HOA's as additional Insureds?

[E & O Guy]

I have an HOA whose covenants require the unit owners to have their property carrier name the HOA as an additional insured on the unit owner's policy. Has anyone heard of this before, and how can any carrier be required to do this if the named insured does not agree to it?

[Big Dog]

First, it's a requirement of the HOA covenant, which essentially makes it a contractual requirement. Quite common for a condo association.

[E & O Guy]

while this may seem like a contractual obligation of the unit owner, does the unit owners have to comply? We (a large carrier) will not name additional insured 's just because the named insured asked us to. The carrier is not under any contractural obligation to do so.

[championpatriot]

I know this an older post, but I had recent issues with this and I just joined the forums so I thought I would let you know what happen with me.

I am an Agent and I had an insured request additional insured for an HOA for a birthday part he was doing for his grandson, he wanted to rent one of those bouncy playpens on the HOA's park. My underwriter denied the request due to the fact that the HOA has NO insurable interest on the Home itself, and when you add an additional insured, it is also attached to the home, and there is no way to single out just he liability portion. I did tell him that others were doing it, and the HOA's are requesting it on a regular basis, and he told me the reason it is still be done because they may not have been involved in a law suite yet. But the insurance company I represent has looked into the laws and made that a policy of the company.

[fseigel]

If you are having a "special event", even one as simple as a birthday party, you may want to purchase a "Special Event" policy, which can include the Liquor Law Liability, if you are serving liquor. Under that policy, you can add the Home Owner Association as an AI. The premium could be as little as $350. Both USLI and Nautilus write them every day.

[LadyBroker]

I just re-read the initial post. Are you asking about naming the HOA as an additional insured for the LIability portion of a Condo Owners policy, or are you asking about naming the HOA as part of the Loss Payee?

[gregcw]

I have an HOA whose covenants require the unit owners to have their property carrier name the HOA as an additional insured on the unit owner's policy. Has anyone heard of this before, and how can any carrier be required to do this if the named insured does not agree to it?

Under both the ISO and the AAIS forms contractual liability is extended to written contracts.

ISO (a) That directly relate to the ownership, maintenance or use of an insured location or (b) Where the liability of other is assumed by the "insured' prior to an "occurrence"

AAIS (a) That directly relates to the ownership, maintenance or use of an insured location or (b) If the contract was made before the loss.

Both policy forms exclude assesments made by homeowners associations but this appears to be a contractual liability issue and as such would be covered by the contract.

As such they do not have to be Named on the policy for the liability coverage to extend to he HOA as an 'Additonal Insured' and they also would not be recieving any property coverage under the Homeowners policy.

[flemingtwin]

My problem has been HOA insisting they have something in writing that states they are a Named Insured. We have tried to talk to the staff at these places and let them know that we can add them as an additional interest. My clients are upset because they need to purchase event coverage ($169 to $350) for a child's birthday party. The association then tells them that "everyone else" will send them a one day event listing them as additional insured and costs nothing. I think the problem is an educational one from our offices to the offices in the HOA not understanding the difference between Additional Insured and Additional Interest. None of my carriers will extend coverage to the HOA in this case. Does anyone else have a cure for the request from HOA for the one day event coverage to use the common grounds? They will not accept the a verbal they are automatically covered under the contractual language and want something in writing, which the insurance carriers will not do.

[d's insurance store]

My clients are upset because they need to purchase event coverage ($169 to $350) for a child's birthday party. The association then tells them that "everyone else" will send them a one day event listing them as additional insured and costs nothing. I think the problem is an educational one from our offices to the offices in the HOA not understanding the difference between Additional Insured and Additional Interest. None of my carriers will extend coverage to the HOA in this case.

You know...any agency that does a lot of personal lines has faced this kind of situation where 'everyone else' is used by those not even in the business to imply that your service is deficient is more than one way and just why are you making life so difficult for your insured and the HOA, anyway??! I've heard it over these kinds of special events...claim situations...proactively trimming trees, etc.

And you know what? After 20+ years in this business, I've taken the position that in a situation like this, the 'everyone else' is just punching out an Acord cert with the proper language and getting on with their day, and leaving it to the folks at "E&O" to deal with if there's a claim.

This is one of those deals where everything's fine until there's a claim, and having correct knowledge of the contract just pisses everybody off.

My advice...thinking that a condo policy is only a few bucks to the agency anyway...even with existing x-lines...and having been in situations where I've stood my ground, documented it and deflected E&O claims, I'd dig in and call their bluff and let 'em walk and just shrug and realize that I can't please everybody and I'm certainly not going to jeopardize my E&O to salvage $100 per year in commissions. Let the direct writers or stupid agencies issue the bad certs and sort it out if some kid falls down and bumps their head. You've already most likely lost whatever revenue you've received from this account by the amount of time you've spent on this project.

My best for a cooperative client list.