Condos
Milestone inspections and structural integrity reserve studies: what condo buyers should know
By the Wholesale Mortgage Lending editorial team · Last reviewed August 18, 2026
The short answer
Florida law requires milestone structural inspections for condominium and cooperative buildings three or more habitable stories tall, generally by the time the building turns 30 and every ten years after, with earlier local deadlines possible near salt water. A separate structural integrity reserve study, repeated at least every ten years, drives reserve funding for major structural components. Lenders read both documents, and unresolved findings can pause financing building-wide.
Why Florida created these requirements
After the 2021 building collapse in Surfside, Florida rewrote the rules for how aging condominium buildings are inspected and how associations save for structural repairs. The result is two distinct instruments: the milestone inspection, a periodic engineering examination of the building's structural condition, and the structural integrity reserve study, a financial planning document that converts the building's physical needs into a funding schedule.
Both are worth understanding calmly. The overwhelming majority of inspected buildings do not have dangerous conditions; what the law changed is that condition and funding are now documented, disclosed, and hard to ignore. For buyers, that is a gift: information that used to be invisible until after closing is now an association record you can ask for before your deposit goes hard.
For financing, these documents matter because lenders act on them. Agency guidelines make projects with significant deferred maintenance or unfunded critical repairs ineligible, so an inspection finding that goes unaddressed affects every unit's financeability, not just the units directly involved.
The milestone inspection: section 553.899, Florida Statutes
Florida law requires a milestone inspection for condominium and cooperative buildings that are three or more habitable stories tall. Under section 553.899, the initial inspection is generally due by December 31 of the year the building reaches 30 years of age, measured from its certificate of occupancy, and must be repeated every ten years thereafter. Local enforcement agencies may set the initial deadline earlier — at 25 years — where local conditions such as proximity to salt water justify it.
The inspection has two phases. Phase one is a visual examination by a licensed architect or engineer producing a qualitative assessment of the structural components. If phase one finds no substantial structural deterioration, the process ends there until the next cycle. If it does find substantial deterioration, phase two follows: a deeper investigation, which may include testing, that defines the scope of repairs.
Reports are not private. The statute requires sealed inspection reports to be provided to the local enforcement agency and to the association, with unit owners informed — which means a building's milestone history is discoverable by a buyer who asks, and by a lender who asks.
The SIRS: section 718.112, Florida Statutes
The structural integrity reserve study, created in section 718.112 of the Condominium Act, applies to buildings three habitable stories or higher and must be completed at least every ten years. It is performed by qualified professionals and inventories the major structural and life-safety components — roof, load-bearing walls and other primary structural members, waterproofing, plumbing, electrical, and similar systems — estimating remaining useful life and replacement cost.
The teeth are in the funding rules. Florida associations historically could vote to waive or underfund reserves; for items identified in a structural integrity reserve study, the statute restricts that practice, so budgets must actually fund the structural schedule the study lays out. This is why many Florida associations have seen fees rise since the law took effect: the increase is the cost of the building's future being funded rather than deferred.
For a buyer, a recent SIRS is one of the most useful documents in the resale package. It tells you what the building will need, roughly when, and whether the current budget is paying for it — the exact questions a special assessment would otherwise answer for you later, unpleasantly.
How findings flow into your mortgage file
Lenders reach this information through the condo questionnaire and document requests: they ask about inspection findings, repair status, reserve funding, and planned or levied special assessments. Fannie Mae's ineligible-projects criteria in Selling Guide section B4-2.1-03 exclude projects in need of critical repairs and those with significant unfunded near-term repair costs, so a phase-two finding without a funded repair plan typically makes agency financing unavailable in that building until the work is resolved.
The healthier pattern is just as visible in the file. A building that completed its milestone inspection cleanly, or that found issues, funded them, and finished the work, presents well: the documents prove the association manages the asset. Buildings mid-repair sit in between, and lenders will want to see the scope, the funding source, and the timeline.
Timing matters for buyers. Ask early — Florida's resale disclosure framework includes inspection reports and reserve studies among the association records a buyer can obtain — and build your financing contingency around what the documents show. If the building's status pushes you outside agency lending, non-agency options may exist, with different terms.
What to do with all this as a buyer
Request the most recent milestone inspection report, the current structural integrity reserve study, the budget, and the last year of board minutes as soon as you are serious about a unit. Read the minutes for repair discussions that have not yet become assessments. If anything in the engineering documents is unclear, the money for an hour of a structural engineer's time is well spent.
Keep the legal questions with the right professional. How a statute applies to a particular building, what an association was required to disclose, or what remedies a buyer has are questions for a Florida real estate attorney — this is educational context, not legal advice.
On the financing side, Wholesale Mortgage Lending arranges condo loans through wholesale lenders and sees these documents through an underwriter's eyes daily. We can tell you early whether a building's inspection posture is likely to fit agency guidelines or needs a non-agency path — the lender makes the final call, but you should not have to discover the answer at the closing table.
Questions people ask
Do milestone inspections apply to every Florida condo?
No. Section 553.899 applies to condominium and cooperative buildings three or more habitable stories in height. Low-rise buildings under three stories are outside the milestone requirement, though their associations still budget for maintenance and remain subject to the Condominium Act's other provisions. Check the statute text for the current scope and deadlines, which the Legislature has amended more than once.
The building I want failed phase one. Is the deal dead?
Not necessarily, but the path changes. A phase-two investigation defines the repair scope, and financing generally depends on the repairs being funded and progressing. Some buyers renegotiate, some wait out the repair, and some use non-agency financing that accepts the situation. What matters is knowing the status before your deposit becomes nonrefundable.
Will a SIRS make my HOA fees go up?
It can, because the statute restricts waiving reserves for items the study identifies, and budgets must reflect real funding schedules. But the study does not create the costs — the building's aging does. The study converts a hidden future liability into a visible, funded plan, which is better for owners and for financing than a surprise assessment.
Can I see these reports before I buy a resale unit?
Yes. Florida's resale disclosure framework entitles buyers to key association documents, and inspection reports and reserve studies are association records. Ask for them in your offer, read them with your attorney or an engineer where needed, and treat reluctance to produce them as information in itself.
Sources
This guide is written against the primary sources below, which is where the current figures live when a figure has deliberately not been quoted here.
Put this to work on your own numbers
Reading is the easy half. Run your own scenario through the planner, or ask a licensed mortgage professional the question this page could not answer for your exact situation.