Hurricane Deductibles and Loss Assessment
If you're buying a condominium unit on the Florida coast — or in any state with hurricane exposure — the master policy's hurricane deductible is one of the most important numbers in the document set you almost never see highlighted.
The mechanism
The association's master policy covers the building shell and common areas. After a hurricane:
- The association files a claim.
- The carrier pays the loss minus the deductible.
- The deductible (and any uncovered loss) is allocated to owners.
- Each owner's share is billed as a loss assessment.
That assessment is what your HO-6 loss assessment line is supposed to cover.
Why the deductible is so large
Hurricane deductibles are typically expressed as a percentage of insured value — commonly 2–10% in coastal Florida. On a $50M building, a 5% deductible is $2.5M. With 100 units, that's $25K per unit on average — but allocation isn't always equal.
Expert Matching
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Whether it's a pending special assessment, an insurance carrier non-renewal, or a building deterioration concern — we can connect you with specialists who handle exactly this situation.
- Insurance broker
- Realtor
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What we surface
When CondoSignal reviews a master-policy summary, we extract:
- Carrier and policy term.
- Total insured value.
- Hurricane / named-storm deductible (percent and dollar).
- Water and flood exclusions.
- Loss assessment-relevant carve-outs.
Your insurance broker can size your HO-6 loss assessment limit once these are visible.
What to ask your insurance agent
- "Given a 5% (or 2%, or whatever applies) named-storm deductible on the master, what HO-6 loss assessment limit do you recommend?"
- "Does the master policy have any water-intrusion exclusions that change what my HO-6 needs to cover?"
- "Is the master policy on a replacement-cost or actual-cash-value basis?"
Why this isn't legal or insurance advice
CondoSignal is not a licensed insurance broker. We surface what the documents disclose. A licensed Florida insurance broker is the right person to size your HO-6 against your association's specific master-policy facts.