Condo & HOA Insurance Claim Attorneys, FL

Reviewed by Jason Hamilton Mikes, JD, MBA · September 23, 2026 · Florida Statutes as of July 1, 2026

Florida Community Association Insurance Attorneys

Insurance issues touch nearly every aspect of community association operations. Coverage questions often arise long before a claim occurs and frequently become more complicated after a loss. For a Southwest Florida association, insurance is also the single largest line item in most budgets, the subject of the most difficult board decisions after a hurricane, and the area where a procedural misstep can cost a community six or seven figures.

Hamilton Mikes helps associations understand their obligations, evaluate potential exposures, structure coverage that fits their governing documents, and address insurance-related disputes with carriers, contractors, and owners.

What Florida Law Requires the Association to Insure

Florida's community association statutes and each community's governing documents allocate insurance responsibilities between the association and its owners. Getting that allocation right, before a loss, avoids the most common post-storm disputes.

For condominium associations, Chapter 718 requires the association to use its best efforts to obtain and maintain adequate property insurance for the condominium property, based on the replacement cost of the property to be insured, as determined by an independent insurance appraisal or update at least once every 36 months. The association's policy must cover all portions of the condominium property as originally installed, with specific statutory exceptions that fall to the unit owner: personal property, floor, wall and ceiling coverings, electrical fixtures, appliances, water heaters and filters, built-in cabinets and countertops, and window treatments. Unit owners insure those items through their own policies, and the statute also determines how the association's deductible and reconstruction costs are shared after a casualty.

Chapter 718 further requires the association to maintain insurance or fidelity bonding for every person who controls or disburses association funds, in an amount equal to the maximum funds in the association's custody at any one time. Homeowners associations under Chapter 720 and cooperatives under Chapter 719 have parallel duties shaped by their governing documents, including fidelity coverage for those handling funds.

Our attorneys review declarations, bylaws, and policy forms together, because the three documents frequently disagree about who insures what. We help boards resolve those conflicts through amendments, insurance resolutions, and owner education before the next storm season.

The Association's Insurance Program

A complete program for a Southwest Florida community typically includes property coverage with windstorm, flood coverage through the National Flood Insurance Program or private markets, general liability, directors and officers (D&O) liability, fidelity or crime coverage, umbrella coverage, and, where the association has employees, workers' compensation. Many clubs and marinas also carry liquor liability, marine operators' legal liability, and dock and pier coverage.

We help boards:

Read policy forms, endorsements, exclusions, and co-insurance provisions before binding coverage
Evaluate windstorm and hurricane deductibles, ordinance-and-law coverage, and law-and-ordinance limits that drive rebuilding costs
Understand what flood policies do and do not cover for common elements, units, and contents
Coordinate insurance requirements with reserve planning, milestone inspections, and Structural Integrity Reserve Studies, which insurers increasingly request before binding or renewing coverage
Structure D&O coverage that actually responds to the claims boards face, including breach of fiduciary duty, election disputes, discrimination allegations, and covenant enforcement suits
Adopt insurance resolutions and owner notices that explain deductible allocation and reconstruction responsibilities in plain language

Insurance Claims After a Loss

Florida's property insurance laws have changed substantially since 2021, and the changes matter most in the weeks after a hurricane. Notice of a new property insurance claim generally must be given to the carrier within one year of the date of loss, and supplemental or reopened claims within eighteen months. Assignments of post-loss policy benefits to contractors are no longer permitted for policies issued after January 1, 2023, so restoration contracts must be structured differently than they were after Hurricane Irma. Public adjuster compensation is capped for claims arising from a declared emergency. And the elimination of one-way attorney's fees in property insurance litigation has changed the economics of coverage disputes for associations.

