Condo Inspections for Florida Insurance: HO-6, 4-Point and Wind Mitigation Explained

Which condo inspections does an HO-6 insurer ask for?

An HO-6 is the policy written for the owner of a condominium unit. It sits on top of the association's master policy and fills the gaps the master policy leaves, so it insures far less of the building than a homeowners policy on a house. The condo inspections an insurer asks for follow the same logic. A Florida carrier quoting an HO-6 may ask for nothing at all, for a 4-point report on the systems inside your unit, or for proof of wind-resistant features that could earn a credit. Which one depends on the carrier, the age of the building and its height.

Three situations bring most condo owners to this question. You are buying a unit and your lender wants proof of insurance before closing. You are moving to a new carrier, or to Citizens, and the application asks about the unit's systems. Or you replaced windows, a water heater or the A/C and want the policy to reflect it. In each case, the first call should go to your insurance agent, who can tell you which documents that specific carrier wants for that specific building.

It also helps to keep insurance reports and purchase inspections apart in your head. An insurance report answers an underwriter's narrow questions on a set form. A buyer's condo unit inspection looks at everything you will own after closing, from the appliances to the sliding doors. The two can be done in the same visit, but they are different documents written for different readers, and the rest of this guide is about the first kind.

Master policy vs. HO-6: what Florida law says each one covers

Florida's condominium law, Chapter 718 of the Florida Statutes, settles the basic split. Section 718.111(11)(a) says every condominium association "shall have adequate property insurance," whatever the declaration says about coverage. Under Section 718.111(11)(f), any association property policy issued or renewed on or after January 1, 2009 must give primary coverage to all portions of the condominium property as originally installed, or replacement of like kind and quality, and to alterations or additions made under the statute's rules on material alterations.

The same paragraph then lists what the association's policy must leave out. When these items sit within the boundaries of a unit and serve only that unit, they are excluded: personal property, floor, wall and ceiling coverings, electrical fixtures, appliances, water heaters, water filters, built-in cabinets and countertops, and window treatments such as curtains, drapes and blinds, along with replacements of any of them. The statute is blunt about where that leaves the owner: such property "and any insurance thereupon is the responsibility of the unit owner." That list is the backbone of every Florida HO-6.

Items the statute does not name

Some parts of a unit appear on neither list. Air conditioning equipment, windows, sliding glass doors and the pipes inside the walls are not mentioned in the exclusion, so who maintains and insures them depends on how your declaration defines the unit and its limited common elements. Two buildings on the same street can answer differently. That is why an agent quoting an HO-6 often asks to see the declaration or the master policy's declarations page before settling on a coverage amount.

Loss assessment coverage and the excess rule

Section 627.714 adds two rules for the owner's policy. For policies issued or renewed on or after July 1, 2010, it must include at least $2,000 in property loss assessment coverage for all assessments arising from the same direct loss, and any deductible on that coverage is capped at $250 per direct property loss. The reason is simple: under Section 718.111(11)(j), master policy deductibles and damage beyond the master policy's limits are common expenses, and common expenses reach owners as assessments. The statute also makes each unit owner's policy excess coverage over any other policy covering the same property. Ask your agent whether a higher loss assessment limit makes sense for your building's hurricane deductible.

Read the declaration before you insure a condo unit

The statute's lists only work once you know where your unit ends. Each declaration of condominium describes the unit boundaries and the limited common elements in its own words, and those words decide which inspection findings are yours to fix and which belong to the association. Before booking anything, find the declaration (it is usually in your closing package or on the association's website) and look for clear answers to five questions:

• Where exactly are the unit's boundaries: the finished surfaces, the drywall or the concrete shell?
• Who maintains and replaces the windows, the sliding glass doors and the entry door?
• Who owns the A/C air handler and the condenser, and where does the condenser sit?
• Which pipes belong to the unit: everything past the unit's shutoff valve, or only the visible fixtures?
• Is the balcony a limited common element, and who repairs its surface and railing?

Pay attention to upgrades, too. Section 718.111(11)(n) says the association is not obligated to pay for repairs after a property loss to improvements installed by a current or former owner, or by the developer, when the improvement benefits only that unit and was not part of the standard finishes installed in all units. Upgraded flooring, a remodeled kitchen or custom built-ins added by a previous owner may therefore fall on your HO-6, and an agent can only insure what they know about. Dated photos of the unit's finishes are useful evidence here.

