What happens to a new Miami condo in a hurricane, and who decides?

The association decides, and the statute lets it. When a state of emergency is declared for the area, Florida's condominium statute gives the board emergency powers: to close or limit the common areas, to shut down the elevators and the plant, to require owners and guests to leave the building if the authorities order it or the board finds it unsafe, to contract for repairs and levy for them, and to decide when it is safe to come back. The building itself was designed for the wind: a new Miami tower is built to the Florida Building Code's high velocity hurricane zone, with the glass and the systems rated for it, which is why developers publish impact glass and Miami-Dade approved windows and not shutters. What the owner decides is narrower than they expect: their own policy, what is on the terrace, who holds the keys and whether they leave early. We set out each decision and whose it is below.

The Florida Building Code's high velocity hurricane zone provisions for Miami-Dade and Broward set the wind loads and the product approvals a new tower must meet, and a developer who publishes impact glass is publishing compliance, not an extra. On our file The Ritz-Carlton Residences South Beach publishes floor to ceiling windows with Miami-Dade NOA rated systems, Ocean House Surfside publishes floor to ceiling impact glass, Banyan Tree Residences in West Palm Beach publishes floor to ceiling impact glass and Fouquet's in the Design District publishes hurricane rated floor to ceiling windows. What the code does not publish for the buyer is where the building's equipment sits: the generator, the switchgear, the pumps and the fire system, which on a coastal site are either elevated or exposed, and whether the generator runs the elevators, the lobby and the corridors or also the homes. Those are plan questions, answered from the drawings and the engineer's letter, not the brochure. Read Miami Beach flood maps and insurance for the elevation and zone questions, and what to verify before buying oceanfront in Mid-Beach for the site walk.

Under the emergency powers the statute grants during a declared emergency, a board may conduct meetings and act on short notice, cancel or reschedule meetings, name assistant officers, relocate the office, implement a disaster plan, determine that parts of the property are unavailable for entry or occupancy, require evacuation when an order applies, decide that the property cannot safely be occupied, mitigate damage and contract for it, levy a special assessment for it, and borrow for it, all without the owner votes the documents would otherwise require. In practice that means the pool deck, the gym and the restaurant close before landfall, the elevators are parked at a high floor and switched off, the valet garage is emptied of cars the operator will not answer for, and the staff is sent home at a set hour. An owner who remains does so on the building's terms, and an owner who wants to know those terms reads the disaster plan, which the rules reference and the manager holds. Read how to read the amenity rules before buying, can the building enter your Miami condo when you are away and who manages a new Miami condo, and what does the management agreement say for who writes the plan.

Two policies, a line between them and a deductible on each. The association's master policy covers the building and the common elements, including the structure, the roof and the glass in most Florida declarations, with a named storm deductible expressed as a percentage of the insured value that the owners share as a common expense when a loss falls inside it. The owner's own policy covers what the statute and the declaration leave to the unit owner, which includes the interior finishes, the cabinets, the floors and the contents, and carries loss assessment cover for the owner's share of the master deductible. Flood is a third policy, separate from both, and the lender requires it in a flood zone. A new building's first year is the one where the master policy is the developer's and the budget's insurance line is an estimate, so the buyer asks for the binder, the deductible and the broker's letter before closing. Read what is a named storm deductible, and who pays it in a Miami condo, Miami condo insurance and climate, insurance and the Miami buyer.

On the association's word. The statute lets the board decide when the property is safe for re-entry, after the authorities lift any order, and a tower may open in stages: the lobby and the stairs before the elevators, the homes before the amenities, the garage after the pumps. An owner who was away asks three things of the building before the first season: how the building reaches owners during and after a storm, who walks each home after the event and under what authority, and what the plan says about a home with water in it when the owner is abroad, because the access clause in the declaration is what lets the manager open the door. The owner's own calendar runs beside it: shutters where a building has them, the terrace cleared of anything the wind can lift, the water shut at the home's valve if allowed, and a person in Miami who holds a key. Read living part-time in Brickell and closing a Miami condo during hurricane season for what changes when the storm arrives between contract and deed.

Eight questions, each answered by a document or a drawing. Where the generator, the switchgear and the pumps sit, and what the generator runs. What the glass is rated for and whether any home has shutters as well. What the disaster plan says about evacuation, the elevators, the garage and the staff. What the master policy's named storm deductible is and how the owner's share is billed. What the declaration says the owner insures. Whether the association may enter the home after a storm and how the owner is told. What the rules say about terraces, furniture and planters when a watch is issued. And what happened at the sponsor's last building in the last storm, which the minutes and the claims history show. Read documents before closing on a new Miami condo, what a beach building's reserve study tells you and the five sections of condominium documents. The desk reads the plan, the binder and the access clause with the buyer before the first season, and says where it would not proceed.