Selling a Condo After the Milestone Inspection Florida Requires: Reports, Reserves, Special Assessments and Buyers

What changed for Florida condo sellers after the milestone inspection and reserve study laws?

Florida’s condominium safety laws created two building-level reports, the milestone inspection and the structural integrity reserve study, and then made both part of every resale in a covered building. For a seller, the change is practical: the condition of the building and the association’s savings plan now sit in front of the buyer before the deposit is at risk, and the buyer can walk away after reading them.

The laws began with Senate Bill 4-D in 2022, after the Champlain Towers South collapse in Surfside, and were amended in 2023, 2024 and 2025. The history line of s. 553.899, Florida Statutes, lists chapters 2022-269, 2023-203, 2024-244 and 2025-175. Each round adjusted deadlines, funding options and disclosure duties, which is why advice written in 2023 is often wrong in October 2026. This guide works from the 2026 statute text.

What is a milestone inspection?

A milestone inspection is a structural inspection of a condominium or cooperative building three or more habitable stories tall, performed by a Florida-licensed architect or engineer, to find out whether substantial structural deterioration exists. Under s. 553.899(3)(a), Florida Statutes (2026), the first milestone inspection is due by December 31 of the year in which the building reaches 30 years of age, counted from the date the certificate of occupancy was issued, and every 10 years after that.

A local enforcement agency, meaning the county or city building department that has jurisdiction over the building, may require the first inspection at 25 years. Section 553.899(3)(b) allows that when local circumstances, including environmental conditions such as proximity to salt water, justify it. The statute also lets the local agency extend the initial deadline for good cause when the association has hired an architect or engineer and the inspection cannot reasonably be finished in time (s. 553.899(3)(c)).

The statute exempts single-family, two-family, three-family and four-family dwellings with three or fewer habitable stories above ground. A seller in a two-story garden condominium is therefore outside the milestone inspection requirement, even though the same seller is still bound by the general resale disclosure rules in Chapter 718.

Phase one and phase two

Phase one of a milestone inspection is a visual examination of the habitable and non-habitable areas of the building, including the major structural components, by the architect or engineer. If phase one finds no signs of substantial structural deterioration, the inspection ends there. Phase two is the follow-up inspection required when phase one finds substantial structural deterioration; it can include destructive or nondestructive testing of the areas of distress. The Department of Business and Professional Regulation (DBPR) describes the two phases the same way on its condominium inspections page (accessed October 2026).

Phase two matters to a seller for one reason above all others: under s. 553.899, repairs identified in a phase two report must commence within 365 days after the association receives the report. A building in that window usually has an engineer’s repair scope, a contractor bid process and, very often, a special assessment discussion under way.

What is a structural integrity reserve study?

A structural integrity reserve study (SIRS) is a reserve study limited to the building components that carry the structure and keep water out, which estimates each component’s remaining useful life and replacement cost and sets a reserve funding plan. Section 718.112(2)(g)1., Florida Statutes (2026), requires one at least every 10 years for each building three habitable stories or higher. The required components are the roof, the 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, and any other item with a deferred maintenance expense or replacement cost above $25,000 or the inflation-adjusted amount the division sets, whichever is greater.

The study must be performed by a Florida-licensed engineer or architect, or by a person certified as a reserve specialist or professional reserve analyst by the Community Associations Institute or the Association of Professional Reserve Analysts (s. 718.112(2)(g)3.a.). It must provide “a reserve funding plan or schedule with a recommended annual reserve amount” (s. 718.112(2)(g)4.a.). A baseline funding plan is a reserve schedule designed to keep the reserve cash balance above zero for each component across the study period; it is the minimum standard the statute uses.

The deadlines in one table

A seller can read this table in one direction: if the building is three habitable stories or taller and has existed since before July 1, 2022, the milestone inspection and the SIRS should both exist by now, or the association should be able to explain in writing why not. The answer to that question is the first thing a well-advised buyer will ask.

How does the Condominium Rider handle milestone reports, the SIRS and special assessments?

The Florida Realtors/Florida Bar Condominium Rider, Rider A (Condominium Rider) of the Comprehensive Rider attached to the standard residential contracts, makes the seller state in writing whether the association has completed the milestone inspection, a turnover inspection and the SIRS, and it sets default rules for who pays special assessments. The 2025 revision of Rider A (CR-7 series), which Florida Realtors posted with a redline in June 2025, is the version described here; before you list, check that the forms library your agent uses shows the same revision.

The three-box disclosure for each report

The rider’s paragraph on milestone inspection reports, structural integrity reserve studies and turnover inspection reports asks the seller to check one of three options for each document. For the milestone inspection, the association either is required to and has completed the report, is not required to have completed one, or is required to have completed one but has not. The SIRS and the turnover inspection report use the same three options. The third option, “required but not completed,” is printed in capital letters on the form, and a buyer’s agent and lender will treat it as a question that needs an answer before the loan moves forward.

