Florida's Condo Laws and Reserve Requirements: What Buyers and Owners Need to Know

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Watch: Florida's Condo Laws Explained

A short video on what the law requires, what it means for monthly fees and special assessments, and the documents to ask for before you make an offer.

Background

Why Florida Changed the Rules

After the Champlain Towers South collapse in Surfside in June 2021, the Legislature passed SB 4-D in 2022, then refined it in 2023 (SB 154), 2024 (HB 1021) and 2025 (HB 913). The result is two separate requirements for condominium buildings three or more habitable stories tall: a milestone inspection and a structural integrity reserve study. The first tells an association what condition the building is in. The second tells it how much money to set aside to keep it that way.

The 2026 legislative session did not change these rules. A broader community association bill (HB 657) passed the House and died in the Senate in March, so the framework below still stands.

The Two Requirements

Milestone Inspection vs. Reserve Study

Both apply based on height, not age: any residential condominium building with three or more habitable stories. One- and two-story buildings are generally outside the SIRS requirement, though they still follow Florida's ordinary reserve rules.

What Gets Studied

What a SIRS Covers

The study looks at the components tied to the building's structural integrity and safety:

• Roof
• Structure, including load-bearing walls and other primary structural members
• Fireproofing and fire protection systems
• Plumbing
• Electrical systems
• Waterproofing and exterior painting
• Windows and exterior doors
• Any other item with deferred maintenance or replacement cost over the state's threshold (the larger of $25,000 or the inflation-adjusted amount the state posts each year) whose neglect would hurt the items above

The Funding Plan

How the Reserve Funding Plan Works

Every SIRS has to include a funding plan, and the association's budget has to follow it. Here is what the statute requires of the study and the budget:

• Item by item. The study lists each component inspected, its estimated remaining useful life, and its estimated replacement cost or deferred maintenance cost.
• A recommended annual amount. For each item, the plan sets the annual reserve contribution that reaches the replacement cost by the end of that item's remaining life.
• A baseline plan that never goes negative. The study must recommend a baseline funding schedule in which each budget year's funding is enough to keep the reserve cash balance above zero. It may offer other schedules too, as long as each one covers the association's maintenance obligations.
• The budget has to match. Reserve amounts in the annual budget must be based on the most recent study. If the funding the association actually plans (regular assessments, special assessments, loans or lines of credit) does not line up with the study's plan, it must obtain an updated study before adopting that budget.
• Long-lived items get lighter treatment. If an item's remaining useful life is more than 25 years, or its life cannot be estimated, the association does not have to reserve replacement costs for it. It still has to reserve any deferred maintenance amount the study recommends.

You may hear that the plan has to cover 30 years. The statute does not set a number of years. Many reports do project about 30 years in practice, because that is long enough to reach the longest-lived components. What matters to a buyer is whether the plan keeps the balance above zero in every year and whether the building's actual budget follows it.

The study also has to account for how the association is paying: if the building has taken a loan or line of credit, or approved a special assessment, the study must be updated to reflect that and what it does to regular assessments.

Dates

Key Dates

For Buyers

After You Go Under Contract: Documents and Rights

When you buy a condo resale in Florida, the Florida Realtors/Florida Bar contract is paired with a Condominium Rider (Rider A). It spells out what the seller has to disclose, which documents you receive, and the windows you have to cancel. Here is what it covers.

Documents the seller must provide, at the seller's expense

• The Declaration of Condominium, including all amendments
• The association's Articles of Incorporation
• The Bylaws and Rules of the association
• The most recent annual financial statement and annual budget. Any special assessment, line of credit or loan the association has used to fund reserves must be disclosed in the financial statement given to buyers.
• The Frequently Asked Questions and Answers document
• The state's Condo Governance form
• If the association has completed them: the inspector-prepared summary of the milestone inspection report, the developer's turnover inspection report (newer buildings turned over on or after July 1, 2023), and the most recent structural integrity reserve study

Extra documents you can request in the contract

The rider lets you check off additional items the seller must hand over:

• Board meeting minutes and agendas for the 12 months before the effective date
• Member (owner) meeting minutes and agendas for the same 12 months
• Insurance declaration pages for the association's general liability, hazard/windstorm and any flood policies
• Any milestone inspection summary, turnover report or SIRS the seller receives before closing
• Anything else you write in

Board minutes are where you find out about special assessments, loan discussions and repair projects before they hit your bill.

What the seller must disclose in the rider

• The association and management company, with contact information
• The current regular assessment and how often it is paid, plus any recreation rent
• Any special assessments already levied, or discussed at a board meeting in the prior 12 months, with the purpose and amount if known
• Any fines and open rule violations (the seller pays fines and fixes violations before closing)
• Any pending or anticipated litigation affecting the unit or the common elements
• Whether the association has completed, has not completed, or is not required to complete a milestone inspection, a turnover inspection report and a structural integrity reserve study
• Whether the buyer needs association approval, and whether the association or the owners hold a right of first refusal
• Whether the association has voted to forego fire sprinkler or handrail retrofitting, and if so, written notice of that vote
• If the condo is created within a portion of a building, a disclosure that its common elements may be minimal

Who pays special assessments

The rider lets you and the seller decide. If left blank, the seller pays special assessments levied before closing. If an assessment can be paid in installments and the association lets the buyer assume them, the seller pays what comes due through closing and the buyer pays installments after closing. Association assets and liabilities, including reserve accounts, are not prorated, so you do not get a credit for the building's reserve balance at closing.

Your cancellation windows

The rider gives you three separate rights to cancel, each for 7 days, excluding Saturdays, Sundays and legal holidays:

• After you sign and receive the Declaration, Articles, Bylaws and Rules, financial statement and budget, and Q&A document
• After you receive all of the extra documents you checked off in the rider
• After you receive the milestone inspection summary, turnover report or SIRS, if the association has completed them

A waiver of these rights has no effect. You may also extend closing by up to 7 days (same counting) after receiving the documents. Each right ends at closing. Read the rider with your attorney, because the exact trigger for each clock depends on what you were given and when.

Records the association must keep

Beyond the contract, a unit owner can request the association's official records, and the association has 10 business days to respond. Your seller can make that request for you. Useful items include:

• Minutes of all board and owner meetings
• Insurance policies and management contracts
• Itemized receipts and expenditures, invoices and monthly unit account statements
• Audits, financial reports and structural integrity reserve studies (kept at least 15 years)
• Inspection reports on structural or life-safety conditions (kept 15 years), including milestone inspection reports
• Contracts for work and bids, building permits, and conflict-of-interest disclosures

Associations with 25 or more units must also post key records on a website or app, so some of this may be available without waiting on a manager.

For Sellers and Owners

What to Do Before You List

The documents above are your responsibility to deliver, at your expense, once a buyer is under contract. Get them early. As a unit owner, you can request the association's official records, and the association has 10 business days to respond. If you own in a building three stories or taller, find out where it stands: whether the SIRS is done, whether reserves match the plan, and whether an assessment is coming. It is far better to know before a buyer's attorney asks than to learn it in the middle of a contract.

Common Questions

Frequently Asked Questions