Assessing After the Storm: Emergency Powers, an Unsettled Claim, and the Money You Have to Raise Now

Jason Hamilton Mikes, JD, MBA
Founder & Managing Shareholder

• Published September 26, 2026
• Reviewed by Jason Hamilton Mikes, JD, MBA, September 26, 2026
• Florida Statutes as of July 1, 2026
• Applies to: Condominiums · HOAs · Cooperatives

After a hurricane the association needs money before it knows what anything costs. The claim is open, the engineer's scope is preliminary, and the restoration contractor wants a deposit this week. Florida gives boards real authority to assess and to borrow without going to the owners, and real limits on that authority. Assessments are almost never challenged on the power. They are challenged on the amount, the purpose, the notice, or what happened to the money when the claim settled.

What emergency powers actually let you do

Two conditions have to be met first: an emergency as defined in § 252.34(4), and a state of emergency declared under § 252.36 covering the locale. A hurricane producing a gubernatorial or county declaration for Lee, Collier or Charlotte County meets both. A burst riser at two in the morning does not. Once both are met, the assessment and borrowing powers are on.

Three things follow that boards get wrong. First, the lettering differs by chapter, because the HOA statute lacks the condominium evacuation power and the power to contract on an owner's behalf, so everything below shifts up two letters. Citing § 718.1265(1)(l) in an HOA resolution cites a provision that does not exist in your chapter.

Second, the power is not a suspension of the documents. Each statute permits the board to act unless specifically prohibited by the declaration, articles or bylaws, and consistent with § 617.0830. A declaration that caps a special assessment or requires a member vote is not overridden.

Third, the limit in subsection (2) of each statute is narrow and enforceable: the powers run only for the time reasonably necessary to protect health, safety and welfare, and must be reasonably necessary to mitigate further damage, injury or contagion and to make emergency repairs. Drying out, securing, removing wet materials and structural repair fall inside that. The pool resurfacing you deferred in 2023 does not, and pairing it with genuine storm work in one assessment taints the whole levy. Our guide to emergency board decisions covers the trigger and the record.

Sizing an assessment against a claim that has not settled

The temptation is to assess the shortfall. There is no shortfall yet, because there is no settlement. What you can size is cash need against a scope. Work from the bottom up:

1. Scope what has to be done in the next 90 to 180 days, from the engineer's report and the invoices in hand, not from the full restoration estimate.
2. Subtract cash actually in the bank that is lawfully available.
3. Subtract only insurance money you have received. A reserve set by an adjuster is not money. An estimate is not money. A partial payment that has cleared is money.
4. Add the deductible, which is never covered and is the largest predictable number in the exercise.
5. Add a contingency you can defend, and say in the notice what it is for.
6. Divide by the allocation stated in your declaration, rather than assuming it is per unit.

Then stage it. A smaller first assessment for the near-term scope, with a stated possibility of a second, is more defensible and easier to collect than one large number built on guesses. It also avoids a large surplus that has to be dealt with under § 718.116(10). Say plainly in the notice that the amount rests on current information, that insurance recoveries are not yet known, and that a further assessment may be necessary.

One habit to break: do not net an expected recovery against the assessment. If the claim settles below the adjuster's reserve, the association has under-assessed and must return to the owners with a second levy in an environment that has turned hostile. Our article on insurance claim documentation covers the proof that moves a claim toward a real number faster.

Deductibles, proceeds and what the assessment is actually funding

In a condominium the interaction is statutory. Under § 718.111(11)(c) the board sets the deductible at a duly noticed meeting, and it must be consistent with industry standards and prevailing practice for communities of similar size, age, construction and facilities in the locale. Under § 718.111(11)(j), property damaged by an insurable event is reconstructed by the association as a common expense for the portions it insures, and the deductible and damages in excess of coverage are a common expense, except where the damage arises from an owner's intentional conduct, negligence or breach of the documents.

