The bill nobody warns condo owners about doesn't come from a storm. It comes from the HOA, after one.
When a loss at the building exceeds the master policy's limits — or the association owes a large master-policy deductible — the HOA can divide the shortfall among unit owners as a special assessment. Your share arrives as an invoice, and it's due whether or not your own unit was touched.
Loss assessment coverage can pay your share of a covered assessment, up to the limit you select, and it comes in real sizes here: $10,000, $25,000 or $50,000. Many condo policies build in a token $1,000–2,000 and stop; limits that reach $50,000 are sized for how assessments actually run in buildings with big roofs and bigger deductibles.
Don't guess — look up two numbers: your association's master policy deductible (increasingly five or six figures, especially for wind/hail) and divide by the number of units. That's the floor of what you're exposed to on a single bad day. Pick the limit that covers it.
One caution worth asking explicitly: many policy forms apply a separate, lower cap to assessments arising specifically from the master policy deductible, even with a higher overall limit purchased. Whether your limit fully reaches a deductible-driven assessment depends on the form — ask us that exact question and bring your CC&Rs.
You own a unit in a 40-unit Sugar House building. Hail destroys the roof, the master policy pays — minus its $250,000 wind/hail deductible, which the association doesn't have sitting in reserves. The board votes a special assessment: $6,250 per unit, due in 60 days, and it applies to you whether or not a single hailstone touched anything you own. With loss assessment coverage at the $10,000 limit, a covered assessment like this one can be paid by your policy, subject to its terms. Without it, that's a $6,250 personal check for a roof you don't individually own.