When any report has been completed, the rider repeats the statutory choice: the buyer either acknowledges receiving the milestone summary, the turnover report and the SIRS more than 7 business days before signing, or the agreement is voidable within 7 business days after the buyer signs and receives them. This is the same right s. 718.503(2) creates, written into the contract so that nobody can claim surprise.

What is a special assessment?

A special assessment is a charge the association levies on unit owners in addition to the regular budget assessment, usually to pay for a specific project such as concrete restoration, a roof, or repairs a milestone inspection recommended. Special assessments are often payable in installments, and the board’s notice states the amount, the purpose and the due dates.

Who pays under the rider’s defaults

The 2025 rider sets defaults that apply when the parties leave the boxes blank. The table summarizes them; the exact words of the form your contract uses control.

The rider also asks the seller to list special or additional assessments that the association has levied or that were discussed at a board meeting in the 12 months before the effective date, with their purpose and amount if known. It defines when an assessment counts as levied: on the date it has been approved as required for enforcement under Florida law and the condominium documents. A seller whose board has discussed a phase two repair assessment for months but has not voted on it still has something to list.

The optional records a buyer can demand

The rider lets the buyer request, at the seller’s expense, the minutes and agendas of board meetings and member meetings for the 12 months before the effective date, plus the association’s insurance declaration pages for general liability, hazard and windstorm, and any flood policy. If the buyer checks those boxes, the buyer may terminate within 7 days, excluding Saturdays, Sundays and legal holidays, after receiving all of the requested documents. Twelve months of minutes in a building with an active phase two project will show every bid, every engineer update and every assessment debate. A seller should read them before the buyer does.

One more rider clause protects the seller: the contract’s inspection and repair obligations are limited to the seller’s own unit and, unless the seller is otherwise responsible, do not extend to the common elements or limited common elements. A buyer’s inspector may note spalling on the building’s exterior, but the seller is not the party who repairs the building. The buyer’s remedy for building-level problems runs through the documents, the cancellation rights and the price. Because the rider is a legal form, a Florida real estate attorney should review any box you are unsure about before the contract goes out.

How do a Phase 2 report, a special assessment or higher reserves change your price?

A phase two report, a special assessment or a higher reserve contribution changes the price a buyer will pay because buyers price a condo on the total cost of owning it, not on the list price alone. The fair comparison for a unit with a levied assessment is a unit in a building whose repairs are already paid for, adjusted for the amount and terms of the assessment.

A comparative market analysis (CMA) is the agent’s study of recent closed sales, pending sales and active listings of similar properties used to recommend a list price. In a milestone-era condo market, the comparables have to be grouped by building status as well as by size, view and floor: a sale in a building whose concrete restoration is finished and paid for is not a clean comparable for a unit whose buyer will inherit or negotiate a large assessment.

The market both buyers and sellers are reading

The table below puts Florida Realtors’ Palm Beach County condo-townhouse figures for July 2026 next to the statewide figures for August 2026. Both come from Florida Realtors with data from Florida’s multiple listing services. The county and the state are from different months because those were the latest releases available for each on the access date.

Two definitions make the table usable. Months supply of inventory is the number of months it would take to sell all active listings at the current pace of sales; the lower the number, the less competition a seller faces. Median percent of original list price received compares the sale price with the first list price, so it captures price reductions as well as negotiation; in Palm Beach County in July 2026, the typical condo-townhouse sold for 92.2% of its original list price.

The numbers say Palm Beach County’s condo market in mid-2026 was tighter than a year earlier, with fewer listings and a shorter supply. They do not say every building is benefiting equally. A countywide median blends buildings with finished repairs, buildings mid-assessment and newer buildings outside the milestone requirement altogether. The seller’s job, and the listing agent’s, is to find the comparables that match the building’s stage.

How the assessment enters the price

Buyers and their agents handle a known assessment in one of three ways, and each points to a different list-price strategy:

• Seller pays the assessment at closing. This is the rider default for assessments levied as of the effective date. The unit can be priced against comparables in buildings whose repairs are funded, and the assessment comes out of the seller’s proceeds.
• Buyer assumes future installments. When the association allows it and the parties check the box, the buyer takes over installments due after closing. Buyers then compare the price plus the remaining installments with alternatives, so the list price usually has to reflect the balance.
• Credit or price reduction. The seller leaves the assessment structure as it is and adjusts price or offers a credit. Lender limits on seller credits apply; the series guide on low appraisal options for sellers explains how an appraisal that does not account for a large assessment can also reopen the price.

