For Unit Owners, Boards & Property Managers
Mold In A Florida Condo: Who Actually Pays
Search this question and you get law firm pages that explain the dispute and then invite you to call about a lawsuit. This page answers the question and then tells you what to actually do about the mold.
TLG Restoration · Updated August 2026 · 11 Min Read
Start With The Source, Not The Stain
The determinative question is always where the water originated, not where the mold appeared. Mold shows up where conditions favor it, which is frequently not where the leak is. A failure in a common element three floors up can surface as a black stain on a third floor bedroom ceiling. A pinhole in your own supply line can bloom two rooms away.
The sequence is: find the source, then assign responsibility, then remediate. Doing it in any other order is how owners and boards end up in a nine month argument over a job that was going to cost $4,000.
Practically, that means moisture mapping and source tracing come before anyone writes a check. In a building, that work usually involves the association, because access to common elements is required to trace anything.
Where The Water Came From Determines Who Pays
Florida Statute 718.113(1) puts maintenance of the common elements on the association; unit owners maintain the interior. Read this table alongside your declaration, which can shift specific items.
| Water Source | Typically Responsible | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| Roof leak | Association | Roof is a common element under 718.113(1) |
| Exterior wall or window envelope failure | Association | Exterior walls are common elements |
| Shared plumbing riser or stack | Association | Shared plumbing serving multiple units is common |
| Common area HVAC or shared plenum | Association | Common mechanical serving the building |
| In-unit supply line, angle stop, or braided hose | Unit owner | Inside the unit, owner maintained |
| Water heater failure inside the unit | Unit owner | Water heaters are expressly owner maintained |
| Dishwasher, washer, or refrigerator line | Unit owner | Appliances are expressly owner maintained |
| Upstairs neighbor's in-unit failure | The upstairs owner, usually | Source is inside another unit, not a common element |
| Long-term humidity with no discrete leak | Usually owner, sometimes disputed | Depends on ventilation, envelope, and the declaration |
One water event can produce a repair bill that legitimately belongs to two different parties. The drywall surface is the owner's; the pipe behind it may not be. That is exactly why the source determination has to be documented rather than assumed.
Master Policy Versus Your HO-6
The Association's Master Policy
Covers the building as described in the declaration and Florida condominium law. It typically responds to damage involving common elements and the building structure.
The Unit Owner's HO-6
Covers the owner's side: interior finishes, personal property, improvements and betterments, and loss of use. This is the policy that responds when the failure was inside the unit.
Two things surprise people. First, mold coverage under Florida policies is commonly capped around $10,000 unless a higher endorsement was purchased, and that cap applies on either side. Second, the association's deductible on a covered building claim can be substantial, and in many buildings the way that deductible flows down to owners is set by the declaration rather than by the statute.
TLG does not handle, negotiate, or interpret insurance claims. What we do is document the work thoroughly enough that whoever is adjusting the claim has what they need: moisture readings, dated photos, an itemized scope, and a clear record of what was removed and why. Budgeting the job itself? Our cost guide has the real local ranges.
Where The Line Gets Argued
These account for most condo mold disputes in Palm Beach County. The cheap version of every one is early documentation. The expensive version is two lawyers and a year.
Delayed Reporting
An owner notices a soft spot in March and reports it in July. By then the source is arguable and the damage is much larger. Report in writing, dated, immediately, even if you are not sure who is responsible.
A Source That Crosses The Line
Water enters through a common element and then travels through owner maintained materials. Both parties are correct about their part, which is why an independent source determination matters more than either side's opinion.
Chronic Humidity With No Discrete Leak
No burst pipe, no roof failure, just a unit that runs at high humidity. These are the hardest to assign and often come down to envelope condition, ventilation design, and declaration language.
Vacant Or Seasonal Units
Palm Beach County has a lot of them. A unit left at 78 degrees for four months in the summer will grow mold without any leak at all. That one is almost always the owner's.
Why Multi-Unit Remediation Is A Different Job
A contractor who only does single family work will discover these on your building.
- 01
Shared Plenums And Return Paths
In many buildings the air handling design means one unit's contamination has a path to others. Containment has to account for the mechanical system, not just the room.
- 02
Common Walls
Demolition on a shared wall affects the unit on the other side. That requires coordination, notice, and often access to a unit whose owner is not part of the job.
- 03
Corridor Negative Pressure
Containment in a building means controlling pressure relative to the corridor so nothing migrates into common areas. In a house, you tape the doorway. In a building, you engineer the airflow.
- 04
Occupied Building Logistics
Elevator scheduling, service entrances, dust control in corridors, quiet hours, parking for equipment trucks. Every one is a schedule item, and ignoring them is how a job turns into forty complaint emails to the manager.
