We work in Miami Beach condo units often, and the first question is usually not what is wrong but whose problem it is. A breaker that trips in your kitchen is almost always yours to fix. A hallway outage, a problem at the meter room or a feeder that serves several units is usually the association's. Between those two sits a gray area that depends on your building's documents. Here is how it generally splits, and how a repair visit works in a Miami Beach building.
The general rule in Florida law
Florida's condominium law, Chapter 718 of the Florida Statutes, gives the association the job of maintaining the common elements. Section 718.113(1) says maintenance of the common elements is the association's responsibility, except for maintenance of limited common elements that the declaration assigns to the unit owner.
On the unit side, section 718.111(11) leaves electrical fixtures, appliances and water heaters located within the unit and serving only that unit out of the association's property insurance, and makes that property the unit owner's responsibility. In plain terms, the wiring, devices and equipment that serve only your unit are generally yours, and what serves the building or several units is generally the association's.
Your declaration has the details
The statute sets the frame, but your building's declaration of condominium draws the actual lines: where the unit boundary is, which items are limited common elements, and who maintains them. Two buildings on the same street can answer the same question differently. Before a repair, it helps to know what your declaration says about:
- The unit's own panel and the wiring inside the unit's walls.
- The feeder between the meter room and your unit's panel.
- Balcony and terrace outlets and lights.
- Equipment outside the unit that serves only your unit, such as an AC condenser on the roof.
If you do not have the declaration, the manager can usually tell you how the building treats each of these.
How it usually splits in practice
Usually the unit owner's: outlets, switches, light fixtures, GFCIs, the breakers in your unit's panel, and wiring that serves only your unit. Our pages on outlet and GFCI repair, lighting repair and breaker repair cover most of these calls.
Usually the association's: the building's service and meter rooms, electric rooms, common-area lighting, emergency and exit lighting, garage and pool wiring, and feeders that serve more than one unit.
A quick test: if only your unit is affected, start with your own panel. If the hallway, your neighbors or the whole floor are out too, call building management first. Our guide to whether an outage is FPL's or yours walks through the same logic for houses.
Building rules for contractors
Many Miami Beach buildings have rules for any contractor working in a unit. They vary, so ask the manager before the visit. Common ones are:
- A work request or approval form filed with management before work starts.
- A certificate of insurance from the contractor, sometimes naming the association.
- Set hours for contractor work, often weekdays only.
- Elevator reservations, loading dock use and parking for the work vehicle.
- Advance notice if the work needs power shut off in a shared electric room.
Sorting these out before the visit saves a wasted trip. Our post on condo board approval for EV chargers goes into building paperwork in more detail.
Permits in a condo unit
Some unit work needs a City of Miami Beach electrical permit, such as replacing a panel or adding circuits. A licensed electrical contractor pulls it, and some buildings ask to see it before work starts. A like-for-like repair, such as replacing a failed outlet, generally does not need one, and we will tell you which side of that line your job falls on. Our guide to Miami Beach electrical permits covers the city's process.
Older panels in condo units
Many Miami Beach buildings have unit panels as old as the building. Zinsco and Sylvania-Zinsco panels are among the ones we replace most, and insurers ask about them on 4-point inspections. Our guide to Zinsco and Sylvania panels explains why and what replacing one involves.
Building recertification is the association's job
Older buildings in Miami Beach go through recertification. The city's building recertification page says buildings must be recertified at 30 years from the original certificate of occupancy and every 10 years after that, with a report covering both the structural and the electrical systems. The city's electrical recertification guidelines look at the building's service, metering, electric rooms, panels, grounding, emergency and exit lighting, garage and pool wiring. That report is commissioned by the association through a licensed engineer or architect, not by individual owners. Florida's separate milestone inspection law for condominiums of three or more stories is a structural inspection, not an electrical one.
If recertification turns up a problem in a shared electric room, that is generally the association's repair. If the association asks owners to fix something inside their units, the notice should say what.
Salt air and balconies
Ocean-facing balconies take a lot of spray, and balcony outlets and lights are often the first devices in a unit to corrode. Our guide to salt air corrosion covers what to look for and what lasts longer.
Questions people ask
The power is out in my unit only. Who do I call?
Check your own panel first for a tripped main or branch breaker. If it is not that, call an electrician, and let building management know in case the problem is on the feeder.
Can the association make me fix my unit's wiring?
If the declaration makes it your responsibility and a problem affects the building, the association can usually require the repair. The exact process is in your documents.
Need it looked at?
KRW Electric (EC13012832) troubleshoots and repairs condo unit wiring, panels, outlets and lighting in Pinecrest, Coconut Grove, South Miami and Miami Beach, with same-day service when scheduling permits. Call (305) 359-7312 and tell us what you are seeing. We will ask a few questions, tell you whether it sounds urgent, and give you the earliest time we have. Our before you call checklist covers what to have ready, and what happens on a repair visit explains the rest.
Our Miami Beach page covers the rest of the work we do on the island.
Reviewed by Kyle White, KRW Electric Company LLC — licensed electrical contractor EC13012832.