The declaration also governs leaks, which the sections below cover. If its language is hard to follow, a Florida attorney or your community association manager can explain how it applies to your unit. This guide explains how the statutes are written, not how a particular declaration should be read.

Do condos need a 4-point inspection?

Often, no. Citizens Property Insurance, the state-created insurer, requires a 4-point inspection for property owner, dwelling and mobile home applications on properties more than 20 years old. Its published answers then add a note that four-point inspections are not applicable to tenant named insured and condominium risks. In plain terms, a Citizens HO-6 application for a condo unit does not need one, however old the building is.

Private carriers write their own underwriting rules, and some do ask for a 4-point on units in older buildings. There is no single age line across the market. When a carrier asks, the age that counts is normally the building's year built, taken from the property appraiser's record, and the form then records when the unit's own systems were last updated. A 1979 building with a recent water heater, a newer panel and a young air handler gives an underwriter a very different picture than its year built alone.

So the useful order is: get quotes, see which carriers ask, then book. Your agent can tell you whether the carrier wants its own form or accepts any report with the same level of detail, and whether it wants the roof section filled in or marked as association property. Our guide on how a 4-point inspection is structured walks through the full form, and if your carrier asks for one, our 4-point inspection service covers condo units across South Florida.

What a condo 4-point inspection covers inside the unit

The 4-point form was designed with houses in mind, so applying it to a unit takes judgment about what belongs to whom. The four systems are the same: roof, electrical, plumbing and HVAC. What changes is how much of each one sits inside your walls. Here is how we approach each point in a condo, and what you can have ready.

Water heaters and supply lines: where condo leaks usually start

A leak in a house damages one house. A leak in a condo can run down through the floor and the walls into the units below, which is why carriers and associations pay so much attention to the small parts of a unit's plumbing. Section 718.111(11)(f) names water heaters among the items the master policy must exclude, so a tank that fails inside your unit is first your concern, and depending on the cause, the damage below may become your bill as well, as the next section explains.

The water heater

Condo water heaters are often electric tanks fitted into a closet, a laundry nook or, in some older units, a space above a ceiling. We read the age from the label, check the temperature and pressure relief valve and where its discharge line ends, look at the fittings and the shutoff valve for corrosion or drips, and check whether a drain pan sits under the tank and where that pan drains. A pan with no drain line, or a pan holding rusty water, says a lot about the tank above it. Some associations adopt their own rules on water heater replacement, so ask the manager whether yours has one.

Supply lines and shutoffs

The flexible connectors that feed toilets, faucets, the dishwasher, the washing machine and the refrigerator's ice maker are short, cheap and easy to forget. They are also parts that can fail with little warning. We look at each one for kinks, bulges, corrosion at the nuts and signs of old dripping on the cabinet floor below. Fixture shutoff valves that have not been turned in years can stick or weep when someone finally needs them, so we note their condition without forcing them.

Pipe materials by era

The building's age gives the first clue to what runs inside the walls. Polybutylene supply lines were installed from the late 1970s to the mid-1990s, and older buildings may still carry galvanized supply piping or cast iron drains. In a condo, much of that piping is shared and replaced on the association's schedule, if at all, so the useful questions are what the building has already replaced and what is still original. Our guide to plumbing problems common in South Florida covers each material and how it ages.

A few owner habits lower the odds of being the unit that floods the floor below:

• Find your unit's main shutoff valve and confirm it closes fully.
• Swap rubber washing machine hoses for braided ones, and leave a few inches behind the washer so the hoses do not kink.
• Place small water sensors under the water heater, the sinks and the air handler.
• Close the unit's main valve before a long trip, after asking a plumber how to protect the water heater while the water is off.
• Keep the water heater receipt and its installation date where you can find them for your agent.

Leaks between units: who pays, and what an inspection can document

Water from the unit above is one of the most common condo disputes, and Section 718.111(11)(j) is where the answer starts. When condominium property that the association must insure is damaged by an insurable event, the association repairs it as a common expense. Deductibles, and damage beyond what the master policy covers, are common expenses too, shared by all owners. When there is no insurable event, the maintenance provisions of the declaration or bylaws decide who repairs what.

