Wow. No one that I know took out insurance for only their personal belongings as you suggest. My policy covered not only belongings but also everything in the unit. My coverage limit was intended to cover replacing everything in the unit.
Where there is a question on coverage, my insurer and the association insurer would figure out who is responsible for what.
You were on the ball. How did you determine how much for coverage A? Your responsibility for your interest in the building ? The typical HO-6 provides 10% of coverage C, your personal property limit. So, if you took out $75,000 of coverage for your personal property, you'd get an automatic $7,500 for your responsibility in the improvements and betterments. How did you decide how much to take for your improvements and betterments ?
When I had clients buy a condo unit and asked them what was their responsibility, most didn't have a clue. They just said "I only have to insure my stuff inside" I asked for a copy of their association by laws, and it said that they had to insure everything from the sheet rock out. Including fixtures such as sinks, toilets, kitchen cabinets and such. How do you put a figure on that ? You bought a condo unit for $300,000. How much of that is common area covered by the association and how much of it is Improvements and Betterments that you have to insure ? Nobody knows.
I never once saw a unit owner get good advice from their association for what was their responsibility to insure.
Even harder. How does the association know how much to insure their property for ? Most new units are sold with fixtures built in. Who buys a brand new condo with no paint, cabinets, flooring or fixtures ? So the unit is sold and these fixtures are built into the cost of the sale, how is the unit owner to know how much of this they should insure ? The buyer bought it turn key, not as a unit, plus betterments and fixtures.
Easy question for anyone buying a condo unit. Ask the seller, association president, realtor and any insurance guy "who is responsible for insuring the kitchen cabinets, sink, toilet, hardwood floors and wall paper ?" The association or me ? Then ask them to break down what each is worth in the selling price. Oh, Replacement Cost please. Not Actual Cash Value.
Nobody knows til there is a loss a loss then insurance companies review the association by laws, that the association set up themselves. That tells who is responsible who pays for what. And everybody wants replacement cost. Then everyone gets mad.
Sorry for the rant....I've just seen too many bad experiences with underinformed associations and unit owners. Don't blame the big bad old insurance companies, the associations made the rules. Typically from some boiler plate agreement that they don't understand. Even if a lawyer on the board helped draft it.
If you want a good association insurance agreement, get a little old pencil pushing retired claims specialist from an insurance company on your board.