Who pays when water leaks into your Miami condo from above?

Three pockets, and the papers decide which. The association's master policy and budget cover the building as the developer built it, the slab, the pipes in the walls, the drywall, under Florida's condominium statute. The owner's own policy covers what the statute leaves to the owner, the floor and wall coverings, the cabinets and countertops, the appliances, the fixtures and the contents, whatever the cause. And the neighbour pays, through their insurer or directly, where the leak was their negligence or their breach of the rules, because the statute makes an owner liable for damage they cause that insurance does not pay. The deductible is split by the declaration and the association's own policy. In a new building a fourth pocket exists for a while: the developer's warranty on the construction. The buyer reads all four before closing, not on the Sunday.

The condominium property as originally installed, with a list of exclusions the statute writes. Under section 718.111(11) the association insures the building, and the owner is responsible for the floor, wall and ceiling coverings, the electrical fixtures, the appliances, the water heater and filters, the built in cabinets and countertops and the window treatments inside the home. So when the home above floods yours, the association's claim covers the ceiling drywall and the wall framing; your claim covers the wood floor, the kitchen cabinets and the sofa. The statute also gives the association an irrevocable right of access to stop the water, which is why the building keeps a key or a code. What the association does not do is decide fault; it repairs its part and its insurer looks for someone to recover from. Read Miami condo insurance, can the building enter your Miami condo when you are away and what a named storm deductible is and who pays it.

Your policy, the owner's form in Florida, carries the items the statute assigns to you, your contents, your loss of use if you have to move out, and your share of a loss assessment if the association's deductible is spread across the owners. The neighbour's policy carries their liability: where the leak came from a tap left running, a washing machine hose they never replaced or a renovation their contractor did without the building's permit, their insurer pays what the statute makes them responsible for, and yours recovers from theirs. Where the leak came from a pipe inside the common wall that simply failed, nobody was negligent, the association's policy carries the building and each owner's policy carries their own interior, and the owner above owes you nothing. The whole argument on the Sunday is which of those two cases this is, and the plumber's report decides it. Read climate, insurance and the Miami buyer, the first year of owning a Miami condo and what it costs to own a condo in Miami each year.

By the declaration and the policy, and the number can be larger than the repair. The association's master policy carries a deductible per claim, and the declaration or the board's resolution says whether it falls on the owners whose homes were damaged, on all owners as a common expense, or on the owner who caused the loss. A water claim that costs less than the deductible is paid by whoever the declaration names, and the association's insurer never sees it. The buyer reads the master policy's declarations page for the water damage deductible, which can differ from the general one, and the declaration for the allocation clause, and then sets the loss assessment limit on their own policy to match. The association's claims history, where it exists, says how often the question has come up. Read the five sections of the condominium documents, how to read the developer's estimated budget and what a beach building reserve study tells you.

Two things. First, the developer's warranty: Florida's statute gives the buyer of a new condominium implied warranties from the developer on the home and the building for a period that runs from completion, and a leak from a pipe that was fitted wrong is a warranty claim before it is an insurance claim. The claim is made in writing, on time, through the association for the common elements and by the owner for the home, and the buyer keeps the dates. Second, the systems: some new buildings are fitted with whole home leak detection and an automatic shutoff valve, so a failed hose closes the water before it reaches the floor below. Whether a building has them, who maintains them and whether the insurer prices them is a question for the sales team and the plans, and the answer belongs in the file next to the deductible. A building that publishes nothing on the subject has not said no; it has said read the drawings. Read buying off plan: what can change, humidity and mold at the Perigon and when the developer hands a Florida condo association to its owners.

Six questions, in writing. What is the master policy's water damage deductible and who pays it under the declaration. What the statute leaves to the owner at this building, so the owner's policy is sized to it. Whether the building has leak detection and automatic shutoff in each home and who maintains them. What the written leak response is, who is called in the first hour and which restoration vendors the manager uses. What the developer's warranty covers and for how long, and how a claim is made. And what the rules say about renovations above you, since the neighbour's contractor is the most common cause of all. The answers go in the ownership file, and the desk reads them with the buyer before the reservation. Read the ownership file for a Brickell condo, documents before closing on a new Miami condo and how to read the amenity rules before buying a Miami condo.