After several years of punishing premium increases, the market behind Florida condo insurance renewal has swung back in favor of associations for the first time in recent memory. We recently hosted an online seminar with Paul Mack and Chad Tiernan of Community Insurance Experts, who showed board members and property managers how to secure a lower premium and better coverage at renewal.
This educational webinar covered the full arc of the renewal process, from the market forces now driving rate decreases to the concrete steps a board can take months before its renewal date. Attendees learned how to position a community for competitive pricing, read a proposal with a critical eye, and catch the exclusions and contract terms that quietly cost associations money.
Disclaimer: This video is for educational purposes only. You will not receive credits for watching the recording. Credits were issued only to those that attended the course.
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Florida's property insurance market has shifted because legal reforms, a wave of new carrier capacity, and a stretch of quieter storm seasons have combined to reverse years of steep rate increases. For condominium associations, that turnaround means the leverage in a renewal has moved back toward the board, often for the first time since premiums began climbing.
Just a couple of years ago, double-digit rate hikes were routine, and in 2024 many associations struggled to find coverage at all, with some premiums doubling. Conditions have since turned a full 180 degrees. Most communities are now seeing decreases of at least ten to fifteen percent; many are landing closer to twenty, and associations with several carriers competing for their business have seen reductions above thirty percent, with a handful approaching forty-five.
Several developments converged to ease Florida condo insurance costs. Legislative reforms in Tallahassee ended the practice that required insurers to pay both sides' legal fees when a policyholder sued, a structure that had fueled a surge of litigation and pushed roughly eight carriers into insolvency. With that pressure relieved, new carriers and fresh capital re-entered the state, and a run without a major landfalling hurricane gave the market room to recover.
No two communities see the same outcome, because each carrier applies its own underwriting guidelines around building age, height, and distance from the coast. As capacity has returned, many of those restrictions have loosened, and carriers are again willing to write properties they would have declined a few years ago. Age, size, location, and recent upgrades such as a new roof or updated electrical and plumbing all shape the result, which is why a high-rise condominium and a garden-style community can renew on very different terms.
The improving market is also producing stronger coverage, not only smaller bills. Hurricane deductibles that were almost always five percent are now appearing at three and even two percent, a figure every board should confirm in its master property policy. Policy language is improving as well, with some deductibles shifting from a named-storm trigger to a narrower hurricane trigger and more carriers offering ordinance or law coverage, which helps pay the added cost of rebuilding undamaged portions of a structure to current code after a major loss.
Much of a Florida condo insurance renewal is decided long before the first quote arrives. The months leading up to the effective date are when a board can position its condo association insurance renewal to capture the full benefit of a softer market.
Not all agents work the same way, and communication is the clearest signal of how hard one is working on a community's behalf. An agent who reaches out early, explains what reductions to expect and why, and returns calls promptly is demonstrating real value, while one who takes repeated attempts to reach is reason enough to seek a second opinion. It also helps to remember that agents earn a commission based on premium, so a lower premium means a smaller commission, a dynamic that should never shape the advice a board receives, whether the community is a condo or an HOA.
Understanding the calendar removes most of the uncertainty from the condo insurance renewal process. Most carriers begin accepting submissions about one hundred twenty days before the effective date, then release firm quotes roughly thirty days out, which is when an agent should be pushing hardest to finalize numbers. A board should expect a proposal at least two weeks before renewal, along with steady updates in the interim so it always knows the likely range, even while a carrier or two is still outstanding.
Accurate documentation has a direct effect on what a community pays. Property premiums are tied to the insured replacement value set by an appraisal, so if rising construction costs push a building's value from ten million to twelve million dollars, the association buys proportionally more coverage even when the underlying rate holds steady. Communities that have installed a new roof should also obtain wind mitigation forms, since those credits can meaningfully reduce the property premium and some carriers require them.
“You should never be surprised when you finally get your proposal.” - Chad Tiernan, Community Insurance Experts
When the proposal finally arrives, the work shifts from positioning to scrutiny. A full review meeting with the agent, walking through pricing, carriers, terms, and coverage, is the moment a board confirms it is both protected properly and getting the best available deal.