Hamilton Mikes represents associations throughout the claim process:

Preparing and preserving the claim: prompt written notice, documentation of damage, mitigation, and coordination among the association, its owners, and their carriers
Working with adjusters, engineers, and restoration contractors so the scope of loss is fully captured
Evaluating partial denials, depreciation, matching disputes, and code-upgrade issues
Invoking appraisal, state-sponsored mediation, or other dispute resolution mechanisms when a carrier undervalues the loss
Litigating coverage disputes and bad-faith claims when negotiation fails
Managing the interaction between the association's claim and individual unit owner claims for the same event

Contractor and Vendor Insurance

Insurance is also a contract issue. Every vendor agreement an association signs should require certificates of insurance, appropriate limits, additional-insured status for the association, and waiver-of-subrogation language where appropriate. We review roofing, restoration, landscaping, security, elevator, and management contracts for insurance provisions and indemnity clauses that protect the community when a worker is injured or a project goes wrong.

Communities We Serve

Condominium Associations

We assist Condominium Associations with property insurance, windstorm coverage, flood insurance, liability policies, appraisal proceedings, claims administration, and coverage disputes.

Homeowners Associations

We advise Homeowners Associations (HOAs) regarding property coverage, liability policies, D&O insurance, clubhouse coverage, flood matters, and recreational-facility risks.

Cooperative Associations

We assist Cooperative Associations with insurance coverage, claims, directors and officers insurance, risk allocation, and policy interpretation.

Mobile Home Communities

We help Mobile Home Communities address storm losses, liability claims, property coverage concerns, and insurance recovery matters.

Frequently Asked Questions About Association Insurance

Who pays the hurricane deductible in a Florida condominium?

Under Chapter 718, the association's deductible is generally a common expense, and the association is responsible for reconstructing the portions of the property it is required to insure. Owners are responsible for the items excluded from the association's policy, such as flooring and cabinetry. An association may, by a vote of its owners, opt out of the statutory allocation and follow its declaration instead, so the answer for a particular community depends on whether that vote has occurred.

How often must a condominium association appraise its buildings for insurance purposes?

Chapter 718 requires the replacement cost used for property coverage to be determined by an independent insurance appraisal or update at least once every 36 months. Many associations appraise more often after major construction inflation or a large reconstruction project.

How long does an association have to report a hurricane claim?

Florida law generally requires notice of a new property insurance claim within one year after the date of loss, and notice of a supplemental or reopened claim within eighteen months. Because the clock runs from the storm, not from the discovery of damage, boards should report promptly and document everything.

Can our association sign an assignment of benefits with a restoration contractor?

For property insurance policies issued on or after January 1, 2023, assignments of post-loss benefits are prohibited. Contractors must be engaged and paid under conventional contracts, which makes contract review before signing more important than ever.

Does our association need directors and officers insurance?

Chapter 718 does not mandate D&O coverage, but the governing documents of most communities require it, and no board should serve without it. D&O policies respond to fiduciary duty, election, discrimination, and enforcement claims that general liability policies exclude. We review policy forms so boards understand what is actually covered.

What should the association do if the insurer's estimate seems too low?

Do not accept the carrier's estimate as final. Retain qualified experts to document the full scope of loss, respond in writing, and consider appraisal or mediation under the policy and Florida law. Hamilton Mikes helps associations decide which mechanism fits the dispute and represents them through the process.

Contact Hamilton Mikes

Contact Hamilton Mikes, P.A. at 239-594-7227 to discuss association insurance issues, claims, and coverage concerns. Related services: Disaster Recovery, Construction, Risk Management, and Budgeting and Financial Reporting.

About this page. This page is published by Hamilton Mikes, P.A. for general educational purposes. It is not legal advice, it is not a legal opinion, and it is not a substitute for advice from a lawyer who has reviewed your association's governing documents and the facts of your situation. Reading it, downloading it, or corresponding with the firm about it does not create an attorney-client relationship. No such relationship arises until the firm and the client have signed a written engagement agreement. Please do not send confidential or time-sensitive information to the firm until a conflicts check has been completed and an engagement is confirmed in writing; information sent before that point may not be treated as privileged.

