Who pays for water damage
in a condo on the Grand Strand

THE BASIC RULE

The HOA insures and repairs the building

South Carolina condo law puts two duties on the HOA. It has to insure the building. It has to repair the insured parts when they are damaged. Both duties sit with the board, not with you.

The money moves in an order. Insurance pays first. The reserve fund pays next. Whatever the repair still costs after that is a shared expense. Every owner pays a share of it, set by their percentage in the master deed.

That surprises most buyers. The bill does not follow the unit the water reached. It follows the ownership percentages. A leak in one unit can put a charge on all of them.

• ✓The law sets no dollar amount. It does not say how much cover the HOA has to buy, which events have to be covered, or how big the deductible can be. The master deed and the policy decide that.
• ✓The repair duty has two exits. The HOA can skip a repair only if rebuilding would break a law or a health rule, or if 80 percent of owners vote not to rebuild.
• ✓Roofs, foundations and main walls are shared parts. A pipe inside a wall may or may not be. The master deed draws that line.
• ✓A regular HOA is not a condo. If the community is not a condo, state law puts no insurance duty and no repair duty on the association at all.

WATER FROM UPSTAIRS

Water from the unit above you

This is two questions, and they have different answers. The first is who fixes your ceiling, your walls and your paint. If the damaged part is one the HOA had to insure, the HOA repairs it. Anything insurance and the reserve do not cover gets shared by all owners.

The second is whether the owner upstairs owes you money for what you lost inside your unit. State condo law does not answer that. Your own policy is usually the faster route. If you believe you are owed, talk to a South Carolina attorney. This page is general information, not legal advice.

You do not have to guess at any of this. Send us the master deed and the building policy summary before you write an offer, and we will show you where your unit ends and what a deductible could cost you.

THE DEDUCTIBLE

The deductible is what owners pay

A building policy pays a covered loss minus its deductible. Someone has to cover that gap. State law treats the deductible as a repair cost above the insurance money, so it is a shared expense, split by percentage.

Your lender expects that cost to reach you. Most lenders want your own condo policy to cover deductible charges the HOA passes down, and to cover loss assessments. Those are two different coverages. Have your insurance agent confirm both in writing.

Some building policies carry a per unit deductible, which is charged to the unit where the loss started. If the building policy has one, your own policy has to be big enough to absorb it. Ask the HOA in writing how it handled the deductible the last time the building had a claim.

• ✓Ask for the deductible in dollars. A policy can state it as a percentage. The dollar figure is the one that would get split among owners, so get that number.
• ✓Ask how the last one was paid. Some HOAs take it out of reserves. Some bill owners directly. The answer tells you what would probably happen next time.
• ✓Ask if the HOA insures its own deductible. Some buy cover for it. If the deductible is large, that changes how much could land on you.
• ✓Ask what is not covered at all. A deductible only matters on a covered loss. Flood and rising ground water are usually left out of a building policy, so ask about those separately.

WIND

Wind deductibles cost the most here

On this coast, wind is the loss that turns a deductible into a real bill. Most building policies here carry a separate deductible for wind, and often another for named storms. A named storm is one that has been given a name or a number.

A wind deductible is usually far larger than the regular one. It is often written as a share of the building's insured value rather than a flat number, so it moves when the building is revalued. Ask for it in dollars, not in percent.

Wind cover on the Grand Strand has been repriced hard. Older wooden buildings close to the ocean have the hardest time getting it. Ask when the building policy last renewed, and what happened to the wind deductible when it did.

BEFORE YOU OFFER

Read these papers before you offer

Every question on this page can be answered before you are locked in. The papers already exist. The problem is timing. Most buyers never see them until after they close.

You do not have to wait on the HOA for all of it. A master deed is recorded at the county, so it is public. A buyer under contract has no legal right to the rest, so the seller has to request it. Have them start early. Expect an HOA to take a few days.

Send us the documents the day you get them. They go through our analysis tool and a person reads the output within minutes. Ask us for the document list before you start touring, so you are not chasing paper while the clock runs on a contract.

• ✓The unit description in the master deed. It says where your unit ends. That line decides which policy covers your cabinets, floors and paint.
• ✓The building policy summary page. Look for the deductible for a single event, and for any separate wind or named storm deductible.
• ✓Your own condo policy. Check that it covers HOA deductible charges and loss assessments, and that the limit is high enough for a per unit deductible.
• ✓Any open claim or pending assessment. A loss that already happened but has not been paid for is the one that lands on you after closing.
• ✓The HOA costs due at closing. Most charge a few months of dues up front, plus a document fee and a fee to open your account. Ask early and it is not a surprise.

Sources. South Carolina condo law (2026); South Carolina HOA law (2026); Lender master policy rules (2026); Lender unit owner policy rules (2026); South Carolina coastal insurance report (2026). Verified July 2026. This is general information about how associations work, not legal or tax advice.

Keep reading

The rest of the HOA guide

• ✓What HOA and regime fees cover. Read more.
• ✓Which HOA documents to ask for. Read more.
• ✓Who owes a special assessment when the unit sells. Read more.
• ✓How well an association has funded its reserves. Read more.
• ✓What coastal insurance costs in Myrtle Beach. Read more.
• ✓What South Carolina HOA law does and does not do. Read more.

Worried about who pays for a leak?

The master deed decides, not the law. We read it before you buy.

Common questions

Who Pays for Damage FAQ