That is why the deductible drives the assessment. A named windstorm deductible stated as a percentage of insured value is a very large number before a single covered dollar is paid, and it is a common expense from day one. Price it against your insured value before the season, not after the loss. Then keep three buckets separate:

• Insurance proceeds, restricted to the covered loss and, where the policy or the documents require, applied to reconstruction before any other use.
• The deductible and uncovered damage, which are common expenses and are what a storm assessment properly funds.
• Owner responsibility, whatever § 718.111(11)(j) and the declaration put on the unit owner, billed to that owner rather than spread across the membership.

Mixing the three in one account is how associations lose the ability to prove that special assessment funds went to the noticed purpose. Use a separate account and reconcile monthly. Our guides to condominium insurance responsibilities and special assessments take the allocation apart in more detail.

Notice, purpose and the paper that holds up

An emergency assessment can be levied without an owner vote and, in a condominium, outside the 14-day notice requirement, because § 718.112(2)(c)1. applies to a nonemergency special assessment. That is a reason to be more careful with the notice, not less, because the notice is the only document defining what the money may be spent on.

Section 718.116(10) requires the specific purpose to be set out in a written notice to each unit owner, restricts the funds to those purposes, and makes any excess common surplus on completion. Section 719.108(9) does the same for cooperatives. Chapter 720 contains no equivalent, so an HOA board's discipline on purpose comes from its fiduciary duty and its own notice rather than from the statute. Write the notice so it can be read three years later by someone hostile:

1. State the purpose in enough detail to be auditable and in enough categories to be flexible: structural repair, roof replacement, water intrusion remediation, the deductible, professional fees.
2. State the total, the per-unit or per-parcel amount, and how it was allocated under the declaration.
3. State the due dates and the installment schedule.
4. State that the amount rests on current information and that a further assessment may be necessary.
5. State how surplus will be handled, tracking the statutory language for your chapter.
6. Attach or reference the board resolution and the professional advice it relied on.

Then minute the levy: the facts before the board, the advice relied on, the alternatives considered, the motion and the recorded vote. For an HOA, § 720.303(2)(c)2. requires 14 days' notice of any meeting at which special assessments will be considered, without the nonemergency carve-out. Our guide to special assessment planning covers the ordinary version of this process.

Owners who cannot pay, and collection after a disaster

A meaningful share of owners will not pay on time, and the reasons will be real: additional living expenses, a damaged unit, a fixed income. The association still has to fund the repair, so delinquency is a cash flow problem before it is a legal one.

The statutory machinery does not change because of the storm. Unpaid condominium assessments bear interest at the declaration rate, defaulting to 18 percent per year, plus an administrative late fee of up to the greater of $25 or 5 percent if the documents allow, and every payment is applied first to interest, then the late fee, then costs and reasonable attorney fees, then the delinquent assessment, § 718.116(3). Cooperatives run the same way under § 719.108(3)(a) and HOAs under § 720.3085(3)(a) and (3)(b). The notice sequence is unchanged too: a 30-day notice of late assessment before attorney fees, § 718.121(5); 45 days after a notice of intent to file a lien, § 718.121(6); and 45 days after notice of intent to foreclose, § 718.116(6)(b). The HOA sequence sits at § 720.3085(3)(d), (4)(a) and (5).

Where boards have discretion is in what they do inside that framework:

• Adopt the payment plan policy before the assessment, not after the first default. A written policy applied uniformly answers the selective treatment complaint. Our note on collection policy covers the terms.
• Set installments the community can actually pay. A twelve-month schedule that collects beats a 60-day schedule that produces forty liens.
• Decide in advance whether interest and late fees are waived under a plan, and apply that decision to everyone.
• Do not stop the clock informally. Deferring enforcement by silence for some owners and not others builds a selective enforcement defense.

A foreclosure filed the month after a hurricane against an owner whose unit is uninhabitable is a poor exhibit, and it does not produce cash faster than a payment plan.

Lines of credit, loans and disaster lending

Borrowing is often better than assessing, and boards under-use it because it feels like debt rather than prudence. A line of credit smooths the cash requirement and avoids over-assessing against an unknown claim.

