Georgia Condo Insurance: What HO-6 Covers

If you own a condo in Georgia, you are insuring only part of your home. The rest sits under the association’s master policy, which Georgia law actually requires in a way many other states do not. The trouble is that master policies still vary in exactly where they draw the line, so an HO-6 policy has to be built to fill the precise gap from metro Atlanta to the coast around Savannah. Below is how to do that.

HO-6 basics: what your condo policy does

An HO-6 exists to fill the space the master policy ignores. That usually covers your unit’s interior from the walls inward, the belongings you keep there, your personal liability should someone be hurt inside, and loss-of-use coverage for living costs when a covered loss makes the Georgia unit uninhabitable.

It also usually includes loss-assessment coverage, which handles your share of a large loss the association bills back to owners. For Georgia condo owners, these pieces work together to close the gap between what the master policy is legally required to cover and your actual exposure.

Georgia’s condo insurance law: what the master policy must cover

Georgia is more prescriptive than many states about what an association must insure. Under O.C.G.A. § 44-3-107, the Georgia Condominium Act, associations must carry property insurance affording fire and extended-coverage protection for the full insurable replacement cost of buildings and structures within the condominium. O.C.G.A. § 44-3-107

That required coverage reaches further than a bare-walls policy: it must include common elements and limited common elements, foundations, roofs and roof structures, exterior walls, windows, doors and their framing, and the interior of each unit rebuilt to its condition at the time of loss. What it does not have to cover is any betterment or improvement you made to the unit after buying it from the original developer, and it does not have to treat water damage as a covered peril at all. Both of those carve-outs are exactly where your HO-6 needs to step in, and they are worth confirming with your association’s board rather than assuming.

Georgia’s statute goes further than property coverage alone. O.C.G.A. § 44-3-107 also requires associations to carry commercial general liability insurance covering bodily injury and property damage in amounts not less than $1 million per occurrence and $2 million in the aggregate, and that liability policy must name the association, its board and officers, its agents and employees, and all unit owners as covered parties. O.C.G.A. § 44-3-107 That liability floor matters for your own HO-6: if a visitor is hurt in a common area, the association’s policy should respond first, but liability arising inside your own unit is still yours to insure, which is part of why an HO-6 carries its own personal-liability limit rather than leaning on the master policy alone.

What the master policy covers — and does not — in Georgia

Within that legal floor, Georgia associations still choose between a bare-walls approach that stops at the structure and common areas, or an all-in (single-entity) approach that extends further into the unit’s interior. Either way, your belongings and any upgrades beyond the original developer finish are typically on you — which is exactly where your HO-6 has to fill in.

The only way to know your true responsibility is to read your association’s declarations and bylaws. Georgia owners from metro Atlanta to the coast around Savannah should pay particular attention to how the master policy treats severe thunderstorms, tornadoes, and tropical systems reaching inland, because that is often where coverage gaps appear even when the statutory minimums are met.

Coastal wind and named-storm risk in Georgia

Georgia is one of a group of states that requires insurers to disclose percentage-based windstorm and hurricane deductibles clearly in the policy, under O.C.G.A. § 33-24-45. Windstorm coverage rules In practice, that means many insurers apply a separate wind and hail deductible, often a percentage of dwelling coverage rather than a flat dollar figure, for properties in coastal counties such as Chatham, Glynn, Camden, McIntosh, Liberty, and Bryan. Hurricane insurance in Georgia

Savannah’s Atlantic-coast location adds hurricane exposure, tropical storm rainfall, and storm-surge risk on top of routine wind and hail claims. A percentage-based deductible can be a much larger out-of-pocket number than owners expect on a high-value condo building, and it applies at the association level before any loss-assessment protection on your HO-6 even comes into play. Coastal Georgia condo owners should ask their association exactly how its named-storm deductible is calculated, and should not assume the master policy handles flood damage from storm surge or heavy rain — that typically requires a separate flood policy.

