Condo and HOA claims: master policy vs unit owner, and who pays.

The split, at a glance

A condominium is one building with two insurance regimes. The association carries a master policy on the structure; every owner carries an HO-6 on the inside of their unit. A hurricane hits both at once, taking the roof, the drywall, and the kitchen cabinets in one pass, but the two policies split the bill. The first question in every condo claim is which side of the statutory boundary each piece of damage falls on.

The practical trap: a hurricane that breaches the roof (association) and floods the units below (owner interiors) produces two claims on two policies with two adjusters, and each has an incentive to push scope onto the other policy. The owner whose ceiling collapsed is told to look to the association; the association points at the owner’s HO-6. Reading the statutory list before the argument starts is the difference between a coordinated claim and a stalemate.

The statute: § 718.111(11)

Florida’s Condominium Act does not leave the master-vs-unit line to the declaration alone; it writes it into statute. Fla. Stat. § 718.111(11)(f) requires the association to insure all portions of the condominium property as originally installed, or replacement of like kind and quality, and to exclude a specific list of items that become the unit owner’s responsibility. That list is the whole ballgame:

FLA. STAT. § 718.111(11)(f) · THE UNIT-OWNER CARVE-OUT (STATUTORY WORDING)

"… all personal property within the unit or limited common elements, and floor, wall, and ceiling coverings, electrical fixtures, appliances, water heaters, water filters, built-in cabinets and countertops, and window treatments, including curtains, drapes, blinds, hardware, and similar window treatment components, or replacements of any of the foregoing which are located within the boundaries of the unit and serve only such unit."

Read it closely: everything on that list is the owner’s to insure and the association’s to exclude. The master policy is primary on the property it must cover (for policies issued or renewed on or after January 1, 2009), so a unit owner cannot be forced to run their HO-6 first on structural damage the association is required to insure. When a carrier or a board tries to shove structural loss onto owners’ policies, the statute is the answer.

The reconstruction duty follows the insurance duty. Under § 718.111(11)(g), unit owners are responsible for the cost of reconstructing any portion of the condominium property they are required to insure, and that obligation is enforceable as an assessment. The line the statute draws for insurance is the same line it draws for who has to rebuild.

The unit-owner HO-6

The HO-6 is the homeowners form built for exactly this gap. It insures the unit interior, the "walls-in" or "studs-in" build-out the master policy excludes, plus the owner’s personal property, betterments and improvements, personal liability, and loss of use while the unit is uninhabitable. In a condo, the HO-6 is not optional padding; it is the only policy standing behind the exact list of items § 718.111(11)(f) hands to the owner.

Three HO-6 line items decide most hurricane claims. First, Coverage A (dwelling / building property) must be high enough to rebuild the interior to its current, upgraded condition, not the developer’s original finishes. Second, betterments and improvements: a renovated kitchen or an upgraded floor is the owner’s to insure, and an under-scheduled HO-6 leaves the upgrade uncovered. Third, loss assessment (the coverage that absorbs the owner’s share of the association’s deductible, covered next). The HO-6 limits are set by the policy and the ISO form, not by statute; the statute only defines the boundary the HO-6 has to fill.

The deductible pass-through

Here is where condo owners get blindsided. A Florida condominium master policy carries a hurricane deductible, commonly 2% to 5% of the insured building value, computed on the whole structure. To illustrate with round numbers: on a hypothetical $40,000,000 oceanfront tower, a 3% hurricane deductible would be $1,200,000 the association must absorb before the master policy pays a dollar. That money does not come from nowhere. Your building’s value and deductible percentage, and therefore the dollars, will differ; read your master policy.

Under Fla. Stat. § 718.111(11)(j), all property-insurance deductibles and damages in excess of the master policy’s coverage are a common expense of the condominium. The board can levy a special assessment to fund the deductible, and, because it is a common expense, it can generally do so without a membership vote. Each owner owes their proportionate share by unit. Continuing the same example, a $1,200,000 deductible in a 200-unit building would leave an owner with a 0.5% interest owing roughly $6,000 before a single interior repair is paid, with the real figure turning on the actual deductible and each owner’s share.

