For associations and property managers
Insuring a high-rise: master policy, carrier requirements, and limits
In Miami, a high-rise is insured through a master policy the condominium association buys, not the individual owners. What that policy covers, and what falls to each owner, is set in the association's declaration, so it varies building to building and has to be read there. Each owner needs their own policy for what the master policy leaves out.
The master policy
Bought by the association, for the building. It covers outward from the line the declaration draws, and that line is not in the same place in every tower.
Each unit owner's policy
Bought by each owner, for their own unit. Not the association's to place or to enforce beyond what the declaration requires.
Who buys the master policy?
The association buys it, funded by owner dues, and the board is responsible for the purchase and the renewal. That makes the buyer a representative of the other owners and accountable to them, which changes how the decision gets made: it has to hold up in a meeting, not just on price.
If the building has ground-floor commercial space, the association isn't responsible for insuring what happens inside those businesses. Each business carries its own policy. The association's side stops at the structure and the common areas.
What the master policy covers
What follows is the structure, not the detail. The detail is set per building in the declaration, and it isn't the same in two towers.
Structure and common areas
The building itself and everything shared: lobby, hallways, roof, elevators, machine rooms, garage. The declaration says exactly which elements of the building are included and how far master coverage reaches into each unit, and that boundary is read document by document.
Association liability
Claims against the association arising in the areas it's responsible for. It pays up to the limit stated in the policy.
Directors and officers, where carried
Claims against board members over decisions made in that role. It's generally bought separately from the property coverage.
What the master policy doesn't cover
These are the gaps where board discussions get complicated, and each one has someone it belongs to.
Everything inside a unit
Belongings, interior finishes beyond what the declaration assigns to the building, and each owner's personal liability. That's individual, and the association can't buy it for anyone.
Flood
Excluded from the master policy, as it is from every property policy in Florida. A building carries exposure a high floor doesn't: garages, lobbies, and machine rooms sit at or below street level. See flood coverage for the building.
Liability above the master policy limit
The association's liability coverage stops at the limit stated in the policy. A single serious claim in a common area can pass it, and what sits above that limit is a separate policy: commercial umbrella.
What carriers ask of a building in Miami
Placing a master policy in Miami-Dade is underwriting, not pricing. What a carrier asks for falls into three groups.
The age of the building and its systems
Less the age itself than what has been replaced and when. 2002 is the reference point: a building finished before that date was built under local codes that the statewide Florida Building Code superseded on March 1, 2002, the effective date published by floridabuilding.org. That's where the conversation starts, not where it ends: each carrier sets its own thresholds, and they vary across the market.
Structural inspections and reports
Florida law requires certain inspections of condominium buildings, and carriers read them. What gets asked for first is usually which reports exist, when they were done, and what they found. The legal requirements are below. Whatever an individual carrier adds on top of that is the agency's side of the conversation.
Roof, plumbing, and electrical
These three produce most major property claims, and they're the three that most often decide whether a building gets quoted at all.
Inspections Florida law requires
Condominium buildings three habitable stories or taller carry two requirements, both statutory and independent of what any carrier prefers. Under Florida Statutes section 553.899, a milestone inspection is required by December 31 of the year the building turns 30, measured from its certificate of occupancy, and every 10 years after that. A local enforcement agency may set that first inspection at 25 years instead where conditions such as proximity to salt water warrant it. Which applies to a specific building in Brickell is a local determination, not something to assume.
Florida Statutes section 718.112 also requires a structural integrity reserve study at least every 10 years for the same buildings, and the budget has to fund reserves against what it finds. That second requirement shows up in the monthly fee, and it's why insurance and reserves get discussed together.
Verified against flsenate.gov and cited by section number. This is a summary rather than the statute itself, and it isn't legal advice: how it applies to a specific building is a question for the association's counsel.
