When a community’s insurance binder lands on a board’s desk each renewal, it usually gets a quick look, a vote to approve, and a line item in the next budget. But the binder is also a legal document that has to satisfy a specific list of state statutory requirements — and those requirements differ depending on whether your community sits on the Ohio side of the river or the Kentucky side, and whether it’s a condominium or a planned community/HOA.

In an earlier post, Protecting What Matters, we walked through Ohio’s condo and HOA insurance mandates. This piece picks up where that left off: a refresher on Ohio Revised Code Chapters 5311 and 5312, the corresponding Kentucky statutes for our Northern Kentucky communities, and a behind-the-scenes look at the compliance review Eclipse runs so boards can have an informed conversation with their insurance agent.

A Quick Refresher: Ohio Revised Code 5311 and 5312

ORC 5311.16 — Condominium Associations

Ohio condominium associations operate under ORC Chapter 5311, and Section 5311.16 sets the floor for required coverage. Unless the declaration or bylaws specify otherwise, the board must maintain three core policies:

• Liability insurance for unit owners, tenants, and anyone lawfully on the property, covering personal injury or property damage arising from the common elements.
• Fire and extended coverage on all buildings and structures, in an amount not less than 90% of replacement cost.
• Blanket fidelity, crime, or dishonesty coverage for any person who controls or disburses association funds, covering the maximum funds in custody at any one time plus three months of operating expenses, naming the association as the insured, including the manager and managing agent within the definition of “employee,” and requiring ten days’ written notice before cancellation or substantial modification.

ORC 5312.06 — Planned Communities and HOAs

Ohio HOAs and other planned communities fall under ORC Chapter 5312, the Ohio Planned Community Law. Section 5312.06 requires the owners’ association to maintain, to the extent reasonably available and applicable, property insurance on the common elements, liability coverage for the common elements, directors and officers (D&O) liability insurance, and fidelity, crime, or dishonesty insurance with the same parameters that apply to condominiums under 5311.16. The fidelity expansion was added through Senate Bill 61 in 2022, which clarified who counts as a “person who controls or disburses association funds” — including management company principals and employees, the bookkeeper, and any board officer with authority to sign checks, conduct electronic transfers, or withdraw funds.

A subtle but important distinction: D&O coverage is statutorily required for HOAs in Ohio but not for condominiums. We still strongly recommend it for condominiums, but board members should know whether they’re meeting a legal duty or making a prudent business decision.

The Kentucky Counterparts

For our Northern Kentucky communities, the statutory framework is in KRS Chapter 381, but it splits across three different statutes depending on the type of community and when it was created:

Kentucky Condominium Act (Post-2011): KRS 381.9187

The Kentucky Condominium Act (KRS 381.9101 to 381.9207) applies to condominiums created on or after January 1, 2011, and was modeled on the Uniform Condominium Act. The insurance requirement at KRS 381.9187 is notably more demanding than Ohio’s:

• Property insurance on the common elements covering fire and extended coverage perils, with the total amount of insurance after any deductibles being not less than 100% of actual cash value at the time the insurance is purchased and at each renewal — exclusive of land, excavations, and items normally excluded from property policies. (Compare this to Ohio’s 90%-of-replacement-cost floor — a different measurement and a different percentage.)
• Liability insurance, including medical payments coverage, in an amount determined by the executive board but not less than the amount specified in the declaration, covering occurrences commonly insured against for death, bodily injury, and property damage arising from the operation, maintenance, or use of the common elements.
• A fidelity bond is also addressed by the statute and is a routine expectation for Kentucky condominium associations.

Kentucky Horizontal Property Law (Pre-2011): KRS 381.805 to 381.910

For condominium regimes created before January 1, 2011, the older Horizontal Property Law continues to govern most operational matters, including insurance, unless the association has affirmatively opted into the newer Condominium Act. Several Northern Kentucky communities still operate under this framework. The KCA does, however, override certain provisions for pre-2011 regimes — particularly anything that touches public health or safety — so the board’s executive committee retains authority to act under the modern statute when needed.