FLA. STAT. § 718.111(11)(j) · DEDUCTIBLE AS COMMON EXPENSE (STATUTORY WORDING)

"All property insurance deductibles … and other damages in excess of property insurance coverage under the property insurance policies maintained by the association are a common expense of the condominium."

The pass-through is legal, it is fast, and most owners never see it coming until the assessment letter arrives. It is also exactly the loss that HO-6 loss-assessment coverage exists to pay, which is why the next section matters more than any other line on the policy.

Loss-assessment coverage

Loss-assessment coverage is the HO-6 add-on that pays the unit owner’s share of a special assessment the association levies for a covered common-area loss, including the master-policy hurricane deductible passed through under § 718.111(11)(j). It is the only coverage aimed at that pass-through, and it is almost universally under-bought.

The problem is the default limit. Many HO-6 policies include loss-assessment coverage at a $1,000 default, a figure set for a routine special assessment, not a catastrophe deductible. Against a pass-through share that can run five figures after a major hurricane, $1,000 is a rounding error. Coastal Florida owners are routinely advised to raise it to $10,000, $25,000, or $50,000, at a premium cost measured in tens of dollars a year. There is one further catch worth reading in your own policy: some forms cap the portion of a loss-assessment claim attributable to the master-policy deductible at a sublimit (often $2,000) even when the overall loss-assessment limit is higher.

The board’s fiduciary duty

The unit owner’s claim depends on decisions the board made long before the storm. Under § 718.111(1)(a), the association’s officers and directors owe unit owners a fiduciary relationship. Under § 718.111(11)(a), the association must use its best efforts to obtain and maintain adequate property insurance, and "adequate" is defined: replacement-cost coverage based on an independent insurance appraisal or valuation update performed at least once every 36 months.

Those duties are where board-level failures become owner-level losses. A board that under-insured the building below replacement cost, let the required appraisal lapse, or chose a high hurricane deductible to shave the premium has set the size of every owner’s eventual assessment. After a major storm, the adequacy of the master policy (and whether the board met its statutory best-efforts and appraisal obligations) is a live question, and it is one an owner facing a five-figure assessment is entitled to ask.

Surfside, SB 4-D & the reserve laws

The June 24, 2021 collapse of Champlain Towers South in Surfside killed 98 people and rewrote Florida condominium law. The legislature responded with SB 4-D, signed May 26, 2022. Two mandates matter most for the finances behind a hurricane claim:

• Milestone inspections (Fla. Stat. § 553.899). Buildings three stories or taller must undergo a structural milestone inspection. SB 154 (2023) set a uniform 30-year trigger, with local agencies free to require inspection at 25 years where conditions, including proximity to salt water, warrant. The phase-one inspection is due within 180 days of the local agency’s written notice.
• Structural integrity reserve studies (§ 718.112(2)(g)). Buildings three stories or taller must complete a SIRS covering the roof, structure, fireproofing, plumbing, electrical, waterproofing, windows, and exterior doors. Critically, SB 4-D removed the association’s ability to waive or underfund reserves for these structural components.

SB 154 (2023) and HB 1021 (2024) refined the timing: owner-controlled associations existing on or before July 1, 2022 had to complete their SIRS by December 31, 2024, and mandatory full funding of structural reserves phases in with the 2026 budget. The insurance consequence is compounding: a building that must now fund structural reserves in full, may face milestone-inspection repair findings, and carries a rising hurricane deductible hits its owners with all three at once. After a storm, the special assessment an owner receives is often not just the hurricane deductible, it is the deductible layered on top of reserve funding the law no longer lets the board defer.

Florida vs. South Carolina

Statutes and deadlines summarized as of July 2026 and drafted for education, not verified by counsel, and association governing documents can shift specific items. Read your declaration and your policies, and verify current statute text before relying on it.

Condo and HOA hurricane claims: the questions owners ask

Independent informational resource. Not legal advice. Statutes are drafted for education and have not been verified by counsel; consult an attorney about your specific claim. Florida statute sections cited to the 2024 statute text at flsenate.gov.