Article Courtesy of The Sun Sentinel

By Shannon O'Boye
Posted April 5, 2006

Hollywood · With the hurricane season fast approaching, hundreds of condominium windows damaged by Hurricane Wilma remain boarded up on Hollywood beach because of disputes between condo associations and insurance companies over who must pay for repairs.

The repairs amount to millions of dollars, and condo residents said they are caught in a tug of war between the companies that insure condo associations and those that insure individual homes.

"The [individual] homeowners insurance companies don't want to take responsibility for the windows ... and the insurance for the association says they're not sure if it's their responsibility," said Doris Weinstein, president of two of the Quadomain condominium's four towers in the 2100 block of South Ocean Drive. "Someone has to be accountable."

Approximately 200 windows at the Quadomain still are not repaired, Weinstein estimated. Ron Clasky, a Quadomain resident, called that a "crisis."

"We need it settled before the next storm," Clasky said. "The crisis is we have three months of work and we're two months from hurricane season."

Paul Finfer, who lives at the Aquarius, two 18-story buildings in the 2700 block of South Ocean Drive, said his association's $2 million to $3 million repair job has not been completed because of the window dispute.

Condo association policies, also known as master policies, generally cover the building itself, while individual unit owners' policies cover the interior, including carpets, wallpaper, furniture and other belongings. Should a building sustain damage, all unit owners have to pay the deductible on the master policy, and individual unit owners who suffered damage pay deductibles on their own policies.

A state law enacted in 2004, which said master policies cover the building itself and original interior walls within individual units, was supposed to clarify the issue. But legislators failed to spell out who is responsible for the windows.

Carol Everhart, a member of the Professional Insurance Agents of Florida's board of directors, said she thinks associations' policies cover windows damaged by hurricanes.

"It depends on how the [insurance] carrier looks at what a building is," Everhart said. "In my opinion ... you can't have a building without windows."

The Quadomain and the Aquarius condo associations are insured by QBE Insurance Group. A QBE representative could not be reached on Tuesday, but Everhart, who has written insurance coverage for more than 160 condo associations, said QBE "handles claims better than anyone."

Condo associations unable to reach an agreement with insurance companies should contact the state Department of Financial Services to request mediation, said spokesman Bob Lotane. Once notified of the mediation request, insurance companies have 21 days to settle. If no settlement is reached, mediation is scheduled at the insurance companies' expense.

"Just requiring the mediation tends to get the insurance company a little bit motivated, or more motivated, and jump-starts the process," Lotane said.

The hotline number is 800-227-8676.