Georgia also runs a residual-market backstop for owners who cannot find coastal wind coverage in the standard market. The Georgia Underwriting Association, the state’s FAIR Plan insurer, defines a “Windstorm and Hail Area” covering those same six counties — Bryan, Camden, Chatham, Glynn, Liberty, and McIntosh — plus offshore islands such as Tybee, St. Simons, Jekyll, and Sea Island. Georgia FAIR Plan guide A GUA policy can fill the gap when a private insurer declines to write coastal wind coverage, but it generally covers only the building itself, not a unit’s interior or belongings, so an association that leans on the GUA for windstorm coverage still leaves owners needing a full HO-6 behind it.

Walls-in coverage and loss assessment

At the center of an HO-6 sits walls-in coverage, which rebuilds the interior pieces you actually own: drywall, flooring, cabinetry, and any upgrades. Size that limit to match the real finish level of your Georgia unit, not the bare-bones spec the original developer used, since the statute only requires the master policy to restore developer-grade finishes.

Loss assessment deserves special attention in Georgia. Coastal buildings face wind and named-storm deductibles that can run into the tens of thousands of dollars for the association as a whole, while metro Atlanta buildings deal more with hail and water losses. If the association’s master policy is exhausted or carries a large deductible, that deductible can be assessed across all owners, and adequate loss-assessment coverage on your HO-6 is what keeps a surprise bill from landing on you.

Sizing and pricing your condo policy in Georgia

Right-sizing an HO-6 means matching your walls-in limit to interior rebuild cost, your personal-property limit to what you own, and your liability limit to your assets. A condo policy in Georgia might run around $179 a month for a well-appointed unit, or closer to $108 for a smaller one with a higher deductible.

Location changes the math more than most owners expect. A unit in a Chatham or Glynn County building carries different wind exposure, and often a different named-storm deductible, than a similar unit in a metro Atlanta suburb. That does not necessarily change your HO-6 premium as much as it changes what your loss-assessment limit needs to be, since the association’s coastal wind deductible is what actually gets billed back to owners. Ask your agent to walk through how your specific building’s deductible structure interacts with your HO-6 before you settle on a limit.

• Match walls-in coverage to your unit’s finish level, not the developer’s original spec
• Carry enough loss-assessment coverage for the master deductible, especially near the coast
• Add water-backup coverage, since Georgia law does not require the master policy to cover water damage
• Ask coastal-county owners specifically how the named-storm deductible is structured
• Bundle with auto for a multi-policy discount
• Compare condo and home policies before renewing

Common gaps that catch Georgia condo owners

The classic surprise is the master-policy deductible. When a covered loss hits the building, the association pays its deductible first — and if that figure is large, especially a percentage-based coastal wind deductible, it can be assessed across every owner. Without enough loss-assessment coverage on your HO-6, that assessment lands directly in your lap. It is one of the most common ways Georgia condo owners discover a gap only after a claim.

Another gap is water damage. Because Georgia’s statute does not require the master policy to treat water damage as a covered peril, a burst pipe or appliance leak can fall to individual owners far more often than buyers expect. A related gap is undervaluing interior upgrades: owners who install hardwood floors, custom cabinetry, or a renovated kitchen often forget to raise their walls-in limit, leaving the improvements underinsured, since the statute only guarantees restoration to the developer’s original condition. Because Georgia buildings age and associations change their policies over time, reading the current master policy each year — not the one you saw at closing — is the only reliable way to keep your HO-6 aligned with the real gap.

A fourth gap is specific to coastal buildings: owners sometimes assume that because their association’s policy satisfies O.C.G.A. § 44-3-107, it must also cover flood damage from storm surge or heavy tropical rainfall. It generally does not. Flood coverage is a separate policy, and for a ground-floor or low-elevation unit near Savannah or the Golden Isles, going without it is one of the costliest mistakes a condo owner can make.

The bottom line for Georgia condo owners

A well-built HO-6 answers your specific master policy rather than a generic form, even in a state like Georgia that sets statutory minimums for what associations must insure. Read the bylaws and declarations, size walls-in and loss-assessment coverage to the real shortfall, pay attention to water-damage and named-storm carve-outs, and compare quotes across carriers. Start with the home and condo insurance overview, consider renters coverage if you rent out the unit, and check the rates-by-state guide to see where Georgia lands.

Estimated rates for illustration only — not a quote.