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First thing first you need to do is contact the association and make them aware of the issue, regardless if the claim is your responsibility or the neighbors responsibility. The association should then be able to tell you if this is a claim covered under the association’s insurance policy (every association insurance policy is different and not all cover the same parts of the structure), or of this is something that needs to be filed under your supplemental H0-6 townhome insurance policy.
If you do end up having to file a claim under your H0-6 policy for damages, your insurance company will eventually look to subrogate for damages against the responsible party (your neighbor and his insurance company), which should allow you to recoup your policy deductible as well as remove the claim from your insurance policy.
Justin is dead on. I was president of an owners association for years and this is the route things have to go. The main thing is that the likes of Service Master gets involved asap (they will need an insurance co. to sign on before they start work) . They can either do the whole job–clean up and repairs(sub-contract the repairs if need be) or the owners/association can lead the way. Your homeowners ho6 should definitely be involved from the start…
Normally, if it is anything originating inside the sheet rock walls of a unit, the homeowners will pay. If it originates inside the walls–it is the association insurance that pays. ( if the problem/damage was caused by a unit owner, the association’s insurance company will come after the homeowners insurance) But as Justin says…some associations can be very different than others. But most would operate that way per state statute)
