HOA, Condo and Co-op Insurance for Community Association Managers
Community association management is the one segment where three separate insurance programs collide over the same loss: the association's master policy, the unit owner's individual policy, and the managing agent's own errors and omissions. Getting the seams right is most of the job. Getting them wrong shows up as a loss assessment fight after a burst pipe, or a board that discovers its directors and officers policy does not fund the defense of a rejected purchase application.
Co-ops and condos are not the same legal animal
In New York, a cooperative is a corporation governed under the Business Corporation Law, and residents are shareholders holding proprietary leases. A condominium is a form of real property ownership governed by Real Property Law Article 9-B, and residents hold deeded title to their units. Homeowner associations sit elsewhere again, typically governed by recorded declarations and covenants. Ownership determines insurable interest, insurable interest determines who buys what, and the distinction runs through every coverage decision that follows.
The master policy question that drives everything
Before anything else, establish which master property form the association carries. A bare walls form covers the structure but leaves fixtures, finishes, and improvements to unit owners. A single entity or original specifications form covers the unit as originally built but not owner upgrades. An all-in or all-inclusive form covers the unit including improvements. That choice determines the boundary between the association's responsibility and the unit owner's, and it is the source of nearly every loss assessment dispute after water damage.
Boards generate claims that buildings do not
Community association claims are frequently governance claims rather than physical ones. Election disputes, selective rule enforcement, architectural review denials, rejection of a purchase application, special assessment decisions, reserve funding adequacy, and disputes over accommodation requests all produce directors and officers claims. Many are non-monetary at the outset the relief sought is an injunction rather than damages which is why the form's treatment of non-monetary relief and defense costs matters so much.
Insurance Property Managers Generally Need in This Segment
The list below is the coverage stack a property manager in this segment typically needs. Which pieces apply to you depends on what you manage, who employs the building staff, and what your management agreements require. No limits, premiums, or figures appear here by design those belong in a conversation with a licensed producer who has read your agreements.
| Coverage | What it does |
|---|---|
| Association directors and officers liability | Defense and indemnity for the board and individual directors on governance decisions rule enforcement, elections, application denials, and assessment disputes. Confirm the form covers non-monetary relief and includes the association as an insured entity. |
| Managing agent errors and omissions | The manager's own professional liability for administration, financial reporting, vendor selection, and maintenance oversight. Distinct from the board's directors and officers coverage. |
| Fidelity bond / crime coverage | Required by most bylaws and by secondary mortgage market project standards. Must extend to the managing agent where the agent handles association funds, and should include computer fraud and funds transfer fraud. |
| Association master property policy | The building or buildings and common elements, written on a bare walls, single entity, or all-in form. The form selection drives unit-owner responsibility. |
| Association general liability | Common area premises liability lobbies, hallways, parking, walkways, pools, clubhouses, gyms, and playgrounds. |
| Umbrella and excess liability | Typically carried at both the association and the managing agent level. Essential given New York Labor Law exposure on common-element repair work. |
| Workers' compensation and employers liability | For association-employed staff superintendents, porters, doormen, groundskeepers separate from the managing agent's own payroll. |
| New York disability benefits (DBL) and Paid Family Leave | State-mandated for association employees as well as management firm employees. |
| Employment practices liability | For associations that directly employ staff, and for the management firm's own workforce. |
| Cyber liability | Owner and shareholder personal information, assessment processing, and wire fraud on capital project payments. SHIELD Act obligations apply to associations. |
| Equipment breakdown | Boilers, elevators, HVAC, pumps, and generators serving common elements. |
| Ordinance or law | Code upgrade costs after a partial loss particularly acute in prewar New York City co-ops. |
| Flood and, where applicable, earthquake | Excluded from standard property forms. Relevant in coastal Queens and Brooklyn and in mapped floodplains throughout Westchester and Putnam. |
| Loss assessment coordination | A unit-owner-side coverage the manager should understand well enough to advise residents on without providing individual insurance advice. |
| Pollution liability | Lead, mold, asbestos, fuel oil tanks, and, in northern Westchester and Putnam, septic and well contamination. |
| Terrorism (TRIA) | Frequently required by lenders on New York City cooperative and condominium buildings. |
How This Overlaps With Property Owners' Insurance
In community association work the overlap is three-sided association, unit owner, and managing agent and the master policy form is what allocates it.
