Multifamily Property Insurance Claims in Florida

A storm does not hit one home in a multifamily property. It hits every roof, every stairwell, and every unit at once. The claim that follows is bigger, slower, and harder to document than a single house claim.

Policyholder Advocacy Group represents multifamily property owners and associations in Florida. We document the full loss, build the claim file, and handle the carrier’s adjuster for you. The carrier’s adjuster represents the carrier. We represent you.

Start with a Free 21-Point Storm Inspection. We walk the property, document the damage building by building, and tell you plainly what you have. Call 800.511.2240.

Nearly 55,000 Hurricane Isaias claims were filed in Florida. Just over 3,500 closed with payment. Nearly 8,500 closed without payment. Those are Florida Office of Insurance Regulation figures as of October 20, 2026. A multifamily claim is too large to leave to a first walk-through. Our Isaias claims by the numbers page breaks the figures down.

Who does what at a multifamily property

Multifamily has a plain meaning. It covers buildings with two or more homes that share major parts. Units may share walls, a roof, heating, water lines, or sewer systems. Side-by-side homes can still act as one property when the roof and the systems tie them together. That shared structure drives the claim. A roof failure over one unit can let water into six units. Smoke from one stairwell can reach a whole building. The damage record has to follow the shared systems, not stop at each front door.

A property manager handles the daily work. The manager watches the condition of the property, answers resident complaints, schedules routine repairs, and keeps vendors moving. The manager helps run meetings, keeps service records, and works to keep residents satisfied. After a storm, the manager also controls access, posts notices, coordinates emergency work, and fields a flood of resident questions. That work matters. It also fills the day before any claim work starts.

A community association manager adds the association side. The manager supports the board, tracks budgets and assessments, prepares meeting records, and sends owner notices. The manager helps with vendor contracts, insurance files, and the paperwork an association must keep. A claim can fail on missing records as fast as it can fail on missed damage. The manager keeps the governance file and the money file in order while the claim moves.

An association board is different. The board is a small group of owners elected by the members. The board acts as custodian of the common areas and keeper of the community’s money. It approves budgets, levies assessments, signs contracts, and sets repair priorities. Board members hold a fiduciary duty to the owners. They must act for the community, use care with its money, and put the association ahead of any one owner’s interest.

A storm claim may be the largest financial decision that board ever makes. It may also be the board’s first claim. The deductible can reach seven figures. The repair scope can shape assessments, reserves, and property values for years. A representative who handles the policy duties, the deadlines, the inspections, and the damage record takes that weight off the board and the manager. The board can decide with a full file in front of it. The manager can get back to the property and the residents.

Condominium associations: the board carries the claim

In a condominium, the association’s board holds the claim. The board decides how to report the loss, who documents it, and how to keep owners informed. Most directors have never handled a claim before.

The association’s master policy covers the buildings and the common elements. Roofs, exterior walls, halls, elevators, pools, and parking structures sit on the association side of the line. Damage there means the association files the claim and manages the repair.

Owners watch the claim through the board. Tell them what was reported, what the carrier has paid, and what comes next. Silence breeds disputes, and disputes slow repairs.

PAG works for the board. We document common element damage in full, meet the carrier’s adjuster on site, and keep a record the board can share with owners. Association claim detail lives on our condo and HOA hurricane claims page.

Apartment communities: one owner, many buildings

An apartment community has no resident board. The owner carries the claim, and the manager runs it day to day. The manager fields resident calls and lets adjusters and contractors in.

Damage rarely stops at one building. Wind takes shingles from three roofs and drives rain into two more. Each building needs its own record of damage, its own photos, and its own repair scope. A lump estimate invites a lump payment that falls short.

Lost rents belong in the claim. Units that sit empty during repair cost the owner money every month. Many commercial policies cover that loss when covered damage makes a unit unlivable. The claim needs rent rolls and lease records to prove it. Our business interruption page explains how lost income claims are documented.

We build the loss building by building, so no roof and no empty unit drops out of the file. More on the apartment side sits on our apartment complex insurance claims page. Managers who run several communities can see our hurricane claims for property managers page.

Townhome associations: shared roofs, split duties

Townhomes sit between a condo and a single house. Units share roofs and walls. One damaged roof can cover four homes with four different owners.

