Insurance in Palm Beach County, explained.
Coastal homes, condo inspections after Surfside and Florida's new flood disclosure: what's different about insuring a home in Palm Beach County.
Palm Beach County
In Palm Beach County, insurance questions tend to start with the building: how a coastal home stands up to wind, and, if you own a condo, what the newer state inspection and reserve rules mean for your association and your own policy. Flood is the third piece, and it’s separate.
Coastal homes and the wind question
Palm Beach County sits just north of the High-Velocity Hurricane Zone, which in Florida’s building code covers only Miami-Dade and Broward. Homes here are built to the statewide wind rules instead.
That makes the wind mitigation form especially useful here. It’s the state’s inspection form that records your roof covering, how the roof is attached, the roof shape, and whether your windows and doors are protected. Florida law requires insurers to offer discounts for features that reduce hurricane damage, but an insurer can only credit what it can verify. A newer roof or impact windows with no form behind them can look, on paper, like any other house.
Condos after Surfside
The Champlain Towers South collapse in Surfside on June 24, 2021 killed 98 people. Florida changed its condo laws after it, and those changes apply statewide, including to the condo towers along the Palm Beach coast.
- Milestone inspections. Condo and co-op buildings three habitable stories or taller need a structural inspection by the end of the year the building turns 30, and every 10 years after. A local building department can require it at 25 years based on local conditions, including closeness to salt water.
- Structural reserve studies. Associations for those buildings must also have a structural integrity reserve study at least every 10 years. It covers the roof, structure, fireproofing, plumbing, electrical, waterproofing, and windows and exterior doors.
- Reserves are harder to skip. For budgets adopted on or after December 31, 2024, owners generally can’t vote to fund less than those items need, with narrow exceptions.
What this means for your insurance: the association’s master policy insures the building, and your own HO-6 policy covers your unit and you. Florida requires every unit owner’s policy to include some loss assessment coverage. The law ties it to an assessment that comes from a loss to the association’s property of a kind your own policy covers, like wind damage after a storm. An assessment that funds repairs an inspection found, or builds up reserves, usually isn’t that kind of loss, so don’t count on your policy for it. Check your policy, or send it to me and I’ll check it with you.
Flood is still separate
A standard home or condo policy doesn’t cover flood, whether you’re on the ocean or out west. Palm Beach County’s own lookup treats your evacuation zone and your flood zone as two different things: evacuation zones are about storm surge, and flood zones cover poor drainage, sheet flow and coastal tides too.
If you’re buying a home here, Florida has required sellers of residential property, since October 1, 2024, to give buyers a flood disclosure at or before the contract. It asks whether the seller knows of flooding that damaged the home, has filed a flood insurance claim, or received federal flood assistance. Read it, and then ask me what a flood policy would look like before you close.
Good to know
- Get a wind mitigation inspection if you’ve never had one, or if you’ve replaced the roof or added shutters since the last one.
- Condo owners: ask your association for the latest milestone inspection and reserve study, then look at your HO-6 alongside them.
- Look up both zones. Use the county’s Know Your Zone tool for evacuation, and FEMA’s Flood Map Service Center for flood.
- Sign up for AlertPBC, the county’s emergency notification system.
Helpful local links
Questions people ask
Is Palm Beach County in the High-Velocity Hurricane Zone?
No. In the Florida Building Code, that zone is only Miami-Dade and Broward. Homes in Palm Beach County are built to the statewide wind rules, which is why a wind mitigation form is the main way to show an insurer what your home has.
Which condo buildings need a milestone inspection?
Under Florida law, condo and co-op buildings three habitable stories or taller need one by the end of the year the building turns 30, and every 10 years after. A local building department can move that to 25 years based on local conditions, including closeness to salt water.
Does my condo policy cover a special assessment?
Only in part, and only for some causes. Florida requires a condo unit owner's policy to include some loss assessment coverage for assessments that come from a loss to the association's property of a kind the owner's own policy covers. An assessment to fund repairs found in an inspection, or to build reserves, usually isn't that, but policies differ. Ask Elona to check what yours does.
Do I need to meet in person?
No. Elona works with clients across Florida by phone, text and email.