the master policy declarations page (which type, and every deductible, especially wind and hail), the declaration and bylaws (where the association's responsibility ends and yours begins, and any insurance requirements on owners), and the reserve study (an underfunded association is a future assessment with your name on it, and no policy covers maintenance).

We read the insurance pieces with buyers routinely, free.

Bring us the notice.

When a master policy shrinks — higher hail deductible, lower limits, a switch from all-in to bare walls — that risk does not evaporate; it relocates to the owners as bigger assessments and bigger personal coverage needs. Ten minutes with the new declarations page tells you exactly what changed for you, and what your HO-6 needs to absorb it.

Yes. Our Arlington office serves clients in seven languages: English, Spanish, Arabic, Hindi, Punjabi, Urdu, and Coptic, with more languages coming as our team grows.

Your master policy and declaration will be written in English, but we can walk you through what they mean for your unit in the language you are most comfortable with. Call (817) 262-5300 and tell us which one.