The authority runs from several places. The general corporate power to borrow, issue notes and secure obligations by mortgage or pledge of property or income is at § 617.0302(6), subject to the governing documents. During a declared emergency the board may borrow and pledge association assets without owner approval under § 718.1265(1)(m), § 719.128(1)(m) or § 720.316(1)(k). For condominiums there is also a structural repair route at § 718.112(2)(f)2.c.: reserves for the paragraph (g) items may be funded by regular assessments, special assessments, lines of credit or loans, with a special assessment, line of credit or loan under sub-sub-subparagraph (I) requiring approval of a majority vote of the total voting interests. Sub-sub-subparagraph (II) lets a unit-owner-controlled association that must have a SIRS secure a line of credit or loan for capital expenses required by a milestone inspection under § 553.899 or a SIRS, with funding immediately available to the board without further member approval.

Whichever route you use, look at the same terms: whether assessments are pledged as collateral, the draw period and the cost of keeping the line open, prepayment terms for the day the insurance money arrives, budget covenants, and personal guarantees, which nobody should sign.

Federal disaster lending is a different instrument. SBA disaster loans are available to nonprofit organizations including many community associations after a presidentially declared disaster, on deadlines running from the declaration rather than from your claim. Check eligibility early, but do not treat it as a substitute for assessing.

Surplus: refunding, crediting or reallocating when the claim settles

Eventually the claim settles, and often the association is holding more money than the noticed purpose required. This is where a well-run assessment goes wrong.

In a condominium, § 718.116(10) answers it. Funds collected may be used only for the purpose set forth in the notice. On completion of that purpose, any excess is common surplus, and the board may return it to the unit owners or apply it as a credit toward future assessments. Cooperatives have the same structure at § 719.108(9). Chapter 720 has no comparable provision, so an HOA board is governed by its own notice, its declaration and its fiduciary duty, and the cleanest practice is to write the surplus treatment into the notice when it levies.

Three traps.

• Reallocating mid-project. Money collected for roof replacement does not become available for the lobby because the roof came in under budget. The restriction runs until the noticed purpose is complete.
• Refunding to the wrong owner. Units sell. Decide whether the refund follows the payer or the current owner, and say so in the notice at the outset.
• Quietly folding the surplus into operating. It shows up in the audit, and it is the fact pattern that produces a breach of fiduciary duty claim rather than a disagreement.

A credit against future assessments is usually simpler, and it is expressly permitted in condominiums and cooperatives. It avoids the ownership-change problem and is visible to every owner on the next statement.

Telling buyers, lenders and everyone who asks

A pending or partially paid storm assessment follows the unit, and the association is expected to disclose it. Two disclosure points are fixed by statute.

Estoppel certificates are the main one. A condominium association must issue one within 10 business days of a written or electronic request, and it must include an itemized list of all assessments, special assessments and other moneys owed, and of amounts scheduled to become due after the date of issuance, § 718.116(8). Section 720.30851 imposes the equivalent obligation on an HOA and § 719.108(6) on a cooperative. A certificate that omits the second installment because it has not been billed yet is the one that produces a claim after closing.

Resale disclosure is the other. On a non-developer resale, § 718.503(2) requires the seller to furnish the declaration, articles, bylaws and rules, the annual financial statement and annual budget, the frequently asked questions document, and, where they exist, the milestone inspection summary and the most recent structural integrity reserve study or a statement that none has been completed. The buyer's cancellation right runs 7 days, excluding Saturdays, Sundays and legal holidays. Keep those documents current, because a budget that predates the assessment tells the buyer nothing about it.

Lenders also ask detailed structural and financial questions on secondary market questionnaires, and an inconsistency between the questionnaire, the estoppel certificate and the minutes is found immediately. Answer from one source, and update the package the week the assessment is levied rather than the week a closing is scheduled. Our guide to reviewing financial reports covers where the assessment should appear in the association's own statements.

Contact Hamilton Mikes

Hamilton Mikes helps condominium, cooperative and homeowners association boards in Lee, Collier and Charlotte Counties structure and document storm assessments, review association lines of credit and loan terms, coordinate the assessment with an open insurance claim, and handle the collection and disclosure that follow. Call 239-594-7227 or visit our Assessment Collection page.