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Can an HOA require all owners to have homeowners insurance?

Posted on by L. Dreeye
Can an HOA require all owners to have homeowners insurance?

Ryan Poliakoff
| Special to Palm Beach Post

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Live in a home managed by a condominium, co-op or homeowners association? Have questions about what they can and can’t do? Ryan Poliakoff, an attorney and writer from Boca Raton, has the answers.

Question: I live in a villa attached to another villa, of which there are six on my street. There are villas attached to the entire complex, of which there are about 190 in total. All are one-story with a garage. I have lived in an apartment complex for over 20 years and own my home, free and clear, with no mortgage.

Recently, like the rest of us, I received an email from a property management company telling me that every apartment should have homeowners insurance. They did not ask for proof of insurance and simply stated that the HOA required it. Since insurance is getting out of control, I have been considering canceling my homeowner’s insurance if it comes to that.

I’m just wondering if it’s legal for them to require you to have homeowners insurance as I’m sure there are people in the development who don’t have it. Signed, PL

Dear PL,

I’m assuming your Declaration of Covenants contains a provision requiring all homeowners to have insurance. As I said earlier, contracts have a broad presumption of validity and are rarely unenforceable, so if my suspicions are correct, either your association or any of your neighbors could technically get a court order requiring the homeowner to carry whatever insurance is listed there. required (presumably accident and liability).

There is no legal requirement to have insurance, so the only real option is to declare it on your declaration.

Given the above, I would be very careful when canceling your insurance. You don’t specify whether you live in a condominium or an HOA-governed community, but depending on the structure of your community, you may be the primary insured for your entire condo. If your villa is destroyed in a hurricane and you are not insured, you may not have the financial resources to rebuild it. It would be a shame to have a house paid for in full and then lose it completely and not be able to rebuild it.

It’s also possible that the association insures the structure of your home and you only insure the interior and furniture – in this situation you have more flexibility, but still, and as we’ve seen clearly with recent storms, it’s easy to lose. anything related to flooding or other storm hazards. Staying unprotected is simply incredibly risky, so make sure you consider all aspects of the economics before you decide to forgo insurance entirely.

Question: I am an apartment building owner who, along with two other apartment building owners, was sent a letter to stop “harassing the board of directors” – a board that will not provide me with financial statements, that will not receive project bids, and that do not believe in 718 or our decisions. They also harassed me at the meeting, publicly asking me for the lowest amount I would agree for my apartment so they could get me out of the community. Any advice? Signed, Japan

Dear JP,

I probably see more complaints about “harassment” than any other issue. I get complaints from both sides – owners who complain that the board is harassing them and harassing them for breaking rules when they ignore others; and boards of directors who complain about owners who send endless emails criticizing how they run the association and often use profanity or even threats against them and the management company.

Unfortunately, community associations are a microcosm of society, and both have good and bad people.

I obviously cannot comment on your behavior or whether you or the board are being unreasonable. What I can do is give you some tips on how best to deal with your problems.

Instead of berating the board of directors because you think they are doing a poor job (and given that they are unlikely to change according to your demands), stick to your clear legal rights, and if they are violating them, either report this advice to the department. condominiums, or instead consider whether you and other like-minded owners can take legal action against them.

For example, you say that the board will not provide you with financial statements. You have a clear legal right to inspect and copy the association’s financial records upon written request. So, send a formal written request by mail (preferably certified), and if they do not respond within the legal time limit, file a complaint with the Condominium Division. Don’t threaten the board that you will do this, don’t try to intimidate them into reacting – just file a complaint.

The department will investigate and fine the association if it violates the bylaws (and also obtain the records for you). The department’s jurisdiction was recently expanded to investigate not only reporting, elections and financial matters, but also the manner in which meetings were conducted, the disclosure of conflicts, compliance with reserve requirements and failure to respond to written requests.

You are far better off calmly asserting your rights than complaining loudly that the board is up to no good.

Ryan Poliakoff, a partner at Poliakoff Backer, LLP, is a certified specialist in condominium and planned unit development law. This column is dedicated to the memory of Gary Poliakoff. Ryan Poliakoff and Gary Poliakoff are co-authors of New Neighborhoods – A Consumer’s Guide to Living in Condominiums, Co-ops and HOAs. Send your questions to [email protected]. Please be sure to include your location.