Insurance Guidelines and Requests for Certificate of Insurance
Olde Ivy Owners:
As each Association is a separate legal entity, each Association is insured separately with specific deductible requirements for covered losses under each policy. Please be aware that neither you nor the Property Manager have the legal authority to file an insurance claim on any Olde Ivy Association’s policy. If you have any potential insurance issues, please contact your Association’s Board directly.
All of the Olde Ivy Association master policies are insured through Bouvier Insurance. If your bank, mortgage lender, or financial institution requires a copy of the master insurance policy, you can request this, at no charge, on their agency’s website at www.binsurance.com.
Follow along the prompts and the certificate will be issued as needed for your lender. If at any time you need to speak with a Bouvier Insurance employee, feel free to call them at 877-817-1747.
Olde Ivy Condo Insurance
The master insurance policy for the Condo Association currently carries a $2,500 deductible. If your unit suffers damage from a covered cause of loss under the master policy, you would be responsible for the $2,500 deductible on that claim.
Your unit-owner policy (commonly referred to as an HO6 policy) can and should be written to cover the master policy deductible expense. The coverage varies from insurance carrier to insurance carrier. Generally, coverage for the master policy deductible is found under “Coverage A – Dwelling”, however sometimes this coverage may need to be added by a specific endorsement, and alternatively some carriers cover this under “Loss Assessment”. It’s important to speak with your own agent as to how they will cover this exposure properly for your benefit.
If multiple units are damaged due to a covered peril, the master policy deductible will be apportioned in an equitable manner among those units that suffered the damage.
Additionally, the master policy for the Condo Association insures the buildings and units back to their “original specifications” dating back to the first date of conveyance from developer to first unit-owner. Any improvement or betterments made to your unit since that time need to be insured for under this “Coverage A – Dwelling” limit as well.
Manor at Olde Ivy Insurance
The master insurance policy for the Manor currently carries a $25,000 deductible and a separate $75,000 per occurrence water damage deductible. If your unit suffers damage from a covered cause of loss under the master policy, per state law and the Declaration for the Association, your responsibility for the master policy deductible would be as follows:
$5,000 for any covered peril, EXCEPT from water damage
$75,000 for any damage caused by water – Examples include, but are not limited to, burst water pipes, sprinkler head activation, bursts or leaking hoses from washers, toilets, faucets, dishwashers, refrigerators, condensate lines, or hot water tanks.
Your unit-owner policy (commonly referred to as an HO6 policy) can and should be written to cover the master policy deductible expense. The coverage varies from insurance carrier to insurance carrier. Generally, coverage for the master policy deductible is found under “Coverage A – Dwelling”, however sometimes this coverage may need to be added by a specific endorsement, and alternatively some carriers cover this under “Loss Assessment”. It’s important to speak with your own agent as to how they will cover this exposure properly for your benefit.
If multiple units are damaged due to a covered peril, the master policy deductible will be apportioned in an equitable manner among those units that suffered the damage.
Additionally, the master policy for the Manor Association insures the buildings and units back to their “original specifications” dating back to the first date of conveyance from developer to first unit-owner. Any improvement or betterments made to your unit since that time need to be insured for under this “Coverage A – Dwelling” limit as well.
Olde Ivy Townhome Insurance
The master insurance policy for the Townhomes currently carries a $20,000 deductible and a separate $20,000 per unit water damage deductible. If your unit suffers damage from a covered cause of loss under the master policy, per state law and the Declaration for the Association, your responsibility for the master policy deductible would be as follows:
$20,000 for any covered peril, EXCEPT from water damage
$20,000 per unit for any damage caused by water – Examples include, but not limited to, burst water pipes, sprinkler head activation, burst or leaking hoses from washers, toilets, faucets, dishwashers, refrigerators, condensate lines, or hot water tanks.
Your unit-owner policy (commonly referred to as an HO6 policy) can and should be written to cover the master policy deductible expense. The coverage varies from insurance carrier to insurance carrier. Generally, coverage
for the master policy deductible is found under “Coverage A – Dwelling”, however sometimes this coverage may need to be added by a specific endorsement, and alternatively some carriers cover this under “Loss Assessment”. It’s important to speak with your own agent as to how they will cover this exposure properly for your benefit.
If multiple units are damaged due to a covered peril, the master policy deductible will be apportioned in an equitable manner among those units that suffered the damage, except for on water losses where the deductible will be applied on a per unit basis.
Additionally, the master policy for the Townhomes insures the buildings and units with an “All-Inclusive” or “All-In” insuring agreement that includes coverage for betterments and improvements made by you or prior unit-owners to the unit. This will affect how much coverage you actually need to carry on your Coverage A – Dwelling limit. Make your personal agent aware of this provision in the master policy.
General Insurance Guidance
None of the Olde Ivy Associations have an insurable interest in your own personal contents and therefore, none of the master policies insure your personal belongings. You must insure your own contents on your HO6 policy under “Coverage C – Contents”. It’s important to take an inventory of your belongings and insure them to value. There are online calculators that can help determine appropriate limits and again a conversation with your current agent is always warranted.
The next coverage on the HO6 policy is called “Coverage D – Loss of Use”. In the event of a large claim at the Association where your unit in uninhabitable, this coverage will pay for additional living expenses and temporary residences while your unit is being restored. Depending on the severity of the loss, some restorations can take up to a year or more to rebuild. Again talk to your agent about the specifics of this coverage.
“Coverage E – Personal Liability” is for incidents that happen within your unit. The sub-associations with the Neighborhood Association insures the common area of the communities; however, unit-owners need to insure for bodily injury claims which happen inside the unit (or patio area if your deed includes this area). Bouvier Insurance recommends having a $500,000 limit on your Coverage E and also would highly recommend discussing a personal Umbrella policy with your agent as well.
“Coverage F – Medical Payments” should be automatically included on the standard HO6 policy. This is a “good-faith coverage” to cover medical expenses for injured parties within your unit. No negligence needs to be found for this coverage to apply. Again this should automatically be included, but double check with your agent about what limits your carrier will allow you to purchase.
There are several coverages that also need to be addressed by endorsement, “Loss Assessment” and “Water/Sewer Back-up” to name two. “Loss Assessment” coverage is triggered if the master policy limits for become exhausted due to claim/s and the Association needs to assess the excess cost to the unit-owners. General recommendations on loss assessment coverage is to buy as much as you can afford or your policy carrier will allow (it varies carrier to carrier).
Water and Sewer back-up coverage needs to be added by endorsement as well. These claims can be more costly than anticipated and it is recommended to have this endorsement included on your policy to protect
your own contents if they are damaged in such a loss. An ancillary reason for having Water Back-up coverage on your HO6 policy, is because if there is a Loss Assessment conducted by the Association for a large Water Back-up claim that has exhausted the master policy limits, your HO6 policy’s “Loss Assessment coverage” will only apply if your policy also covers Water Back-up. The two coverages are linked in this way.
It is encouraged that every unit-owner to take digital photographs of their units and store it in a cloud-based server for documentation purposes. In the event of a large claim, these photographs will be very helpful to repair and restore your unit correctly. Again please speak with your personal agent about the coverages mentioned here and also to find out about any other coverages or endorsements that are offered to protect your better. These recommendations are meant to be assistive and are not exhaustive to your personal situation. Discussing your insurance needs with a licensed insurance agent is paramount to being insured correctly.