Condo Insurance in Florida

There are two kinds of special assessment in a Florida condominium, and your insurance responds to only one of them.

An assessment arising from a covered loss — most commonly the association’s hurricane deductible being passed through to owners after a storm — is what loss assessment coverage on your HO-6 is built for.

An assessment for structural repairs or reserve funding — the work coming out of milestone inspections and Structural Integrity Reserve Studies — is not a covered loss. It is a maintenance and reserve obligation, and no insurance policy responds to it.

That distinction matters right now because the second kind is the one arriving in Florida mailboxes, and it is arriving at ten thousand, fifty thousand, and sometimes over one hundred thousand dollars per unit.

The first kind is insurable, and most owners carry the statutory minimum without knowing it. The second kind is not insurable at all, and most owners do not know that either.

Why Assessments Got Large

Three pressures arrived at once, and they compound.

Milestone inspections. Condominium and cooperative buildings three or more habitable stories tall must undergo structural inspections at defined ages — generally thirty years, or twenty-five for buildings near the coast — with a Phase 1 visual assessment and, where deterioration is found, a more invasive Phase 2. Repairs identified in Phase 2 must begin within a defined period and cannot be deferred by a membership vote.

Structural Integrity Reserve Studies. Associations must complete a SIRS identifying the reserve funding required for specified structural components. Unlike traditional reserves, funding for those components cannot be waived by owner vote.

A hard insurance market. Association master policy premiums rose sharply while the first two requirements were phasing in.

Buildings that had underfunded reserves for years are now catching up on a statutory deadline, discovering deferred structural work through inspection, and paying more for insurance — simultaneously. The result reaches unit owners as higher monthly dues and as special assessments.

Confirm the current thresholds, deadlines, and requirements with qualified counsel or your association’s engineer, because these provisions have been amended repeatedly since 2022.

Compliance Now Affects Insurability

This is the development most unit owners have not heard about.

Citizens Property Insurance is prohibited from issuing or renewing policies where the association has not complied with milestone inspection and SIRS requirements, and private carriers have moved in the same direction. Associations submit SIRS data to the state, and that data is visible to lenders and insurers.

The practical consequence for you as a unit owner: your building’s compliance status affects your ability to obtain coverage and a buyer’s ability to obtain financing. A non-compliant association is a problem for every owner in it, not just for the board.

If you do not know whether your building has completed its milestone inspection and SIRS, that is worth finding out. You have a right to see the reports.

What the Association’s Policy Covers and What It Leaves You

Florida Statute §718.111(11) defines the division between association and unit owner responsibility, and it is more specific than most owners assume.

Broadly, the association’s master policy covers the building structure and common elements. What remains with the unit owner generally includes:

Interior finishes and improvements — flooring, cabinetry, countertops, built-in fixtures, wall coverings, and anything installed within the unit.

Personal property, at limits that reflect what is actually in the unit.

Personal liability, for injuries occurring inside the unit.

Loss of use, covering the increase in living expenses if the unit is uninhabitable after a covered loss.

Loss assessment, discussed above.

Two things make this harder than it sounds. Master policies differ, so what your building covers is not necessarily what the building next door covers. And the allocation is renegotiated in the declarations, so reading the association documents matters as much as reading the statute.

Ask your association for a copy of the master policy declarations page. An HO-6 written without knowing what sits above it is written blind.

What Loss Assessment Coverage Actually Does

Under Fla. Stat. §627.714, a Florida unit owner’s residential property policy must include at least two thousand dollars of property loss assessment coverage, subject to a deductible of no more than two hundred fifty dollars.

The critical qualifier is in the statute: the coverage applies to assessments resulting from a direct loss to the property, where that loss is of a type covered by your own policy.

What that reaches. The association suffers a covered loss — a hurricane, a fire, a major water event. The master policy carries a deductible, and on a Florida hurricane claim that deductible is a percentage of the building’s insured value rather than a flat amount. On a large building it is substantial. The association pays it and passes the cost to owners as a special assessment. Your loss assessment coverage responds to your share.

What it does not reach. An assessment for structural repairs, reserve catch-up, concrete restoration, balcony work, or anything else arising from inspection findings rather than from a sudden covered loss. There was no direct physical loss of a covered type, so there is nothing for the coverage to attach to.

That is the harder half of the news, and it is worth being direct about: the assessments most Florida condo owners are facing right now are not insurable. What you can insure is the storm-driven assessment, and most owners carry the statutory minimum against a percentage deductible on a building worth many millions.

Raising that limit is inexpensive. It is worth doing, and it is worth understanding what it will and will not do.

One operational detail worth knowing: for a storm-driven assessment to trigger loss assessment coverage, the board should state the reason clearly — naming the covered loss in the notice and in the recorded minutes. An assessment described vaguely is harder for every owner in the building to claim against their own policy. Boards that understand this help their owners; boards that do not, do not.

Wind, Flood, and Where They Sit

Windstorm is typically covered under the association’s master policy for the building, subject to a percentage hurricane deductible. Your exposure to it is the assessment.

Flood is excluded from every property policy, including the master policy unless separately purchased. Associations in coastal or low-lying buildings usually carry it; some do not. And even where the association carries flood, the coverage applies to the building — your interior improvements, personal property, and loss of use are separate.

Unit owners can purchase flood coverage on the contents and interior. For ground-floor and low-elevation units, that is worth doing regardless of what the association carries.

Water damage from within the building — a supply line failing in the unit above yours — is the most common condo claim there is, and where it lands depends on the declarations, the master policy, and negligence. Your HO-6 covers your interior and your belongings; whether anyone reimburses you afterward is a separate question.

What to Get Right on Your HO-6

Dwelling or building property coverage sized to the actual cost of rebuilding your interior — not a default figure. If you renovated the kitchen, that number changed.

Personal property on a replacement cost basis rather than actual cash value, with valuables scheduled if you own anything meaningful. Jewelry, watches, and art are capped by sub-limits regardless of your total coverage.

Loss assessment at a level that reflects what buildings in Florida are actually assessing. This is the number to revisit first.

Loss of use, sized to what temporary housing costs in your area during season.

Personal liability, with an umbrella above it if your assets justify one.

Questions Worth Answering This Year

• What is your loss assessment limit, and when was it last increased?

• Has your building completed its milestone inspection and SIRS?

• Is there a special assessment currently under discussion?

• Have you read the association’s master policy declarations page?

• Does the master policy carry flood, and does it cover your interior?

• Does your building property limit reflect renovations you have made?

• Is your personal property at replacement cost?

Condo Insurance Across Florida

Atlantis Insurance places HO-6 coverage for condominium owners across the Treasure Coast — Stuart, Jensen Beach, Hutchinson Island, Port St. Lucie, Fort Pierce, and Vero Beach — along with Jupiter and Palm Beach County, and on Florida’s west coast in Fort Myers, Cape Coral, Port Charlotte, and New Port Richey.

Coastal buildings, older buildings, and buildings working through milestone and SIRS compliance are where the unit owner’s exposure is largest and where the policy needs the most attention.

850 NW Federal Highway, Suite 129, Stuart, FL 34994

561-983-4333

General information only, not legal advice. Florida statutory requirements for milestone inspections, structural integrity reserve studies, association insurance, and unit owner responsibility have changed repeatedly and continue to evolve. Confirm current requirements with qualified counsel, and refer to your association’s governing documents and your own policy for the terms that apply to your unit.