subject: What To Do With Your Co-op Insurance With Specific Losses [print this page] When it comes to your home suffering damage, you feel vulnerable. If you live in a community setting, such as a condo or an apartment building, things get a little more complicated. That's why you need to have a clear understanding of what you must absolutely cover and what the building association absolutely needs to cover for you. But each kind of property loss is slightly different- fires and water damage being polar opposites but still very stressful, and theft being its very own issue. So, what do you do in each case with your co-op or condo insurance?
When your home has a fire, you want to protect your property from further damage. Turn off the power and drain plumbing, just about anything that could have destroyed wiring or piping in the aftermath. You then must document what was destroyed--furniture, fixtures, and personal items may be covered in your co-op insurance policy. The things that will be covered by your building are the shared property, such as if the building itself went aflame, not just your personal space. You should contact your agent about the policy to see what they can do for you.
For water damage you will need to isolate the source of the water, regardless of it being a leak from outdoors or a broken pipe. Turn off electricity within the area. Try and dry out what you can, and take photographs of potential structural issues as well. Photographs will be necessary to get the right amount of money to cover rebuilding or maintenance costs, as they would in a fire. Water damage, just like fire, will require specialists and possible contract work to fix.
After a theft you will need to notify the police. Make an inventory of stolen property. If anything specific was covered in your policy, then you need to inform your agent of it. Smaller damages like windows may not be covered by the building or the policy, but you should still double check before replacing them.
These are just a few of the basic things that you must be clear about when reporting an incident not only to the building but to your own co-op or condo insurance company. You should always check your policy annually, and especially after a loss to be sure that anything you were missing this time will not be overlooked should any damage or theft happen to you again.
by: Mark Etinger
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