Kentucky Planned Community Act (Post-2023): KRS 381.785 to 381.801

Kentucky’s HOA framework is the newest piece. The Kentucky Planned Community Act, enacted as Senate Bill 120 in 2023, applies to planned communities created after June 29, 2023, with insurance requirements addressed in KRS 381.790 alongside budget and assessment provisions. For HOAs created before that date, Kentucky has historically lacked a comprehensive HOA-specific statute, so the governing documents, common-law fiduciary duties, and the Kentucky Nonprofit Corporation Act (KRS Chapter 273) carry most of the weight. That makes the declaration and bylaws especially important for older Kentucky HOAs — in many cases, they are the only binding source of an insurance requirement.

How Eclipse Reviews a Community’s Insurance Compliance

A statutory checklist is only useful if someone actually checks it. Here’s the process we run on every community we manage, typically 60 days in advance of renewal so there’s time to make changes, but also for any new community that joins our portfolio.

Step 1: Confirm the Governing Statutes and Documents

We start by identifying which statute(s) apply: Ohio 5311 or 5312, or one of the three Kentucky frameworks above. For Kentucky communities, this means pulling the recorded master deed or declaration to confirm the date the regime was created. Then we read the insurance article of the declaration and bylaws — because in almost every case, the governing documents impose more stringent requirements than the statute (higher coverage limits, specific endorsements, named insured language). Whichever requirement is stricter is the one we measure against.

Step 2: Inventory the Existing Coverage

We request the current declarations pages, certificates of insurance, and policy schedule from the board or its agent. We’re looking for the binder of policies as a whole: property, general liability, D&O, fidelity/crime, umbrella, workers’ comp, and flood (where applicable).

Step 3: Compare Coverage to Statutory and Document Requirements

This is the line-by-line work. For each required coverage we confirm: does it exist, is it written on the right basis (replacement cost vs. actual cash value), is the limit at or above the statutory and document-required floor, are the right parties named as insured, and do the carve-outs and endorsements match what the law requires? For fidelity coverage specifically, we do the math on “maximum funds in custody plus three months of operating expenses” using the current operating budget and reserve balances, not last year’s numbers.

Step 4: Cross-Check Against Lender and Secondary Market Requirements

For condominium communities, we also cross-reference the policies against Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac project eligibility requirements, which were significantly tightened in March 2026. A community can be fully statute-compliant and still have units that won’t finance because the master policy is missing required endorsements like Ordinance or Law, or because the deductible exceeds allowable thresholds.

Step 5: Document the Gap Analysis

We produce a written summary that lists each requirement, the coverage in place, and a gap or concern flag where applicable. The summary is structured so it can be read by a board member in five minutes and handed to an insurance agent in its entirety without further translation.

Step 6: Facilitate the Conversation with the Agent

We don’t replace the agent — we prepare the board for a productive conversation with the agent. Insurance agents work in jargon; our job is to make sure the board actually understands what’s being recommended and what trade-offs they’re approving.

Step 7: Re-Review Annually and After Major Events

Insurance is not a set-it-and-forget-it line item. We reconfirm coverage at every renewal, after any significant capital improvement (which changes replacement cost), after any board turnover (D&O exposure shifts), and after any state legislation that touches insurance — like Ohio’s SB 61 in 2022 or Kentucky’s SB 120 in 2023.

What Boards Should Do Next

If your community is managed by Eclipse, this review is already part of what we do, and your manager can pull a copy of your most recent gap analysis at any time. If you’re a board member at a community that isn’t currently managed by Eclipse, three quick suggestions:

• Pull your declaration’s insurance article. Understand what specific requirements exist for your association.
• Ask your agent for a written confirmation of statutory compliance. A reputable agent will provide one. If the answer is “we think so,” that’s a gap in itself.
• Confirm the fidelity calculation. This is the single most commonly under-funded line of coverage we see.

Insurance compliance is one of those quiet board responsibilities that never makes the agenda until something goes wrong. The good news is that getting it right doesn’t take a lot of effort with our insurance review process. That’s a service we’re glad to provide for any community in our Ohio and Northern Kentucky service area.

If you’d like Eclipse to perform an insurance compliance review for your community, reach out to us here. We’d be happy to provide an analysis of your association’s coverages and help you surface any gaps that may exist.

This article is informational and is not legal or insurance advice. Boards should consult with their association attorney and a licensed insurance professional before making coverage decisions.