Higher reserve contributions work on price more quietly. Since December 31, 2024, unit owners can no longer vote to waive or reduce reserves for the SIRS components, under s. 718.112(2)(f)2.b., Florida Statutes (2026), so many buildings raised regular assessments to meet the baseline funding plan. A buyer comparing two units with the same price will treat a higher monthly assessment as a cost. A buyer who understands the SIRS may also treat a building whose reserves are fully funded as one with less risk of the next special assessment. The listing has to explain which of those stories the building tells.

Can you list before the vote and let the buyer inherit the special assessment?

No, not reliably. Listing a condo before the board votes on a special assessment does not move the cost to the buyer by default, because the 2025 Condominium Rider makes the seller pay assessments levied after the effective date and before closing unless the buyer agrees otherwise, and requires the seller to list assessments levied or discussed at a board meeting in the 12 months before the effective date.

The belief is common, and it is easy to see where it comes from. Before the safety laws, a board might discuss a roof project for a year before voting, and a quick sale in that window could close before anyone levied anything. Four rules now close that window.

Rule 1: the rider’s defaults point at the seller

Under the 2025 rider, if the association levies a special or additional assessment after the effective date and before closing, the default when the box is left blank is that the seller pays it in full at or before closing. The buyer has to agree to take it, and a buyer with a choice of buildings rarely volunteers.

Rule 2: the 12-month look‑back

The rider asks the seller to disclose special or additional assessments levied by the association or discussed at a board meeting in the 12 months before the effective date. If the buyer also requests the board and member minutes for those 12 months, the buyer can read the discussion directly and terminate within 7 business days of receiving the minutes. A pending assessment that the minutes reveal and the seller did not list is the worst possible way for a buyer to learn about it.

Rule 3: the estoppel certificate lists what is scheduled

An estoppel certificate is the association’s signed statement of what a unit owes and what is coming due, which the title company orders before closing. Section 718.116(8), Florida Statutes (2026), requires it to include an itemized list of any additional assessments, special assessments and other moneys scheduled to become due after its issue date. The association must issue it within 10 business days after a request, and it is effective for 30 days when hand delivered or sent electronically, or 35 days by regular mail. Florida caps estoppel fees by statute, adjusted for inflation every five years: the statute text prints $250, plus $100 for delivery within 3 business days and $150 more when the account is delinquent, and the current DBPR-published cap is $299, plus $119 for 3-business-day rush delivery and $179 more if the account is delinquent (DBPR, accessed October 2026). The series guide on the estoppel certificate for Florida sellers explains ordering and timing in detail.

Rule 4: the buyer becomes jointly liable, so the buyer’s side checks

Under s. 718.116(1)(a), a unit owner is jointly and severally liable with the previous owner for all unpaid assessments that came due up to the time of transfer of title. Title companies and buyer’s attorneys know this rule, which is why they insist on the estoppel certificate and on assessments being current at closing. Anything due before closing is collected from the seller’s proceeds as a matter of routine.

What actually helps a seller in this situation

Disclosure early is the move that protects price. A seller who lists with the minutes already read, the assessment status written in plain language and the rider boxes chosen deliberately gives the buyer nothing to discover. Buyers discount for uncertainty more heavily than for known numbers. A Florida real estate attorney should review the disclosure language when an assessment is pending but not yet voted, because the line between “discussed” and “levied” matters under the rider.

Palm Beach County: who enforces milestone inspections and where are the records?

In Palm Beach County, the milestone inspection is enforced by the building department of whichever government has jurisdiction over the building: Palm Beach County’s Planning, Zoning and Building Department for unincorporated areas, and each city’s building department inside municipal limits. A seller should identify the right office first, because each local enforcement agency sends the notices, receives the reports and decides on extensions.

Unincorporated Palm Beach County

Palm Beach County’s Mandatory Milestone Inspections page states that all condominium and cooperative association buildings three stories or taller in unincorporated Palm Beach County must undergo milestone inspections by a Florida-licensed architect or engineer (accessed October 2026). Reports are filed on form EB18-2024 for phase one and phase two, under the Florida Building Code, Existing Building, Chapter 18, and only the licensed architect or engineer who prepared the report may submit it through the county’s online submission portal, which requires a Building Reference ID. The Building Division is at 2300 N. Jog Road, West Palm Beach, FL 33411.

The county page lists a first inspection at 25 years for buildings within 3 miles of a coastline and at 30 years for buildings farther inland (accessed October 2026). The statute text treats the 25-year age as a determination the local enforcement agency may make based on local circumstances such as proximity to salt water (s. 553.899(3)(b)). For a seller, the safe course is to ask the association which deadline the county applied to the building and to keep the county’s notice in the document packet.