The statute carves out an important exception. A unit owner is responsible for repair costs that insurance does not pay when the damage was caused by intentional conduct, negligence or a failure to follow the declaration or the association's rules by the owner, family members, tenants, guests or other occupants. The same responsibility extends to other owners' personal property and to property other owners must insure. If an owner pays and the association later recovers that cost from insurance, the association must reimburse the owner. An association can opt out of this allocation by a majority vote of the total voting interests, so ask whether yours has done so.

Timing matters as well. Under the same paragraph, the association is not obligated to pay for losses an owner knew about, or should have known about, and did not report until after the association's insurance claim was settled or denied as untimely. Report water to the manager in writing the day you see it.

What we document

An inspection cannot assign blame, but it can record conditions on a date. In a unit, we look at ceilings under the unit above, walls shared with neighbors, the base of walls near bathrooms and the A/C closet, and the cabinet floors under every sink. A moisture meter tells us whether a stain is wet now or left over from an old leak, and a thermal camera helps us decide where to take readings. If the conditions point to hidden growth, a mold inspection with air sampling can be added to the same visit. Dated photos and readings help you, your agent and the association, whether you are buying the unit or already live in it.

This is a summary of how the statute is written, not legal advice about a specific dispute. Your declaration, the association's rules and both policies all play a part.

Condo wind mitigation inspection: which form applies to your building

A wind mitigation inspection documents features that help a building resist hurricane winds, and Section 627.0629 of the Florida Statutes requires residential rate filings to include actuarially reasonable discounts or credits for those features. For a house, the document is the uniform mitigation form, OIR-B1-1802. For a condo unit, the first question is which form your carrier will use, and the answer depends mostly on the height of the building.

Citizens spells this out on its wind inspection page. It lists the OIR-B1-1802 form for single-family dwellings, for residential dwellings of one to four units, including condominiums, and for residential buildings of one to three stories, including condominiums with five or more units. For personal residential condominium unit owners, and for commercial residential applicants, in buildings of four or more stories, it requires its own Building Type II and III Mitigation Inspection Form, known as the MIT-BT II and III. Private carriers set their own rules, so ask your agent which document they accept for a unit in your building.

The two forms also differ in who may sign them. The uniform form can be signed by the professionals listed in Section 627.711(2), a list that includes home inspectors licensed under Section 468.8314 who have completed the required hurricane mitigation training. The certification block on the MIT-BT form names four license types only: general or building contractors, building code inspectors, architects and engineers. Home inspectors are not among them. For a low-rise condo, a wind mitigation inspection by a qualified home inspector can produce the document your carrier needs. For a tower, the path usually runs through the association. Either way, our guide to the sections of a wind mitigation report explains what the uniform form records item by item.

Wind mitigation for a condo unit: what you can document, and what the association holds

On the uniform form, most of the nine items describe the building as a whole. The header asks for the number of stories, the roof items describe the roof over every unit, and the opening protection question asks for the weakest protection "installed on the structure." For a unit owner in a low-rise building, that plays out item by item:

• Building code and region. Item 1 turns on the permit application date for the building, found in building department records. Item 2 depends on the address. Neither needs anything from you.
• Roof slope, covering, deck, roof-to-wall attachment and geometry. Items 3 through 7 describe the shared roof. Attic access often runs through a common area or a top-floor unit, so the manager has to allow it. For buildings with five or more units, the geometry item offers a flat roof answer when at least 90% of the main roof area has a slope under 2:12.
• Secondary water resistance. Item 8 is usually proven with the roofing permit and the roofer's documents, which the association holds if it replaced the roof.
• Opening protection. Item 9 is where your unit shows up. Your windows, sliders and entry door are openings on the structure, and so are your neighbors'.

Your windows, the building's answer

Item 9 is graded at the weakest glazed opening, and Citizens describes its opening protection credit in terms of all exterior openings, or all glazed exterior openings, in buildings. So one owner's impact windows do not necessarily change a building-level answer. How a carrier treats a protected unit in a partly protected building is worth asking before you spend money on the strength of a hoped-for credit. The upgrade still protects your home in a storm, and its product approvals and permits belong in your file. Our guide to impact windows and opening protection explains which products and labels qualify.

