Condominium insurance
is recommended

Ask the Lawyer
By Stewart J. Berger

Dear Ask the Lawyer:
I have been living in a condominium building in the Northeast for the last 30 years.
All the condo officers are about 90. They run this building with an iron fist.
The halls are clean. Everything works. The security is flawless. The budget is balanced.
If you are more than three days late with your condo fees, you have the condo Gestapo to deal with. Translation: Nobody is ever late with their monthly condo fees.
Now here is the problem.
I never had condo insurance. The board passed a resolution requiring that everybody must have this insurance.
I have a question.
Can the condo board now require me to have insurance when I did not have the policy for over 30 years?
Could you give me some basic information on condo insurance?
Mel

Dear Mel:
The answer to the first question depends on the bi-laws of the condominium. Sometimes the bi-laws require a vote of all of the condo owners for a change in the condo rules to require the purchase of condo insurance. Other documents would simply allow the elected condo board to pass the resolution requiring the purchase of insurance.
If you really feel aggrieved by this requirement, and you shouldn’t, you need to read the condo documents to see whether the insurance requirement was legally authorized. I suggest that this is a waste of time because you should have insurance regardless of how the requirement was passed.
Now to answer your second question: What is condo insurance?
If you own a condominium you own everything in your apartment from the walls inward. You have an ownership interest in the common elements, such as the hallways, the utility rooms, the electrical and air conditioning systems, swimming pool, the parking lot and so forth.
The common elements should be insured by a condominium insurance policy. However, that policy will not cover the contents of your apartment or your personal liability in case there is an accident in your apartment.
Let me give you an example. You are living in your condominium apartment. Your 5-year-old grandson is playing with trucks in your apartment. You are waiting for the plumber because your sink has a leak. The plumber arrives and proceeds to break his leg when he trips over the child’s truck.
You are so busy trying to rush the plumber to the hospital that you forget all about the leak. The leak now becomes a flood and seriously ruins the three apartments directly beneath you. It also floods your apartment and destroys your Persian rugs worth $20,000.
Condo insurance would probably cover all of this. The plumber will probably sue you. You are definitely responsible to repair the damage in the downstairs apartments. Your rugs have to be replaced.
There is good news. A condo insurance policy is relatively inexpensive. If you have an automobile or other types of insurance, I would suggest contacting the same company that issues your other policies. There are often multi-policy discounts.
Sometimes the condominium board will recommend the condominium owners to buy a policy from one particular company. That company may give a discount if it insures multiple units.
In all events, buy the insurance. For 30 years you have been uninsured and extremely lucky. Don’t press your luck. ••
Stewart J. Berger is an attorney with offices at 7207 Rising Sun Ave. Questions and comments may be addressed to Ask The Lawyer, c/o The Northeast Times, 2512 Metropolitan Drive, Trevose, PA 19053