Florida Statute 718.111(11): What Your Condo Association Must Insure (2026)

Florida Statute 718.111(11) requires every condo association to insure the building and everything "as originally installed" at full replacement cost, reappraised by independent appraisal at least every 36 months, plus a fidelity bond for anyone who handles association funds. The unit owner's HO-6 picks up from the drywall in, covering upgrades, interior finishes, and personal property.

This post handles the statute mechanics: who insures what, and which coverage line satisfies each clause. For how Florida's rule compares against the other states, see HOA insurance requirements by state. The master policy itself is a commercial property program written to the association as the insured, not to the owners.

What 718.111(11) requires your association to insure

The Condo Act puts the load-bearing insurance duty on the association, not the individual owner. Section 718.111(11)(a) requires full replacement-cost property coverage on the building, the common elements, and everything as originally installed or like kind and quality, which reaches all the way to the drywall and the fixtures that came with the unit. Section 718.111(11)(a) also requires an independent insurance appraisal at least every 36 months to set that replacement value, so the limit tracks current rebuild cost rather than a number that drifted out of date. On top of the property line, the board has to carry a fidelity bond for every person who controls or disburses association funds. You can read the section in full at Florida Statute 718.111.

The line that trips up most owners is the drywall. The statute draws the boundary at what was originally installed, so the table below shows where the association's master policy stops and the owner's HO-6 begins.

The coverages that satisfy each requirement

A statute names the duty; it does not name the policy line. Read 718.111(11) as a broker and each clause maps to a specific coverage the association has to place and size correctly. This is where a Florida HOA and condo insurance broker does the work, because the requirements cut across separate lines that get quoted and structured on their own terms.

• Replacement-cost property on the building and common elements belongs to the commercial property master policy, written to the appraised rebuild figure rather than the assessed value or the mortgage balance.
• Liability on the common elements maps to general liability, which answers a slip-and-fall in a shared hallway or at the pool.
• Protection of the funds handlers falls to a fidelity or crime bond, sized to the maximum funds in the association's custody at any one time, including the funds a management agent holds.
• Deductible allocation maps to the association's reserve-for-deductible provision under 718.111(11)(c), which is how the board funds the retention before a carrier pays anything.

One line sits alongside these without being mandated by 718.111 itself. A lawsuit over a board decision is answered by directors and officers coverage, which the governing documents and lenders usually require even though the statute leaves it to them. Sizing is where the clauses turn concrete: the property limit has to equal the appraised replacement cost, and the fidelity bond has to reach the peak funds in custody, not the balance on the day the quote is written. When a management company touches the money, the bond has to name that firm, because the manager's own bond protects the manager, not your association.

What it means for money: deductibles, the Fannie cap, and premium

Florida is a named-storm market, and the deductible is where that shows up. The statute sets no deductible, so the carrier does. On the wind and named-storm peril, expect a percentage deductible, commonly 2 to 10% of the insured value rather than a flat dollar figure. On a building insured for several million, a 5% named-storm deductible is a six-figure retention the association has to absorb before the carrier pays a cent, which is why the reserve-for-deductible provision matters as much as the limit.

The number that quietly decides whether owners can sell is the master deductible. Fannie Mae's Lender Letter LL-2026-03, folded into Selling Guide B7-3-03, caps the per-unit master deductible at $50,000 for conventional loan applications dated on or after July 1, 2026. A master policy carrying a deductible above that cap can make units non-warrantable, which stalls resales and refinances even when the association is otherwise fully compliant with the statute. Most Florida condo content still quotes the older 5%-of-face-value standard that this supersedes.

One Florida coastal association Coverwatch reviewed carried a master property policy with a 10% named-storm deductible and a $75,000 all-other-perils deductible. The wind number was defensible for the building's age and exposure. The flat deductible, though, sat above the new Fannie cap, and two owners under contract hit warrantability problems at underwriting. Re-shopping the program brought the all-other-perils deductible under $50,000 without touching the wind terms, which cleared both loans. The premium moved modestly, not dramatically, because the change was structural rather than a wholesale switch of carrier.

What actually moves the master premium is building age and height, wind and coastal exposure, roof condition, claims history, and how well the reserves are funded. Because those factors sit outside the statute, two compliant associations across the street from each other can see very different quotes. That gap is the argument for benchmarking the program across carriers at renewal rather than letting it roll over on autopilot.

How reserves and inspections affect what carriers will insure

Reserves and structural inspections now shape insurability as much as the policy language does. Under SB 154, passed in 2023, a condo building three stories or taller faces an initial milestone inspection at 30 years, then a recurring milestone every 10 years after that, and the local enforcement agency can require the first inspection at 25 years for buildings near the coast. A structural integrity reserve study drives how the association funds the repairs those inspections flag. Carriers read both before they quote, because a building carrying deferred maintenance is a worse property risk and a harder placement. The 2023 law removed the automatic statewide 3-mile, 25-year trigger that older guidance still repeats, so a board working from a pre-2023 summary can misjudge its own deadline.

Placing the program 718.111(11) requires

Coverwatch is a flat-fee Florida HOA and condo insurance broker. We place the master property, fidelity, and named-storm program that 718.111(11) requires, size each line to the statute and the current Fannie rules, and shop it across our carrier partners so the board sees real options at renewal instead of a single take-it-or-leave-it number. If your association is confirming compliance or approaching a renewal, start with our Florida HOA and condo insurance page.