individual flood insurance-damage to common areas?

What do you mean "climate change throws a curveball"? Ever hear of Noah's Ark in the Bible?

Assuming your building was underinsured, you'd likely get an assessment to cover the shortfall. In such a case, your unitowner's policy may cover you under the "loss assessment" provision. This is a type of coverage that can insulate you from large assessments due to un or underinsured losses incurred by the co-op. It's easy to increase the limit for loss assessment coverage for a few dollars as a potential way to protect against the scenario you described. Check with your insurance agent.

Lanzz,
Thank you so much. By "unit owner's policy"--do you mean just normal homeowner's insurance? Or individual flood insurance?

Thanks again!

Coy

Unit owner's policy = normal homeowner's insurance.

CoyWolf, respectfully, Lanzz is not correct. The normal homeowner's insurance does not cover flood losses and will not cover assessments due to flood damage to common areas. Excluded perils, such as flood, are excluded under all coverage grants. I am not aware of any flood coverage that an individual can obtain that would cover damage to common areas.

Looks like this company might allow you to add flooding to the "loss assessment"… Pls look under "Optional Coverage Enhancements*"…. I'll do more research and report back to the forum! ;-)

http://www.platinumpartnersma.com/active/WebDoc.asp?s=2089378175&P=975232

another source (http://www.rmiia.org/homeowners/Walking_Through_Your_Policy/Homeowners_QA.asp#What_is_not_covered) says that, at the very least, a homeowner can be a SEPARATE policy to cover floods (and earthquakes)

Q. What Isn't Covered?

What about floods, earthquakes and other catastrophes?

A. Many homeowners policies cover damage caused by "just about anything," unless specifically excluded. Most catastrophes are covered. For example, wind damage from hurricanes or tornadoes is covered as a windstorm peril.

But, flood damage and earthquake damage are NOT covered by a standard homeowners policy. A separate policy is required.

Why aren't floods and earthquakes covered by my homeowners policy?

A. Flood and earthquake activity is more widespread than many people realize. Nine out of ten Americans live in seismically active areas. Since 1900, earthquakes have occurred in 39 states and caused damage in all 50. And if your home is located in a flood-prone area, you are 26 times more likely to suffer flood damage than fire damage.

You may want to check with your agent about special catastrophic policies for normally excluded conditions like floods and earthquakes.

Oops: "the previous post should say "a homeowner can BUY a SEPARATE policy to cover floods."

Caveat: My previous 2 posts resulted from a random Google search. Not sure if the info I discovered would necessarily apply to every state

OOPS. Please ignore the 2 links (in my previous 3 posts). Neither of those links proves that a homeowner can buy insurance that covers assessments due to flood damage to COMMON areas.