Condo Board Water Loss: The First 48 Hours in Florida

When water moves between units or into common areas, the board's first job is to stop it, document it and get drying started; who pays is settled later under the declaration and Florida's Condominium Act. In the first hour: shut off the source or call the plumber, photograph every affected unit and common area, and notify the association's insurer and the affected owners in writing.

Who is responsible for what, under ch. 718

Section 718.113 makes maintenance of the common elements the association's responsibility, except for limited common elements the declaration assigns to unit owners. Section 718.111(11) sets what the association's property policy must cover and exclude. It must exclude personal property inside units and, within a unit and serving only that unit, floor, wall and ceiling coverings, electrical fixtures, appliances, water heaters, water filters, built-in cabinets and countertops, and window treatments. Those items, and insurance on them, are the unit owner's responsibility.

When an insurable event damages property the association must insure, the statute says the association repairs it as a common expense, and deductibles and damage above the association's coverage are generally a common expense too. A unit owner can be responsible for costs insurance does not pay when the damage was caused by that owner's (or an occupant's, tenant's or guest's) intentional conduct, negligence, or failure to follow the declaration or rules. The statute also says reconstruction after a loss is undertaken by the association unless the section allows otherwise; an owner may do work on portions of the unit with the board's prior written consent. These are summaries of the statute; your declaration and bylaws, and the association's attorney, decide your building's details. Homeowners associations under ch. 720 follow their own governing documents, not these condominium rules.

A first-48-hours checklist for the board or manager

1. Source stopped, and which unit or pipe it came from written down with the time. 2. Every affected unit and common area photographed, including ceilings below the source. 3. Affected owners and tenants told in writing, with a note to call their own HO-6 or renters insurer. 4. The association's insurer and agent notified, with the claim number logged. 5. A restoration company on site, with its arrival time and a written, itemized scope before work starts. 6. Moisture readings taken in every affected unit, not just the source unit, so one drying plan covers the whole loss. 7. Owner consent, in writing, before anyone works inside a unit, and a record of who authorized what. 8. A single contact person on the board or management side for owners, the insurer and the restoration company.

Why speed matters here

EPA guidance is to dry water-damaged materials within 24 to 48 hours to prevent mold. In a stacked building, water that sits in the ceiling of the unit below or inside a shared wall can affect several owners at once, so the drying plan should cover every unit the water reached.

Getting a company out

Call or text CFDR at 321-420-7274 and Ryan Solberg matches the association with a restoration company. Ask the company for its arrival time, its Florida license number where the work needs one, its IICRC Certified Firm number and a certificate of insurance before work starts. CFDR is a referral service: the company inspects, writes the estimate, does the work and contracts directly with whoever authorizes it. See also apartments and condos, property managers, condo water damage in Florida, how to read a restoration estimate and Orlando.