What the property owner generally carries
- Master property policy on the building and common elements
- Association general liability for common areas
- Board directors and officers liability
- Fidelity bond sized to association funds and reserves
- Workers' compensation for association-employed building staff
- Unit owner HO-6 or dwelling coverage for unit interiors and loss assessment
What the property manager generally carries
- Managing agent errors and omissions the agent's own professional liability
- The agent's own general liability, property, and cyber coverage
- Employment coverages for the management firm's employees
- Crime coverage for association funds in the agent's custody
- Excess liability at the agent level
Where the two overlap and where claims get contested
- Common area injury claims, which name association and agent together
- Fidelity exposure where the agent controls association bank accounts both need to be insureds
- Reciprocal additional insured status required by nearly every management agreement
- Repair and capital project work triggering Labor Law exposure for both parties
- Owner data breaches, where the agent holds the records and the association owes the notification duty
The four mechanisms that actually allocate the risk
These live in the management agreement, not in the policies which is why the agreement often does more to set your liability than your limits do.
| Mechanism | What it does and why it fails |
|---|---|
| Additional insured status | Extends a policy to the other party for specified exposures. Should run both directions owner names manager on the property's general liability; manager names owner where the agreement requires. One side gets dropped at renewal constantly. |
| Primary and non-contributory wording | Establishes whose carrier pays first. Without it, the two carriers argue about order while you fund your own defense. |
| Waiver of subrogation | Stops the owner's property carrier from paying a loss and then pursuing you for negligent maintenance. |
| Indemnity provisions | Usually mutual: the owner indemnifies for conditions of the property, the manager for its own negligent acts. Worth only the insurance standing behind it confirm your contractual liability coverage responds to what you signed. |
New York-specific complications
- Labor Law §§240 and 241 impose absolute liability on owners, contractors, and their agents for elevation-related injuries. A managing agent with authority to supervise or control the work is a statutory agent. This cannot be contracted away, and it is the strongest argument for excess limits in this state.
- General Obligations Law §5-321 voids lease provisions exempting a landlord from liability for its own negligence. Courts do enforce insurance procurement provisions between sophisticated parties, so the workable approach is to require insurance rather than to disclaim liability.
- General Obligations Law §5-322.1 voids indemnity for one's own negligence in construction contracts. Draft indemnity clauses "to the fullest extent permitted by law" so the clause survives.
- Under Espinal v. Melville Snow Contractors, a managing agent generally owes no independent duty to tenants or visitors unless it launched the instrument of harm, the plaintiff detrimentally relied on its performance, or the management agreement was comprehensive enough to entirely displace the owner's duty to maintain the premises. That third prong is the one that matters: the broader your scope of authority, the more likely you are a direct defendant.
Where gaps typically open
- The manager assumes the owner's general liability covers it; the owner's carrier declines because the claim is pleaded as professional negligence.
- The owner assumes the manager's errors and omissions covers a habitability claim; errors and omissions excludes bodily injury.
- Neither party carries pollution coverage, so lead, mold, and fuel oil claims fall through both programs.
- Vendor certificates expire or lack proper additional insured wording, and an uninsured contractor's injury lands on both parties.
- The manager is an additional insured on the property policy, but only for premises operations not for its own acts.
Service Areas
We work with property managers across New York City, Westchester County, and Putnam County. Each market carries a different exposure profile building age, regulatory environment, flood mapping, and municipal enforcement all vary, and a program written for one will leave gaps in another.