Scope and currency. This article addresses Florida law as applied to Florida community associations, and the firm is licensed to practice in Florida only. Nothing here should be taken as a statement of the law of any other jurisdiction. Florida's community association statutes have been amended in every regular session since 2021, and subsection numbering has moved more than once in that period. Each page states the edition of the Florida Statutes it was written against. The law may have changed after that date, an appellate court may have construed a provision differently, and an administrative rule or a local ordinance may impose requirements this page does not address.

Your governing documents control. Much of what governs a Florida association is not in the statutes at all. Declarations, articles of incorporation, bylaws, rules, plats and recorded amendments differ from community to community, and on many questions they set the rule while the statute sets only a floor or a default. A procedure that is correct in one association may be a breach of the documents in the association next door. No general page can tell you which is which for your community.

Why general information is not advice. Legal questions are resolved by applying the law to particular facts as a judge, jury, arbitrator or hearing officer finds them. An outcome that appears clear in the abstract frequently turns on the documents, the chronology, the board's own prior conduct, and the procedural posture, none of which a general page can anticipate. A lawyer supplies what information cannot: the judgment to identify which facts matter, the experience to know how a court or the Division is likely to treat them, the ability to choose among the courses of action actually available, and the advocacy to carry the association's position through negotiation, hearing or trial.

The standard of care, and the protection the statute attaches to counsel. A director of a Florida community association is held to the standard in section 617.0830, Florida Statutes: to act in good faith, in a manner the director reasonably believes to be in the best interests of the corporation, and to discharge the duties of the office with the care an ordinary prudent person in a like position would reasonably believe appropriate under similar circumstances. That standard is measured against the decision the board actually faced, on the record actually before it. The same statute supplies the protection that goes with the duty. Under section 617.0830(4) and (5)(b), a director who has no knowledge making reliance unwarranted is entitled to rely on information, opinions, reports and statements prepared or presented by legal counsel retained by the association as to matters the director reasonably believes are within counsel's professional competence. The Legislature has written the prudent course into the statute. A board that obtains advice on its own documents and its own facts, and acts on that advice, is standing on ground the statute expressly protects. Nothing on this website confers that protection. General information, however carefully prepared, is not advice on your declaration, your amendments, your board's history or your dispute, and a director who relies on it in place of counsel forgoes a statutory protection that was available for the asking.

Personal exposure is real. Service on an association board is usually uncompensated, but volunteer status is not itself immunity. Under section 617.0834, Florida Statutes, a director or an officer is not personally liable in monetary damages for a statement, vote, decision, or failure to act in that role unless two things are both true: the director or officer breached or failed to perform the duties of the office, and that breach was a violation of the criminal law, a transaction from which the director or officer derived an improper personal benefit, conscious disregard or willful misconduct in a proceeding brought by or in the right of the corporation, or recklessness or bad faith in a proceeding brought by anyone else. That protection turns on how the director acted, not on whether the director was paid. Chapters 718, 719 and 720 add consequences of their own, including removal from office, civil penalties assessed against the individual for certain willful and knowing violations, and in defined circumstances criminal liability. Whether any of that reaches a particular director depends entirely on the facts and on the director's conduct. The practical point is narrower and more useful: the decisions that generate this exposure — levying an assessment, enforcing a covenant, denying a transfer, withholding a record, entering a unit, terminating a contract, signing for construction work — are precisely the decisions on which general information is least adequate, and on which counsel costs least relative to what is at stake.

No guarantee; prior results. The firm makes no representation or warranty that the information on this page is complete, current or applicable to any particular matter, and disclaims liability to any person for any action taken or not taken in reliance on it. Any description of prior results does not guarantee or predict a similar outcome in any other matter; every case turns on its own facts, documents and record.

Do not act on this page alone. If your association faces a decision of consequence, obtain advice from a Florida-licensed attorney who has read your governing documents and the relevant record before the board votes, signs, sends or forecloses. Hamilton Mikes, P.A. represents community associations throughout Southwest Florida and can be reached at 239-594-7227.

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