Insurers are making demands of 40-year-old buildings after Surfside condo collapse

[TexasTowelie]

TALLAHASSEE -- Within days of the partial collapse of Champlain Towers South in Surfside, insurance companies sent letters to owners of condominiums 40 years and older in South Florida, asking for proof that their buildings have passed all inspections, or they will lose their coverage.

The deadly collapse of the 136-unit high rise has spooked an industry that had already considered older condos on the coast — with their hurricane exposure, their common ownership structure and reputation for delaying maintenance — a high risk, experts say.

Now, if a building can’t comply with the insurance requests, the insurer can cancel the policy with a 45-day notice, or choose not to renew the policy, said Isidro “Izzy” Guillama, CEO of ProCom Insurance Underwriters, a Miami-based independent insurance agent who specializes in condo insurance.

But many insurers are not waiting, he said.

“Everybody has moved very quickly because they have a lot of liability, and a lot of risk,’’ Guillama said. “They’re looking at any building that is showing more than 40 years of age, and they’re asking for the recertification of the building.”

Read more: https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/miami-beach/article252528138.html

[OAITW r.2.0]

1. Not surprising....

Any concrete structure 40+ YO, is now seen as a potential insurance risk. I think the bill is coming due for a lot of coastal properties....

[sop]

4. Given how insurance companies do things, they'll raise everyone's premiums in Florida.

[SergeStorms]

12. You can bet on it.

Insurance rates in Florida are already some of the nation's highest, and they won't miss a chance to raise the rates again.

Among the hurricanes, sink holes, tornadoes, rising sea levels, deteriorating buildings, and who knows whatever else they can think of, insurance rates will become too high for many people to afford.

Mobile homes insurance rates are already too high for many to afford, and when a heavy hurricane season hits, it's going to wipe a lot of people out financially.

I think the population of Florida is in for a decline, which will please many of the natives to no end. Florida is over populated, and the state's aquifers can't support the number of people living there.

Florida is between a rock and a hard place already. The worst is yet to come.

[Enter stage left]

2. And it starts...

Where will it go from here?

[Mike Nelson]

3. Hopefully...

... condo owners will vote for the maintenance needs, now.

[SergeStorms]

13. Many won't be able to afford it.

On top of their already sky-high mortgages, they'll be slapped with perhaps a $100,000 assessment for repairs. That's going to empty the condos, depress the condo market, and house prices will skyrocket.

Real estate in Florida is going to become one very fucked up business very soon.

[Throck]

5. Any chance building replacement or repairs would be covered by infrastructure bill?

[pnwmom]

7. Is it part of public infrastructure? If not, what would the argument be for covering it? n/t

[Throck]

9. Public housing.

Creativity in definition.

If it was privately owned then so be it. If co-op style where the residents own it then why not?

[pnwmom]

11. It wasn't public housing. It was all privately owned condos. n/t

[mobeau69]

6. Like a DUI arrest, you get the cancellation letter from the Ins Co

like the next fucking day.

So I’ve heard from a friend.

[BradBo]

8. Do you feel bad...

… for the poor insurance company’s making a little less because they might have to advise the owners to make their buildings safer?
The Florida government isn’t going to.

[monkeyman1]

10. lived there for awhile

most of the condo's there are over 40 plus . if ya go to east side or west side of Florida on coast , most of the buildings are out dated. an that is not just condo's . there is a lot of hi -rises office & other structures still standing from the late 60's & early 70's . just go back in time & look. and it's not just Florida! there is a ol' saying " mother nature's a bitch when she comes after ya ' .

[Pas-de-Calais]

14. From the article

lawyers for the condominium association and its insurers said the building has $30 million in property coverage, and $18 million in liability coverage, an amount Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Michael Hanzman suggested would not be enough to cover victims.

[Dreampuff]

15. That amount should just be on the structure and its surroundings and the land, shouldn't it?

Wouldn't each condo owner have had insurance coverage on the interior of their condo and their personal belongings?
Quite frequently our insurance companies go berserk. A few months ago they decided that roofs had to be repaired and reshingled even if they were in pretty good shape or they would drop the insured.