Older buildings and Art Deco
An older building isn't automatically higher risk, but it does take a closer look. The market reads original systems, documented upgrades, and the quality of the reports differently than it reads a tower built in the last decade, and fewer carriers will look at it at all. What usually matters more than the date on the certificate of occupancy is how much of the building has been renewed and how well that's documented.
How the master policy shows up in the monthly fee
The premium is paid out of owner dues, so a change at renewal shows up in the monthly fee. That's the mechanism most owners never get explained, which is why a board that can account for the change has easier meetings than one that only reports the new number. With reserves now tied to the reserve study, the two most movable lines in most budgets are connected.
If you own a unit rather than run the building
How a shortfall reaches owners
One master-policy question lands on an individual owner rather than on the building: the mechanism sits on the building's side, but the bill arrives in the owner's name.
The deductible and the shortfall
When the association takes a covered loss, the master policy pays above its deductible and up to its limit. Whatever the association still owes after that — the deductible itself, or a loss beyond the limit — has to come from somewhere. It comes from the owners, as a special assessment, in proportion to each unit's share.
Why it can reach a unit that wasn't damaged
The loss doesn't have to be anywhere near your unit. Damage to a garage, a lobby, or an elevator is damage to the shared building, and every owner holds a share of it. A high-floor unit that took no water at all can be assessed for flooding that never got past the second floor.
What your own policy does about it
Loss assessment coverage on your unit policy answers that charge up to a stated limit. Whether you have it and how much is a question about your condo policy, and it's worth checking before the season rather than after.
The thresholds a Miami building runs into
- Building height at which the statutory requirements apply
- 3 habitable storiesFla. Stat. 553.899 — verified 2026-08-24
- Building age for the first milestone inspection
- 30 yearsFla. Stat. 553.899 — verified 2026-08-24
- Interval between milestone inspections after the first
- 10 yearsFla. Stat. 553.899 — verified 2026-08-24
- Interval between structural integrity reserve studies
- 10 yearsFla. Stat. 718.112 — verified 2026-08-24
- Building age at which carrier requirements change
- Buildings built before 2002
- Scope the declaration assigns to the master policy
- Assigned by that declaration
Questions from boards and property managers
- Who is responsible for buying the master policy?
- The association, through its board, funded by owner dues. The board is responsible for the purchase and the renewal, so the decision generally needs to be documented rather than made on the spot. A property manager can run the process, but the responsibility stays with the association.
- What do carriers want to see before they quote a building?
- In practice: loss history, the current declaration, inspection and structural reports, and evidence of work done on roof, plumbing, and electrical. Buildings that can produce that get quoted faster than buildings that can't, which is a real advantage and an underrated one.
- What happens if the building fails a required inspection?
- The result is a finding about the building, not a carrier decision, but carriers read it and it can affect whether a building gets quoted and on what terms. What the association has to do about the finding is a legal and engineering question for its counsel and engineers. What it changes on the insurance side is confirmed carrier by carrier.
- How does the master policy affect the monthly fee?
- Directly, because the premium is funded by owner dues. A change at renewal shows up in the fee, and with reserves tied to the structural integrity reserve study, both lines move the budget. Boards that can say which of the two changed, and why, tend to have shorter meetings.
- Is an older or Art Deco building treated differently?
- It gets looked at more closely and by fewer carriers. What usually decides it isn't the year the building went up, it's what has been renewed since and how well that's documented. A well-maintained older building with complete records reads better than a newer one with gaps.
- Can the association buy insurance on behalf of the owners?
- No. The master policy covers the building; each owner's policy is their own contract. A declaration can require owners to carry coverage and show proof, and many do, but the association can't buy it for them. That's the clearest way to see the line: two owners, two contracts, one building.
If a renewal is coming up, or a carrier has declined to renew, that's the moment worth having the conversation. Romina Saaied places master policies for associations as well as coverage for individual owners, in English, Spanish, Italian, or Portuguese.
Review your building's coverage
Tell us the building, roughly how many units it has and when the master policy renews, and Romina Saaied will come back with what is missing before it does. Boards are welcome to send this on behalf of the association.