Most Florida boards heard about HB 913 because of reserves and inspection deadlines. Fewer noticed the insurance provision tucked inside it, and that provision changes what "adequately insured" means for every condominium association in the state.
Here is the rule, why it exists, and what it means the next time your building takes damage.
What HB 913 changed, in one paragraph
HB 913 took effect July 1, 2025 and touched many parts of Florida condo law. On insurance, it did one big thing: it requires associations to determine the replacement cost of the property through an independent insurance appraisal at least once every 36 months, and to base the association's property coverage on that number. It also adjusted the reserve rules that arrived after Surfside, raising the component threshold to $25,000 with annual inflation adjustments, which puts the 2026 figure at $25,675, and adding a limited pause option for associations funding repairs identified by a milestone inspection.
The 36-month appraisal rule
Florida law has long required associations to carry "adequate" property insurance based on replacement cost. The problem was the word adequate. Many associations renewed year after year on coverage limits set long ago, while construction costs in Florida climbed fast.
HB 913 closes that gap. Adequate now means tied to a current independent appraisal of replacement cost, refreshed at least every 36 months. If your association's declaration has old language suggesting a lower standard, the statute overrides it.
Who performs it matters. The statute calls for an independent appraisal, meaning a qualified valuation professional with no stake in the outcome, not a number your agent pencils in at renewal or a figure carried forward from the declaration decades ago. Ask the appraiser to document methodology and assumptions, because that report will be read later by underwriters, and possibly by an adjuster after a loss.
Two practical notes. First, 36 months is the floor, not the target. With recent construction inflation, many carriers already want valuations updated every 12 to 24 months, and a three-year-old number can drift far from reality. Second, an insurance appraisal is not a market appraisal. It measures what it would cost to rebuild the structure, which has nothing to do with unit sale prices.
Why "adequate insurance" now has a number
Before this rule, a board could believe it was covered while carrying limits hundreds of dollars per square foot below actual rebuild cost. Nobody found out until a major loss, which is the worst possible moment to learn it.
Construction cost inflation made the old habit dangerous. Materials, labor, and code requirements in Florida have all moved sharply since many buildings last set their limits, and a limit that was right five years ago can be badly short today without anyone touching the policy.
The appraisal rule forces the discovery early, at renewal time, when the board can still fix it. It also gives directors a defensible record. A board that insures to a current independent appraisal has a clean answer to any owner who later asks whether the building was properly covered. A board that skips the appraisal now has a statutory problem on top of a coverage problem.
Coinsurance penalties, in plain English
Here is the trap the appraisal rule helps you avoid. Most commercial property policies contain a coinsurance clause. It says the building must be insured to a stated percentage of its true replacement value, often 80 or 90 percent. Insure below that line and the carrier does not just cap your recovery at your limit. It reduces the payment on every claim, even small ones, in proportion to how underinsured you were.
Underinsurance by a third can shrink a partial-loss payment by roughly a third. On an association loss, that shortfall lands on the owners, usually as a special assessment. A current appraisal is the cheapest protection against that outcome, which is why carriers and the legislature both push for it.
The reserve changes riding along
The same bill tuned the post-Surfside reserve system. The component threshold rose to $25,000 with annual inflation indexing, so smaller items no longer force their way into the structural reserve schedule. And associations that completed a milestone inspection identifying needed repairs may pause certain reserve contributions for up to two consecutive budget years while funding those repairs.
Boards should treat the pause option carefully. It is a bridge for associations actively funding identified repairs, not a loophole, and using it requires the milestone findings to back it up.
None of that loosens the core 2026 rule: reserves for the SIRS structural components can no longer be waived or reduced by owner vote. If your association is behind on the study itself, read our guide to the SIRS deadline consequences, because the budget and insurance pieces now interlock.
What this means at claim time
Everything above sounds like paperwork until a loss happens. Then it becomes money.
A current appraisal means your limits can actually rebuild the property, so the fight with the carrier is about scope and price, not about a coverage ceiling you set too low. It removes the coinsurance penalty from the table. And the appraisal document itself, with its component detail and valuation date, becomes useful evidence of the building's insured characteristics when the claim is negotiated.
An outdated valuation does the opposite. It hands the carrier arguments, caps the recovery, and converts the gap into owner assessments. Boards rarely lose claims on drama. They lose them on numbers set years earlier.
There is a timing point here too. The appraisal cycle, the SIRS, and the milestone inspection all generate documents about the same building on overlapping schedules. Smart boards line them up. A building with a current appraisal, a funded reserve schedule, and a clean inspection file walks into any renewal, any sale, and any claim with its story already written down.
A board's compliance checklist
Put these on the next agenda:
• Find the date of your last independent insurance appraisal. If it is older than 36 months or does not exist, schedule one before your next renewal.
• Compare the appraised replacement cost to your current policy limits, and review the coinsurance clause with your agent.
• Confirm your SIRS and milestone status, since inspectors, appraisers, and underwriters now read each other's work.
• Calendar the next appraisal at 24 months, not 36, if construction costs keep moving.
• Record all of it in minutes. The paper trail is the board's protection.
If you want a structured way to walk through coverage, records, and deadlines together, our free Board Insurance Readiness Review was built for exactly this. Pair it with the SIRS checklist for the structural side. Both are educational tools your board keeps, and both are easier to complete in a quiet month than in the week after a storm.
James Coyne, Public Adjuster, License W482618, Coyne Commercial Group, License G350978