Wisconsin's own condo-insurance fact sheet says an HO-6 'usually provides $1,000'
Wisconsin's own condo-insurance fact sheet says an HO-6 'usually provides $1,000'
2026-09-21 · Wisconsin · Regulation
The Wisconsin Office of the Commissioner of Insurance reissued its condominium insurance fact sheet in July 2025. It tells unit owners that a standard policy “usually provides $1,000 of coverage,” and that they must ask their agent whether they are covered for a special assessment at all.
Fact Sheet PI-068, “Condominium Insurance,” carries a revision date of 07/2025. It is consumer guidance, not a rule.1
What it says about the two policies
On the association's side:
“Unit owners form a condominium association to manage units and to form an entity owning the common elements. The association owns the condominium building(s) and may own other property, such as a clubhouse or swimming pool. Generally, such property is insured by the association. The association policy should cover the basic structure and common property as well as liability for injuries on common property. To be certain that you fully understand your insurance responsibilities and those of the association, check with your association board and insurance agent.”
Note the verb. The fact sheet says what an association policy “should” cover. Nothing in it requires a Wisconsin association to carry any particular master policy, because the fact sheet is describing practice rather than imposing a standard.
On the owner's side:
“Homeowners Form 6 (HO-6) is a package of insurance specifically designed for condominium owners. As a condominium owner, you do not need to purchase insurance on the building you occupy. An HO-6 policy usually provides $1,000 of coverage. Higher limits of coverage are available at additional cost. You may want to purchase insurance providing coverage for alterations, appliances, fixtures, and improvements made as part of the building within the condominium unit.”
The loss-assessment paragraph, and the word “check”
Loss assessment coverage is what responds when an association levies an assessment after a loss the master policy does not fully cover. The fact sheet's treatment of it:
“Loss assessment coverage provides additional coverage when the condominium association levies an assessment to cover expenses for direct losses to the common property. For example, if someone is injured on common property, such as a swimming pool, the courts could award a judgment higher than the amount of liability coverage provided by the condominium association policy. Loss assessment coverage would also provide coverage for damage to commonly owned buildings not fully covered by insurance. Check with your agent to see if loss assessment coverage is included in the policy. Additional coverage may be available for an increased premium.”
“Check with your agent to see if” is the state's own description of the position a Wisconsin condominium owner is in. The coverage that stands between an owner and a common-element special assessment is not assumed to be present.
The regulator's silence around it
PI-068 is the only condominium-specific document Wisconsin's insurance regulator refreshed in this window, and it sits in an otherwise empty field. Every bulletin OCI issued from 2024 through the current listing concerns health insurance, agent licensing and appointments, premium-tax submission, artificial intelligence in insurance, or claim-processing timelines. None addresses homeowners insurance, condominium insurance, master policies, loss assessment, deductibles, property rate filings or nonrenewal.2
Meanwhile the mortgage market has been moving on association insurance from the other direction. Fannie Mae's 2026 project-standards update capped per-unit deductibles at $50,000 effective July 1, 2026, retired the mandate requiring master policies to carry automatic inflation guard coverage, and requires master policies to provide coverage equal to at least 100 percent of estimated replacement cost value from January 1, 2027.
The other numbers in the fact sheet
These are the state's stated typicals, useful because they are the reference points a Wisconsin owner is given.
Additional living expense: “The typical policy will pay an amount of up to 40% of your personal property limit.” Personal liability: “The liability coverage, usually $100,000, pays for any damages you are legally obligated to pay… Personal liability insurance does not have a deductible… Liability coverage also requires the insurer to defend a claim against you.” Medical payments: “The basic medical payments coverage limit is usually $1,000 per person.” Trees, plants and shrubs: 10 percent of the personal property limit, up to $500 per item. Umbrella coverage: “the basic coverage limit for this separate policy is $1 million… usually sold with a deductible ranging from $250 to $1,000.”
Cancellation, nonrenewal and flood
On mid-term cancellation the fact sheet states that companies may not cancel during a policy term unless the insured stops paying premiums, there has been material misrepresentation, there has been a substantial change in the risk assumed “except to the extent the company should reasonably have foreseen the change or contemplated the risk,” or the contract is otherwise breached.
On nonrenewal: “The insurer may refuse to renew your policy. If a company is going to refuse to continue covering you, it must provide you with written notice at least 60 days in advance so you have time to find other insurance. If the cancellation is because you have not paid premiums on time, only 10 days' notice is necessary.”
On flood: “Typical condominium insurance does not cover flood losses. If your community is a participant in the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), you are eligible for federally sponsored flood insurance coverage for your condominium.”
That last line has a date attached to it this month. The National Flood Insurance Program's authorisation runs to September 30, 2026, and Congress has not reauthorised it as of today. The product a Wisconsin association buys to cover a whole building against flood — the Residential Condominium Building Association Policy — is an NFIP product.
Our Wisconsin insurance requirements page covers what chapter 703 and a declaration require, which is a separate question from what a policy pays.
Where the real exposure sits
Wisconsin's published appellate law on association insurance is thin and points in one direction. The controlling decision holds that an association's deferred-maintenance decisions can produce an insured “occurrence” under a commercial general liability policy, while the directors-and-officers errors-and-omissions endorsement — the product boards most often think of as their protection — excluded property damage and covered none of it.
What to watch next
PI-068 carries OCI's standard publications disclaimer and no rule-making status, so it changes nothing by itself. What would change something is a bulletin, and Wisconsin's regulator has not issued one on property or condominium insurance in three years. Whether the 2027 reserve and insurance requirements arriving through the mortgage market prompt one is the open question.
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