What the board decides

Section 718.113(5) requires every condo board to adopt hurricane protection specifications for each building. They must comply with the building code and may address color, style and other factors. Where the documents require board approval, the board may not refuse an owner's installation or replacement of hurricane protection that conforms to those specifications. Ask for the specifications before you order windows or shutters, and keep the approval letter with the permit. Once a mitigation form is signed, it can stay valid for up to five years if nothing material changes, and our article on how long a wind mitigation report lasts covers what can end it sooner.

High-rise condos: inside Citizens' MIT-BT II and III form

The MIT-BT form treats a tower differently from a house. It applies to Type II buildings of four to six stories and Type III buildings of seven or more, and it opens with certifications about the site rather than the roof: the terrain exposure category of the building or unit under the Florida Building Code, its basic wind speed and, when the building was designed to exceed that speed, the wind design it was built and mitigated to. Four sections follow, and the form requires at least one photo of every visible and accessible attribute marked in them.

1. Roof coverings. Level B, the Florida Building Code equivalent, covers single-ply, modified bitumen, foam, metal, tile, built-up and other coverings that meet at least the 2001 Florida Building Code or the 1994 South Florida Building Code and carry a Miami-Dade NOA or Florida product approval current at installation. Rooftop mechanical equipment must be tied down, flat roof flashing or coping must be fastened through the face, and asphalt coverings on flat roofs must be 10 years old or less. Anything else is Level A.
2. Roof deck attachment. Wood or other decks (Type II buildings only), metal decks on open-web steel joists, or reinforced concrete decks.
3. Secondary water resistance. Self-adhering modified bitumen underlayment at least 6 inches wide over every plywood or OSB joint, or a foamed polyurethane adhesive over all sheathing joints. Felt and other paper-based products do not count.
4. Opening protection. Class A or B depends on the missile test. Glazed openings less than 30 feet above grade must meet the large missile standard, openings between 30 and 60 feet the small missile standard, and in the HVHZ openings higher than 60 feet must meet the small missile standard too.

Every one of those items describes the building, and the applicant signature line says that, for condo associations, it must come from the board president and another board member. An association that has documented its building for mitigation credits on the master policy may already have a form on file. So before hiring anyone, ask the manager for a copy of the building's latest MIT-BT form and the date it was signed. The form states that it is valid for up to five years provided no material changes have been made to the structure and no inaccuracies are found. Whether your carrier will credit your HO-6 from the association's copy is a question only your agent can answer.

How to gather the building documents your agent may ask for

For a condo, paperwork carries more of the load than it does for a house, because so much of what an insurer wants to know lies outside your unit. Collecting it before the inspection turns several unknowns into documented answers and can save a second visit. Start with three sources.

From the association or management company

• The master policy declarations page, which shows the carrier, the coverage and the hurricane deductible.
• The building's latest wind mitigation form, either OIR-B1-1802 or MIT-BT II and III, with the date it was signed.
• The year the roof was last replaced, the roofing permit and the roofer's documents naming the covering and the underlayment.
• The board's hurricane protection specifications and records of any building-wide window or door replacement.
• The declaration sections on unit boundaries, maintenance and insurance.

From the building department and the property appraiser

City and county building departments can usually search permits by address, and for a condo you may need the building address plus the unit number. Look for the original building permit, re-roofing permits and any permits pulled for your unit, such as windows, doors, electrical or plumbing work. The county property appraiser's record gives the year built, the number carriers use for their age rules.

From your own files

Gather window and door invoices with product approval numbers, the water heater receipt, the A/C installation invoice and service records, any electrician's or plumber's invoices, and the previous owner's inspection reports if you have them. Leave the labels on new impact glass until after the inspection, since they are often the quickest on-site proof of what was installed.

Condo insurance inspections in South Florida

South Florida adds its own layer. The Florida Building Code applies the High-Velocity Hurricane Zone to Miami-Dade and Broward counties only, so condo buildings there answer HVHZ on the region item of the uniform form, and on the MIT-BT form the extra opening rule above 60 feet applies. Palm Beach County sits outside the HVHZ, so its regions are looked up address by address. Our guide to wind mitigation in Palm Beach County also covers the county's condos and 55+ communities.