The fight starts at the line between association and owner. Declarations and bylaws draw that line, and it moves from community to community. One association owns the roof and the exterior walls. Another stops at the drywall. Read yours before the carrier reads it for you.

Shared elements need one claim, not four. When a shared roof fails, the association claim should carry the whole roof. Four separate owner claims over one roof produce gaps, delays, and finger pointing.

We read the declarations with you, map who owns what, and file the claim on the right side of the line.

A 5 percent deductible on a $20 million property is $1,000,000

Multifamily hurricane deductibles are percentages, not flat dollars. A property insured for $20,000,000 with a 5 percent hurricane deductible carries a $1,000,000 deductible. The association absorbs the first million dollars of covered hurricane damage before the carrier pays a dollar.

Read your own policy form before you rely on that math. Forms differ. One form applies the percentage to the total insured value of the whole property. Another applies it building by building. A third applies it per occurrence. The same storm can produce three different deductibles under three different forms.

Florida law requires carriers to offer hurricane deductible options of $500, 2 percent, 5 percent, or 10 percent. Know your number before the adjuster arrives, not after the first check lands. See how the deductible applied to Isaias on our Florida hurricane deductible page.

Loss assessments: when the deductible lands on owners

A deductible this size rarely sits in a reserve account waiting. When a covered loss leaves the association short, the board can assess the owners for the shortfall. That power sits in the association’s own declarations and in Florida association law. Each owner pays a share, often based on unit size or the share set in the declarations.

That makes the claim a board issue, not a back office issue. A short claim payment does not end with the carrier. It lands on every owner’s doorstep as a special assessment. Owners who had no say in the claim still pay their share of the gap.

A unit owner’s HO-6 policy often includes loss assessment coverage, which can help pay an assessment tied to a covered loss. Limits are often small. Owners should check their own policies early, not after the assessment letter arrives.

A fully documented claim shrinks the gap the board has to assess. That is reason enough to get the file right the first time.

Master policy versus HO-6: who covers what

Two policies touch every condominium unit. The master policy belongs to the association. The HO-6 belongs to the unit owner. The line between them decides who files, who pays, and who waits.

• Master policy covers the buildings, roofs, and common elements.
• Master policy covers shared systems such as elevators, halls, and the pool.
• HO-6 covers the inside of the owner’s unit, such as floors, cabinets, and fixtures.
• HO-6 covers the owner’s personal property.
• HO-6 often includes loss assessment coverage for the owner.
• The declarations set the exact line, and every community draws it differently.

When a claim lands on the wrong policy, it stalls. We sort the loss by policy before anything gets filed, so each part of the damage goes to the carrier that owes it.

Hurricane Isaias deadlines for associations

Isaias claims run on fixed dates, and associations lose rights the same way homeowners do.

• Report an Isaias claim by October 9, 2027.
• Reopen or add to a claim by April 9, 2028.
• Do not wait on either date. A claim built late is a claim built from memory.

Boards change. Managers change. Records scatter. Document the property now, while the damage and the paperwork are still easy to reach.

Documents and first steps

Gather these before the first adjuster meeting.

• A complete certified copy of the master policy, including every endorsement.
• The association declarations and bylaws.
• Photos and video of the damage, dated and sorted by building.
• Roof records, including age, permits, and prior repairs.
• Repair invoices and emergency work receipts.
• Owner communications about the loss, kept in one file.

Bring what you have. We tell you what is missing and help you build the rest. If a claim was already denied, read what a denied Isaias claim means before the reopen deadline passes.

What it costs to hire us

Our fee is a percentage of what we recover for you. If we recover nothing, you pay nothing. Without representation, many homeowners walk away with far less or nothing at all. Associations face the same math at a larger scale. You pay the fee out of the claim, not out of the reserve account.

Nathan Sheppard has spent 17 years in claims, including large association and commercial claims across Florida. PAG puts that experience on your side of the table. We handle the paperwork and the adjuster meetings, so the board can run the community. Every claim type we handle sits on our Claims We Cover page.

Not sure your damage is covered? Start with a Free 21-Point Storm Inspection. We document the full loss and tell you plainly whether you have a claim. Call 800.511.2240.