City of Boca Raton

The City of Boca Raton adopted its own Building Recertification Inspection Program in Ordinance No. 5589, enacting Section 19-162 of its Code of Ordinances, on August 24, 2021, before the state law passed (City of Boca Raton, accessed October 2026). The program covers condominium and cooperative buildings three or more stories or 50 feet or taller at 30 years of age, or 25 years within 3 miles of the coast, and other threshold buildings at 30 years. The city adopted a fee of $500 per recertification by Resolution No. 39-2022 on May 10, 2022, and publishes a recertification schedule for 2027–2031. A Boca Raton condo seller should expect a buyer’s agent to ask about both the city recertification and the state milestone documents; the Boca Raton seller guide covers the rest of a Boca Raton sale.

Other Palm Beach County cities

West Palm Beach, Delray Beach, Boynton Beach, Palm Beach Gardens, Jupiter, Highland Beach, Juno Beach and the other municipalities with condominium buildings three stories or taller are the local enforcement agency for buildings inside their limits, through their own building department or the building-services provider they use. Before listing, ask that office, or check its website, whether it applies a 25-year first inspection and what it has on file for the building. Coastal and Intracoastal buildings in towns such as Highland Beach and South Palm Beach face the most questions about salt-water exposure; the existing guides on Highland Beach oceanfront insurance and structure and South Palm Beach small-building condo ownership describe those buildings from the owner’s side. For buyers’ questions about a downtown building, the guide to evaluating a West Palm Beach condo building shows the checklist the other side of the table will use, and the city seller guides for West Palm Beach and Delray Beach cover the rest of the sale.

Where the records live

• The association: official records, including the milestone report and the SIRS for 15 years, available within 10 working days of a written request (s. 718.111(12)).
• The association website: required for condominiums with 25 or more units, with inspection reports and the SIRS posted within 30 days.
• DBPR’s SIRS Reporting Database: associations must report SIRS completion to the division within 45 days of receiving the study (s. 718.112(2)(g)12.).
• The local building department: milestone notices, filed reports and repair permits.
• The Palm Beach County Clerk of the Circuit Court and Comptroller: the recorded declaration of condominium and its amendments in the official records.

What changes if you sell from out of state or own a Treasure Coast condo?

Selling a Florida condo from out of state changes who chases the documents, not which documents the law requires. The milestone summary, the SIRS, the minutes and the estoppel certificate all come from the association, so an owner who lives elsewhere depends on a listing agent who can work directly with the manager, the board and the title company on a schedule the owner can follow by email and phone.

Many Palm Beach County and Treasure Coast condo owners do not live in the unit full time. For them, the most common delays are a records request that goes to an old mailing address, an association approval application that needs a signature the owner cannot give in person, and an assessment notice that arrives after the listing is live. The series guide on selling a Florida home from out of state covers remote signing, keys, vendor access and closing logistics; the condo-specific additions are the association records request in step 1 and the assessment status letter in step 4 of the pre-listing plan above.

Treasure Coast buildings

The milestone and SIRS rules apply in the same way to buildings in St. Lucie, Martin and Indian River counties. Oceanfront and riverfront condominium buildings on Hutchinson Island, in Jensen Beach, Stuart and Vero Beach, and multi-story buildings in Port St. Lucie and Fort Pierce reach the 30-year mark on the same statutory schedule. The local enforcement agency is the county building department for unincorporated areas, such as most of South Hutchinson Island in St. Lucie County, and the city building department inside municipal limits. Ask the office that covers the building’s address whether it applies a 25-year first inspection, and ask the association for that office’s notice.

Many Treasure Coast condominiums are low-rise garden buildings of one or two stories, which fall outside the milestone and SIRS requirements because those apply only to buildings three habitable stories or higher. Sellers in those communities still deliver the s. 718.503(2) documents and still deal with assessments and association approval, but the structural-report questions do not apply. For context on what Treasure Coast condo buyers look for, see the guide to buying a Treasure Coast condo; for the full Port St. Lucie selling process, see selling a home in Port St. Lucie.

An out-of-state seller should also plan for association approval and right of first refusal. The rider lets the seller state whether the association must approve the buyer and whether it holds a right of first refusal, and it requires the seller to start the approval process within the number of days the contract sets (5 days if left blank). Missing that step is one of the few ways a seller can stall an otherwise clean condo sale.

This article is general information about Florida condominium sales, current as of October 2026, and is not legal, tax or financial advice. Statutes, contract forms, lender guidelines and local programs change; confirm how they apply to your unit and building with a Florida real estate attorney, a CPA or your association’s counsel before you sign a listing agreement or a contract. Commissions and fees are negotiable.

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