The coast shapes what we see inside units, too. Towers along the beaches of Hollywood, Hallandale Beach, Fort Lauderdale and Miami Beach face salt air that works on balcony railings, slider tracks and condenser cabinets. Many buildings in the region went up long before the Florida Building Code took effect in 2002, so their units have often been through several rounds of water heater, panel and A/C replacements, and the paperwork for those replacements matters more than the year on the building. Farther inland, garden-style complexes of two and three stories are where the uniform form usually applies.

Building-wide structural rules, such as milestone inspections and reserve studies, are a separate subject from insurance inspections. If you are buying, read our condo milestone and reserve study guide for the building side. For the unit side, we inspect condos across Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach, including condo inspections in Hollywood, and each local page explains what is typical in that city.

Insurance inspections vs. a full condo unit inspection

A 4-point or wind mitigation report answers an underwriter. It records what the form asks and very little else. If you are buying, the questions that matter to you are broader: whether the sliders lock and seal, whether the dishwasher drains, whether the ceiling under the unit above has a history, whether the balcony door threshold lets rain in, and how close the A/C and the water heater are to replacement. A full condo inspection answers those, with the written report delivered within 24 hours.

The reports work well side by side. The unit inspection tells you the condition, the 4-point gives a carrier the format it wants, and the wind report documents openings and building features for credits. Several inspections can be combined in one visit, which means one appointment with building management, one round of elevator and parking arrangements and one inspector who has seen the whole unit. Our page on how an inspection visit works explains booking and reports.

When to schedule: buying, renewing or after an upgrade

The right moment for a condo insurance report depends on why you need it. These are the common cases, in the order they tend to come up:

1. Buying a unit. Ask your agent for HO-6 quotes as soon as the contract is signed, and ask each carrier what it needs. If a 4-point or a wind report is required, book it with the unit inspection early in your inspection period, so any finding can still be negotiated.
2. Switching carriers or moving to Citizens. Ask which wind form the carrier uses for your building height before ordering anything. For a tower, start with the association's copy.
3. Renewal. Check whether the carrier has a current mitigation form on file and how old it is. A form on the old 2012 version, or one close to five years old, may need to be replaced.
4. After an upgrade. New impact windows, a new water heater, a new panel or a new A/C only help the underwriter once they are documented. Order the report after the work is finished and the permit is closed out.
5. After a water event. If a leak reached your unit, document it promptly and report it to the association in writing before repairs cover the evidence.

Owners of older houses often need both insurance reports at once. In a condo that is less common, but it happens, and our guide to booking a 4-point and wind report together covers the paperwork and the order of steps.

Common misunderstandings about condo insurance inspections

• "Every condo over 20 years old needs a 4-point." Citizens' 20-year rule does not apply to condominium risks. Private carriers decide for themselves.
• "The master policy covers everything inside the walls." Florida law makes the association's policy exclude water heaters, appliances, fixtures, coverings, cabinets and countertops that serve only one unit.
• "My impact windows will lower my premium on their own." The wind forms grade openings on the building, at the weakest one. Ask your agent how your carrier treats a single protected unit.
• "Any inspector can sign the high-rise form." The certification on Citizens' MIT-BT form lists contractors, building code inspectors, architects and engineers only.
• "If water comes from upstairs, it is never my problem." Insured damage to condo property is generally a common expense, but negligence or rule violations can shift the cost to an owner, and losses reported too late may not be the association's to pay.
• "The milestone report covers my unit." It looks at the structure. It says nothing about your panel, your water heater or your A/C.

The bottom line

Condo inspections for insurance in Florida start with one question: what does your unit own? Section 718.111(11) puts water heaters, appliances, fixtures, cabinets and interior finishes on the owner's side, the declaration settles the rest, and the inspections follow that line. Citizens does not require a 4-point for condominium risks, though some private carriers do for older units. Wind mitigation depends on the building: the uniform form for low-rise condos, and Citizens' MIT-BT form for buildings of four or more stories, which leans on association records. Gather the building documents first, then book. If you own or are buying a unit in Broward, Miami-Dade or Palm Beach County, call or text (954) 297-0317, seven days a week, or request a quote online, and you will have a firm price before anything is scheduled.

About the author

Peter Lemos, Certified Master Inspector®

Owner and lead inspector of Global Home Inspectors in Hollywood, FL. Peter holds InterNACHI certifications in wind mitigation, 4-point and mold inspection and has served Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties since 2008.