The single most revealing document in a proposal is the marketing summary. It lists every carrier the agent approached and how each one responded, which is the clearest evidence that the market was fully shopped rather than quietly renewed with the incumbent. If a proposal arrives without one, a board should ask which carriers were contacted, what they quoted, and why any declined to offer terms.
The terms buried in a policy matter as much as the price on its cover. Non-standard carriers can attach manuscript exclusions that strip out protection such as water damage or impose restrictive coinsurance clauses that let the carrier reduce a payout if an association's insured value falls short at the time of a claim. Reviewing a policy for coverage gaps before a loss occurs is the only reliable way to know what a low premium is actually buying.
A careful reading also catches errors and add-ons that quietly inflate the total. Boards should confirm the schedule of buildings and the replacement cost values on the proposal are correct, since a carrier can enter the wrong figure or omit a newer structure entirely. It is also worth checking that the agent secured a competitive interest rate on any premium financing and reviewing the policy for agent fees, which Florida now permits and which must be disclosed.
“In my 30 years, I can tell you that if you give an insurance company a reason to deny a claim, they will every single time.” - Paul Mack, Community Insurance Experts
A soft market is exactly when a second opinion pays off, because leverage only helps if a community knows whether it is capturing the full benefit. Reviewing the entire community association insurance program with a fresh set of eyes can either confirm a renewal is competitive or reveal room to do better.
Insurance does not work like collecting three contractor bids, because a carrier will negotiate with only one agent at a time. The first agent to submit becomes the agent of record, a designation the board controls and can change at any point, so a community can share its current policies for a no-cost, no-obligation review without committing to anything. A board should be cautious with anyone who insists on being named agent of record before providing any information at all.
Consolidation has reshaped the brokerage world, and the number of independent agents in Florida has fallen sharply over the past few decades. A larger firm is not automatically a better one, since the pressure to produce shareholder returns can quietly steer attention toward whichever account pays the most commission. What matters is expertise and transparency, which a board can confirm by spot-checking its program against the wider market.
Board members are not expected to be insurance experts, and a capable agent closes that gap by translating dense policy language into clear options a community can act on with confidence. The aim of the whole process is not simply a signature on a renewal, but the assurance that the association is covered correctly and ready to defend a claim when it matters. That assurance, more than any single number, is what separates a renewal that merely closes from one a board can genuinely stand behind.
“You are looking for confidence and clarity. This is a promise to deliver when you need it, and insurance policies are complicated contracts. You need guidance to get you through it.” - Paul Mack, Community Insurance Experts
The communities that come out ahead in this market are not simply the ones paying the least, but the ones that treat the renewal as a process they actively manage rather than a bill they passively receive. A softer market hands boards real leverage, yet that leverage only becomes savings and stronger coverage when it meets early preparation, a transparent agent, and a careful reading of every term. Approached that way, a Florida condo insurance renewal stops being an annual source of anxiety and becomes a dependable opportunity to protect both the community's budget and the owners who are counting on it.
Florida condo statute calls for an updated insurance appraisal every three years. Carriers now review these closely, and an unusually low appraisal may be rejected, a practice that has grown more common since the Surfside collapse.
No. Property coverage is seeing real decreases while liability has softened only slightly, since Florida remains a high-claim state for third-party suits. For most condos, property is the larger expense, but if older claims are aging off, make sure liability is shopped to every available carrier.
No. Condo and HOA coverage in Florida comes through independent agents who can approach many carriers, since national names like State Farm or Allstate generally will not write these buildings. Access to multiple markets is what creates the competition and leverage behind a strong renewal.
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Ashley Dietz is the VP of Marketing at Campbell Property Management and has led the company’s educational and marketing initiatives since 2013. A Florida Atlantic University graduate with a bachelor’s degree in communications, Ashley specializes in community association education, digital outreach, and industry engagement for Florida HOAs and condominiums.