The default rule under Florida law
Florida Statute 718 (condos) and 720 (HOAs) sets defaults that can be (and almost always are) overridden by your association's declaration. The general default: the association owns and maintains everything outside the unit boundaries plus shared 'common element' systems; the unit owner owns and maintains everything inside the unit and serving only their unit. That means the riser stack in the wall is usually the association's, but the angle stop, supply line, and fixture inside your unit are yours.
Where the responsibility line typically falls
Inside-unit fixtures (faucets, toilets, disposals, dishwashers, in-unit water heaters) — owner. Branch supply lines and in-wall fittings inside your unit — usually owner unless the declaration says otherwise. Main risers and stacks that serve multiple units — almost always association. Mainline sewer from the building to municipal — association. Backflow on the building service — association. Common-area irrigation and pool plumbing — association.
How to find out for sure
Read your declaration of covenants. Search the document for the word 'plumbing.' It will explicitly call out maintenance responsibility, almost always with a 'limited common element' designation. If the language is unclear, the association manager can usually clarify in writing.
What to do when a leak crosses the line
When water from a unit above damages your unit, both insurance policies typically get involved — yours for your interior, theirs for the source. Document everything in writing immediately. Photograph the damage, save shutoff timestamps, and request the association's incident report. Our written plumber diagnosis is built to support either insurance side of the claim.
Common scenarios we see every month
The phone call we get most often goes something like this: a unit owner discovers a leak coming through their ceiling from the unit above. They call their HOA. The HOA tells them to call their neighbor. The neighbor tells them to call their insurance. Their insurance tells them to get a written diagnosis from a licensed plumber. By the time everyone has finished bouncing the call, the leak has been running for another 12 hours and the damage has doubled. The right move from minute one is to call a licensed plumber for a diagnostic visit. We document the source, photograph the damage, identify which side of the responsibility line the failed component is on, and produce a written report that every party (your insurance, the neighbor's insurance, the HOA) can work from. Without that documentation, the dispute can drag for months.
What 'limited common element' actually means
Florida condo declarations almost universally distinguish between three categories of property: unit, limited common element, and common element. Unit interior plumbing fixtures (faucets, toilets, in-unit water heater) are clearly the owner's. True common elements (the main building water supply, the roof, the elevators) are clearly the association's. The middle category — limited common elements — is where most disputes live. A balcony, an HVAC condenser pad, an exterior dryer vent, and certain in-wall plumbing branches inside your unit boundary are often designated limited common elements: the association owns them but only the adjacent unit benefits from them. Maintenance responsibility for limited common elements is whatever your declaration says it is, and the answer varies wildly between associations.
Practical steps before you call your HOA
1. Take photos and video of the visible damage with timestamps. 2. Locate and use your in-unit water shutoff if the source is clearly inside your unit, or the building shutoff if you cannot isolate it locally. 3. Identify the responsible association staff contact and the after-hours emergency line — every Florida association is required to maintain one but many homeowners only learn this in the moment they need it. 4. Get a written plumber diagnosis before you authorize any repair work. 5. Open insurance claims on both your policy and any HOA master policy that may apply. 6. Document every conversation in writing — email is your friend for any HOA correspondence because it creates a paper trail that voicemails do not.
Where Florida law overrides the declaration
Florida statute 718 sets a few floor protections that your declaration cannot override. The association must maintain insurance on the building structure. The association must respond to written inquiries within reasonable timeframes. The association cannot selectively enforce maintenance obligations against some owners and not others. If you believe your association is misapplying the declaration to push a maintenance responsibility onto you that belongs to them, you have legal recourse through the Florida Division of Condominiums, Timeshares, and Mobile Homes. We are plumbers, not attorneys, and for any meaningful dispute we strongly recommend consulting a Florida community-association attorney before signing any settlement or repair authorization.
Why our written diagnosis matters
Every plumbing diagnostic visit we do produces a written report with photos, a precise location of the failure, the cause of failure (corrosion, wear, defect, external damage), the affected components, and a recommended scope of repair. For condo and HOA situations specifically, we annotate which side of the typical responsibility line each failed component falls on. The report is built to be forwarded directly to your association manager, your insurance adjuster, and your neighbor's adjuster without further interpretation. We have produced thousands of these reports across Broward County over the years and the format reflects what adjusters and association managers actually need to act on a claim quickly. The diagnostic visit is billable, but it typically pays for itself many times over in faster claim resolution.
FAQs
Priscilla's Plumbing
Florida licensed plumbing contractor (license CFC1432961), woman-owned and family-run for four generations. Real licensed plumbers dispatched across Broward County 24/7 with flat-rate written quotes before any work begins.
- Office
- 4236 NE 6 Avenue, Oakland Park, FL 33334
- 24/7 dispatch
- (954) 982-6244
- Hours
- Mon–Fri 8 AM–5 PM · 24/7 emergency dispatch weekends & nights
- Credentials
- FL plumbing contractor CFC1432961 · insured · bonded