Even before legislative proposals to reform condo safety post-Surfside died on the doorstep of the Florida House last month, a reaction was brewing in the marketplace.
But the failure by lawmakers in Tallahassee to respond to the partial collapse of Champlain Towers South that killed 98 people last June has further inflamed an exodus of insurers no longer willing to underwrite policies in an increasingly risky Florida condo marketplace, according to interviews with industry experts, analysts, academics and attorneys.
The retreat by insurance companies has left the condo associations steering aging buildings up and down the Miami area coastline and throughout the state to deal with insurers in the lesser-regulated surplus market, for customers that can’t get standard policies because the potential loss is unacceptably high. How high? In the case of Champlain Towers South, Great American Insurance Company announced it would tender its full policy limits and additional payments totaling more than $30 million. The upheaval is translating to massive price hikes on premiums and swiss-cheese carve-outs for policyholders.