- 05
Sequencing Around The Source Repair
Nobody should be rebuilding a wall while the roof above it is still open. In a building, the remediation schedule is chained to the association's repair schedule, and somebody has to own that dependency.
What A Board Should Require In A Remediation Bid
Worth putting in your RFP language verbatim.
- 01Proof of a current Florida mold remediation license, in the name of the entity that will actually perform the work
- 02A written protocol from an independent licensed mold assessor, with every bid priced to that same protocol
- 03A containment plan specific to a multi-unit building: negative air, HEPA filtration, corridor pressure differential, HVAC isolation, in writing
- 04Explicit scope boundaries: what is remediation, what is reconstruction, what is excluded
- 05A documentation deliverable: daily moisture logs, dated photos before, during, and after, containment verification, and a final report
- 06Insurance certificates naming the association as additional insured, plus workers compensation. Verify with the carrier, not the contractor
- 07A resident communication plan: who notifies units, how far in advance, and who fields questions
- 08A defined change order process: how a change gets priced, approved, documented, and who has authority to approve it
Why The Assessor Has To Be Independent Of The Contractor
Florida licenses mold assessment and mold remediation separately, and the separation has teeth. A licensed mold assessor cannot remediate a structure they assessed in the previous 12 months, and vice versa. For a board, that rule is a governance gift: the party defining the scope has no financial stake in how big the scope is, and the party verifying the work is not grading its own homework.
TLG holds a remediation license. We remediate. We do not test, and we do not clear our own work. If you need an assessor, hire one directly so the relationship and the record are clean.
Priced To The Protocol, Documented For The File
We are a family owned, Florida licensed mold remediation company in West Palm Beach, working Palm Beach County plus Martin and St. Lucie. We work with boards, property managers, and individual unit owners.
What that looks like: we price to the independent assessor's protocol, we write a containment plan specific to your building, we coordinate with management on access and resident notice, and we hand over a documentation package at the end that a board can file, a carrier can read, and an owner can understand.
We do not test, we do not clear our own work, and we do not tell you who is responsible for the bill. We tell you what the water did, we put it in writing, and we remove the mold.
Condo Mold Questions, Answered Plainly
- Who pays for mold remediation in a Florida condo?
- It depends on where the water originated, not where the mold appeared. If the source was a common element such as the roof, an exterior wall, or shared plumbing, it falls to the association under Florida Statute 718.113(1). If the source was inside the unit, it falls to the owner.
- Is the HOA responsible for mold in my condo unit?
- Only if the water that caused it came from a common element the association maintains. Mold on your bedroom ceiling caused by a roof leak is generally the association's side. The same mold caused by your own water heater is yours. Trace the source before assigning the bill.
- Does my condo association's master policy cover mold?
- The master policy generally responds to the building and common elements as defined in the declaration, while your HO-6 covers interior finishes, personal property, and improvements. Florida policies commonly cap mold coverage near $10,000 without a higher endorsement. Which policy responds follows the same source question.
- What does Florida Statute 718.113 say about condo maintenance?
- 718.113(1) makes the association responsible for maintaining the common elements, including roofs, exterior walls, and shared systems. Unit owners maintain the interior: wall, floor, and ceiling coverings, appliances, water heaters, cabinets, fixtures, and window treatments. Your declaration can add detail, so read it alongside the statute.
- My upstairs neighbor's leak caused mold in my unit. Who pays?
- If the failure was inside their unit, such as a supply line, water heater, or appliance, responsibility generally sits with that owner and their HO-6 policy rather than the association. If the failure was in a shared riser passing through their unit, it is more likely an association matter. The source determines it.
- Can a condo association require a unit owner to remediate mold?
- Associations generally can enforce declaration and rule provisions covering unit condition, nuisance, and access, and many declarations address water and mold directly. How that plays out in a specific building is a legal question for the association's counsel. Practically, most of these resolve once the source is documented.
- Do I need a lawyer for a condo mold dispute?
- Not for the remediation itself, which is a contracting job. If the association and owner genuinely disagree about responsibility after the source has been determined, or if a carrier denies, that is when counsel earns their fee. Get the source documented first. It resolves most disputes before they become disputes.
- How long does mold remediation take in an occupied condo building?
- A single unit contained job commonly runs three to seven working days, plus clearance turnaround. Multi-unit work with shared walls or HVAC involvement runs longer because containment, access coordination, and resident notice add days. Reconstruction is separate and starts only after the source repair is complete.
Talking To A Board Or Manager?
Send the details or call. A real person reads every request, and if this is an active emergency the phone is faster than any form.
(561) 331-8624