V.B. from Florida writes:
Dear Mister Condo,
I’ve lived at my condo in Orlando since 2009, when it was vetoed that unit owners are required to have insurance for condo. Are unit owners required to have condo insurance?
Mister Condo replies:
V.B., I am not an expert in Florida community association law so please consider this a friendly answer and not a legal one. You may wish to check with a local attorney for a legal opinion. Generally speaking, unit owners should have a homeowner’s insurance policy at the very minimum, regardless of requirement, to protect themselves from potential losses. Many association governance documents require unit owners to hold such policies but I am not aware of any legislation that requires unit owners to hold policies. In fact, my understanding of the Florida Condominium Act is that it does not require the insurance but it does state that the interior damage is the unit owner’s responsibility. As long as it is unit owner responsibility, the unit owner should want to have that risk insured, regardless of the law. That being said, if your original documents did call for a requirement to carry the insurance and the association voted to discontinue that requirement, there may, in fact, be no requirement for unit owners to do so. However, most mortgage companies would have a requirement for the unit owner to carry homeowner’s insurance and it is certainly a best practice to do so. All the best!
Hello,
What if there is a condo in Palm Beach County, the owner does not have insurance. A copper fitting leaked on the water heater. Water leaked into the unit below causing damage. The unit below also did not carry insurance. The Association covered some of the repairs to unit below. Can the person who’s unit was damaged, sue the unit upstairs and win? There was no malicious intent.
Hello, Daisy! In my opinion the lack of insurance does not absolve the unit owner from responsibility for the damage caused. I am not an attorney so I cannot offer legal advice in this column. I would suggest you speak with an attorney or file a small claim against the unit owner (depending on the dollar amount of the damage) unless the unit owner is willing to pay out of pocket for the repairs needed due to the damage caused. Also, it is always a good idea for unit owners to carry homeowners insurance. Some states and many associations mandate this coverage. This is a great example of the type of damage that would likely have been covered and there would be no need for neighbors to have this tension between them from damage claims. Good luck!