Where We Work NYC, Westchester and Putnam Counties
Zip codes covered
| Service area | Zip codes |
|---|---|
| Manhattan | 10001, 10002, 10003, 10004, 10005, 10006, 10007, 10009, 10010, 10011, 10012, 10013, 10014, 10016, 10017, 10018, 10019, 10021, 10022, 10023, 10024, 10025, 10026, 10027, 10028, 10029, 10030, 10031, 10032, 10033, 10034, 10035, 10036, 10037, 10038, 10039, 10040, 10044, 10065, 10069, 10075, 10128, 10280, 10282 |
| The Bronx | 10451, 10452, 10453, 10454, 10455, 10456, 10457, 10458, 10459, 10460, 10461, 10462, 10463, 10464, 10465, 10466, 10467, 10468, 10469, 10470, 10471, 10472, 10473, 10474, 10475 |
| Brooklyn | 11201, 11203, 11204, 11205, 11206, 11207, 11208, 11209, 11210, 11211, 11212, 11213, 11214, 11215, 11216, 11217, 11218, 11219, 11220, 11221, 11222, 11223, 11224, 11225, 11226, 11228, 11229, 11230, 11231, 11232, 11233, 11234, 11235, 11236, 11237, 11238, 11239, 11249, 11252, 11256 |
| Westchester County | 10501, 10502, 10504, 10505, 10506, 10507, 10510, 10514, 10520, 10522, 10523, 10526, 10527, 10528, 10530, 10532, 10533, 10535, 10536, 10538, 10540, 10543, 10546, 10547, 10548, 10549, 10550, 10552, 10553, 10560, 10562, 10566, 10567, 10570, 10573, 10576, 10577, 10578, 10580, 10583, 10587, 10588, 10589, 10590, 10591, 10594, 10595, 10596, 10598, 10601, 10603, 10604, 10605, 10606, 10607, 10701, 10703, 10704, 10705, 10706, 10707, 10708, 10709, 10710, 10801, 10803, 10804, 10805 |
| Katonah | 10536 |
| Mount Kisco | 10549 |
| Yorktown Heights | 10598 |
| Armonk | 10504 |
| Somers | 10589 (Somers) also serving Amawalk 10501, Baldwin Place 10505, Granite Springs 10527, Lincolndale 10540, Purdys 10578, Shenorock 10587 |
| Brewster | 10509 |
| Bedford Hills | 10507 also serving Bedford Village 10506 and Katonah 10536 within the Town of Bedford |
FAQ for Property Managers
Q: What is the difference between the association's D&O policy and the manager's E&O policy?
Directors and officers coverage protects the board and its individual members for governance decisions how they voted, what they enforced, whom they approved. Errors and omissions protects the management company for the professional services it performs how it administered, reported, contracted, and maintained. The same dispute can implicate both, which is why the management agreement almost always requires each party to carry its own and to name the other.
Q: Does the association's insurance cover the managing agent?
It should, but only if the endorsements are in place. Most management agreements require the association to name the agent as an additional insured on its general liability and to include the agent on its fidelity bond. This reciprocity gets dropped at renewal routinely. Verify it annually and confirm the fidelity bond specifically extends to the agent, not just to association officers.
Q: What is a fidelity bond and how is it sized?
It covers theft of association funds by people with access to them. Bylaws typically set a minimum, and secondary mortgage market project standards commonly reference a level tied to several months of assessments plus reserves. We do not quote figures here the requirement should be read out of the governing documents and lender standards applicable to your specific association.
Q: Bare walls, single entity, or all-in why does the master policy form matter?
It defines the boundary between what the association's policy pays and what the unit owner's policy pays. After a burst supply line, a bare walls form leaves cabinetry, flooring, and finishes to the unit owner; an all-in form does not. Residents make individual coverage decisions based on that boundary, so the managing agent needs to know the form cold and communicate it clearly in writing.
Q: Are co-op boards liable for rejecting a purchase application?
New York co-op boards have broad discretion under the business judgment rule, but that discretion is not unlimited rejections alleged to be discriminatory under federal, state, or New York City human rights law generate real claims. Directors and officers coverage funds the defense. Confirm the form covers non-monetary relief, since injunctive claims are common in this area.
Q: Who insures building staff the association or the management company?
Whoever is the actual W-2 employer. If the superintendent and porters are on the association's payroll, the association carries workers' compensation, disability benefits, and Paid Family Leave. If staff are employed by the management firm and rebilled, those obligations are the firm's. This is one of the most commonly misassigned exposures in the segment, and it usually surfaces at premium audit.
Q: Do HOAs in Westchester and Putnam have exposures that city co-ops do not?
Yes. Suburban associations frequently own private roads, community wells, shared septic or sewer infrastructure, stormwater systems, clubhouses, pools, and extensive grounds. Those create paving, drainage, snow removal, pollution, and amenity liability that a vertical city building does not have. Reserve adequacy for that infrastructure is also a recurring source of board directors and officers claims.
Q: What should a management agreement say about insurance?
It should specify required coverages and limits for both parties, reciprocal additional insured status, primary and non-contributory wording, waivers of subrogation, notice of cancellation obligations, annual certificate delivery, and a mutual indemnity drafted to the fullest extent permitted by law. Have counsel review it against your actual policy forms rather than assuming the two align.
Need to know if you are properly covered ?
They are endorsements that were never added, additional insured status that quietly dropped at renewal, or a management agreement that obligates you to carry something your program does not actually include. Bring the agreements and the declarations pages, and we will read them side by side.