What the association insures, and what is yours

Two policies cover a Florida condominium and the boundary between them is not a matter of negotiation with your carrier. It is written into statute as a list, item by item, and the association is forbidden from covering the things on it. The part that costs people money is not on the list at all: the association insures the building as it was originally built, so a unit that has been renovated is insured back to the original plans and specifications rather than to what is in it now.

Published September 9, 2026

This page exists because the question is asked constantly and answered badly, usually by someone describing their own building's practice as though it were the rule. It is not practice. Section 718.111(11) is a statute, it contains an explicit list, and the list is the answer.

1. What the association must insure

The association's property insurance must cover "all portions of the condominium property as originally installed or replacement of like kind and quality, in accordance with the original plans and specifications" — together with all alterations or additions made to the condominium property or association property.

Read that clause slowly, because two phrases in it do most of the work. As originally installed. In accordance with the original plans and specifications. The association insures the building the developer delivered.

2. What it may not insure, which is your side of the line

The statute excludes the following from the association's coverage. This is not a menu — an association cannot elect to cover these:

All personal property within the unit or the limited common elements
Floor, wall and ceiling coverings
Electrical fixtures
Appliances, water heaters, water filters
Built-in cabinets and countertops
Window treatments — curtains, drapes, blinds, hardware and similar components
Replacements of any of the above within the boundaries of the unit

That list is the practical definition of what an HO-6 is for. The Florida Department of Financial Services describes the HO-6 as covering personal property and the building items the association's policy does not, plus personal liability, and describes the covered structural features as those within the four exterior walls of the unit.

The renovation trap, stated plainly. Suppose the original unit had builder-grade tile and stock cabinets, and you replaced them with stone and custom joinery. After a covered loss the association's obligation runs to the original plans and specifications. The difference between what you installed and what was originally there is not a gap in someone's paperwork — it is the boundary the statute draws, and it lands on your policy. A renovated unit needs its dwelling coverage set against what is in it now, and almost nobody revisits that figure after the work is done.

3. What your policy has to carry, by law

Section 627.714 sets a floor on one specific coverage, and it is the one that connects your policy to the association's finances.

Loss assessment coverage — the statutory minimum

Minimum amount: At least $2,000 in property loss assessment coverage, for all assessments made as a result of the same direct loss
Maximum deductible: No more than $250 per direct property loss
No double deductible: Where a deductible was or will be applied to other property loss from the same direct loss, no deductible applies to the loss assessment coverage
Timing: Responds regardless of the date of the assessment by the association

Loss assessment is what pays when the association suffers an insured loss, its own policy does not cover the whole of it, and the shortfall is assessed across the owners. Two thousand dollars is a statutory minimum rather than a sensible amount — in a large Miami tower an assessment following a serious casualty can be a multiple of it, and the coverage is usually available in far higher limits for very little money.

The trap inside the trap. Loss assessment responds only where the underlying peril is covered by your own policy. If the association's loss was a flood and your HO-6 excludes flood — as most do without a separate flood policy — the assessment arising from it is not covered, however large your loss assessment limit. In a coastal county that is not a hypothetical.

4. Who actually does the rebuilding

Under 718.111(11), all reconstruction work after a property loss must be undertaken by the association, except as otherwise authorized in the section. A unit owner may undertake reconstruction of portions of the unit with the board's prior written consent. Where damage results from an owner's negligence or intentional conduct, the cost is charged to that owner as an assessment.

So the sequence after a casualty is not "call my carrier and hire a contractor." It is the association's project, on the association's timetable, with your policy meeting the parts of the loss the statute puts on your side of the line.

5. What to actually do about it

Get the declaration and the current master policy declarations page. The statute sets the floor; the declaration and the policy tell you how this building sits on it.
Find the association's deductible. On a large tower it can be a percentage of insured value and a very large number, and it is the first thing an assessment after a loss is made of.
Set your dwelling coverage against what is in the unit now, not against what the developer installed — especially after a renovation.
Raise loss assessment well above the $2,000 minimum, and check whether the perils you are exposed to are actually covered by your own policy.
Ask about flood separately. It is not in a standard HO-6 and it is the peril most likely to produce an assessment on this coastline.

How a special assessment actually arrives — the mechanism loss assessment coverage exists to meet
Reading an association budget — where the insurance line sits, and why it has moved
The reserve study — the other statutory cost driver
Property tax on a unit you do not live in — the third fixed cost, and the one the listing never mentions
What the return on a unit depends on

What this page does not cover

It does not tell you what to buy or from whom, and it does not price anything — that is a licensed insurance agent's work, and Florida's property market has moved enough since 2022 that any figure quoted here would be stale before it was useful. It also does not cover cooperatives, which are Chapter 719, or homeowner associations, which are Chapter 720. Both have their own insurance provisions and this page has read the condominium one.

What does a Florida condo master policy cover?

Under Fla. Stat. 718.111(11) the association must insure all portions of the condominium property as originally installed, or replacement of like kind and quality in accordance with the original plans and specifications, together with alterations or additions made to the condominium property or association property. The key limit is "as originally installed" — the association insures the building the developer delivered, not later upgrades inside a unit.

What is the unit owner responsible for insuring?

The statute excludes from association coverage: all personal property within the unit or limited common elements, floor, wall and ceiling coverings, electrical fixtures, appliances, water heaters, water filters, built-in cabinets and countertops, and window treatments including curtains, drapes, blinds and hardware — plus replacements of any of those within the unit boundaries. That list is what an HO-6 policy is for.

If I renovated my unit, who insures the upgrades?

You do. The association's obligation runs to the original plans and specifications, so the difference between the finishes you installed and the ones originally there falls on your own policy. A renovated unit should have its dwelling coverage reset against what is actually in it, and that is the step most owners skip after the work is finished.

How much loss assessment coverage does Florida require?

At least $2,000 for all assessments made as a result of the same direct loss, with a deductible of no more than $250 per direct property loss, under Fla. Stat. 627.714. Where a deductible was or will be applied to other property loss from the same direct loss, no deductible applies to the loss assessment coverage at all. The $2,000 is a statutory minimum, not a recommendation — assessments after a serious casualty in a large tower routinely exceed it.

Will loss assessment coverage pay for a flood-related assessment?

Only if flood is a covered peril under your own policy. Loss assessment responds where the underlying peril is covered by the unit owner's policy, and a standard HO-6 excludes flood unless separate flood coverage is in place. In a coastal county that gap is the most likely one to be tested.

Who repairs the building after a hurricane — me or the association?

The association. Fla. Stat. 718.111(11) provides that all reconstruction work after a property loss must be undertaken by the association except as otherwise authorized in that section; a unit owner may undertake reconstruction of parts of the unit with the board's prior written consent. Where damage results from an owner's negligence or intentional conduct, the cost is charged to that owner as an assessment.

Before you buy, ask for three documents. The declaration, the master policy declarations page, and the association's current deductible. Together they tell you where the line falls in that specific building and what an assessment after a loss would be made of. Send the building and Stefania will tell you which of the three the association there actually produces on request, and what the recorded documents say about reconstruction.

Sources

Every figure on this page traces to one of these. Where a rule changed, the date it changed is stated.

Fla. Stat. 718.111(11) — Condominium association insuranceThe Florida Senateretrieved September 9, 2026
Fla. Stat. 627.714 — Residential condominium unit owner coverage; loss assessmentThe Florida Senateretrieved September 9, 2026
Homeowners' Insurance: a toolkit for consumersFlorida Department of Financial Servicesretrieved September 9, 2026

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Send the building or the unit and Stefania will come back with the real numbers — the fee, the reserve position, and what comparable units actually traded at.