Florida's New Condo Rules: What Every Buyer Needs to Know Before Purchasing a Condo

If you are shopping for a condo on Florida's Gulf Coast, there is something new you absolutely need to understand before you sign anything. After the tragic collapse of the Champlain Towers South in Surfside in 2021, a collapse that killed 98 people, Florida passed Senate Bill 4-D in May 2022 to make sure it never happens again. These new rules fundamentally change how condo buildings are inspected, maintained, and funded.

This matters especially if you are looking at a building that is 25 years old or older, because those are the buildings the new rules target first. In this guide I will walk you through what the law requires, what it means for your wallet, and exactly which documents you should ask for before making an offer. I am going to keep it in plain English, no legalese, the way I would explain it to a friend over coffee.

What Is SB 4-D?

Senate Bill 4-D, usually just called SB 4-D, is a Florida law passed in May 2022 in direct response to the Surfside collapse. The building that fell had known structural issues and a reserve fund that had been underfunded for years. The state looked at that combination and decided things had to change.

The law created two major requirements, and you will hear both of them over and over if you look at condos:

• Milestone Inspections: structural inspections of aging buildings by licensed engineers or architects, so problems get caught before they become dangerous.
• Structural Integrity Reserve Studies (SIRS): financial assessments of how much money an association is setting aside for future repairs, so buildings actually have the cash on hand when the work is needed.

One is about the physical health of the building. The other is about the financial health of the association that runs it. Both matter to you as a buyer, and both are things you can and should check before you commit.

Milestone Inspections: What They Are and Who Needs Them

A milestone inspection is a structural inspection of a condominium building, and it is performed by a licensed engineer or architect. Think of it as a thorough physical exam for the building, focused on the parts that hold everything up.

Here is who needs one and when:

• Buildings 3 stories or taller must get a structural inspection by a licensed engineer or architect.
• Coastal buildings (within 3 miles of the coast): inspection required when the building turns 25 years old.
• Inland buildings: inspection required when the building turns 30 years old.
• After the initial inspection, the building must be re-inspected every 10 years.

The inspection itself happens in two phases. Phase 1 is a visual inspection of the major structural components of the building. If the engineer or architect finds problems during Phase 1, a more detailed Phase 2 inspection is required, which digs deeper into the issues and determines what repairs are needed.

So what exactly are they looking for? In a nutshell:

• Concrete deterioration
• Rebar corrosion
• Structural cracks
• Water intrusion damage
• Foundation issues

These are the kinds of problems that can quietly get worse for years, especially in a salt-air coastal environment, and end up costing enormous amounts of money to fix. The whole point of the inspection is to find them while they are still manageable.

Deadlines: The December 31, 2026 Date

This is where things get urgent, because the law set specific deadlines based on when each building hit the age threshold. If a building misses its deadline, the association faces fines of $500 per day, and those fines are on top of whatever repairs end up costing.

Here is how the deadlines break down:

• Buildings that turned 30 (or 25 coastal) before July 1, 2022: the deadline was December 31, 2024.
• Buildings that turned 30 (or 25 coastal) between July 1, 2022 and December 31, 2024: the deadline was December 31, 2025.
• Buildings turning 30 (or 25 coastal) in 2026: the deadline is December 31, 2026.

If you are reading this in 2026, that means a lot of Gulf Coast buildings are right in the middle of this process right now. Associations across Florida are scrambling to schedule inspections, hire engineers, and get the reports done before their deadlines hit. Some buildings have completed theirs, some are in the middle, and a concerning number have not started yet.

For you as a buyer, the practical question is simple: has the building you are interested in done its inspection, and if not, when is its deadline? A building that has missed its deadline is a building with fines piling up, and that cost eventually lands somewhere, often on the owners, which means on you.

Structural Integrity Reserve Study (SIRS): What It Is

The second big piece of SB 4-D is the Structural Integrity Reserve Study, or SIRS. While the milestone inspection looks at the physical condition of the building today, the SIRS looks at money. Specifically, how much the association needs to be setting aside for the major repairs that are coming.

A SIRS is a professional evaluation, completed every 10 years by a licensed professional, of the building's major structural components and the funds needed to repair or replace them. It has to cover, at minimum:

• Roofs
• Load-bearing walls
• Foundation
• Electrical systems
• Plumbing
• Fire protection systems
• Windows
• Doors
• Walkways
• Balconies
• Other structural elements

For each of those components, the study estimates two things: how much useful life it has left, and how much it will cost to replace when the time comes. Add it all up and you get a picture of what the building really needs to be saving every year, instead of hoping nothing breaks.

In my experience, buyers used to never think about this stuff. You looked at the view, the pool, the floor plan. Now, the SIRS is one of the most important documents in the whole transaction, because it tells you whether the building you love is financially prepared for its own future.

The Big Change: Reserves Can No Longer Be Waived

Okay, this is the part that has the biggest impact on your monthly costs, so pay attention.

Before SB 4-D, condo associations could vote to waive or reduce their reserve funding. That might sound like a good idea in the moment, who wants higher fees, right? But it meant a lot of buildings deferred maintenance for decades. They collected low fees, skipped the big repairs, and let the building age without setting money aside. Surfside was the extreme example of where that road leads.

As of January 1, 2026, associations can no longer waive or reduce funding for the structural reserves that are covered by the SIRS. The reserve money has to be there, and it has to be funded according to the study.

The direct consequence: condo fees are going up for many buildings, because they now have to fully fund reserves that they previously voted their way out of. If you are looking at a building that has had low fees for years, do not celebrate yet. The catch-up is coming, either through higher monthly fees or through special assessments.

And here is why this matters so much to you: underfunded reserves equal special assessments, and special assessments are surprise bills that can hit for tens of thousands of dollars per unit. The association can vote a special assessment to cover a roof replacement or structural repair that the reserve fund cannot pay for. You can be six months into ownership and suddenly owe $30,000. I have seen it happen to buyers who did not ask the right questions.

What This Means If You're Buying a Condo

So what do you actually do with all of this? Here is my practical checklist for any condo buyer on the Gulf Coast, especially for buildings 25 years old or older.

Request These Three Documents Before You Make an Offer

• The SIRS report: the reserve study, so you can see how the association is funding future repairs.
• The Milestone Inspection Report: required if the building is 30 years old or older (or 25 coastal). Read the engineer's findings, especially any Phase 2 items.
• A written disclosure of all current, pending, and anticipated special assessments: you want to know what has been charged, what is being voted on, and what the board knows is coming.

Then look at the reserve fund itself. Is it adequately funded? A healthy association has a reserve balance that tracks with what the SIRS says it needs. If the reserves are thin, that is a signal that special assessments are likely in your future.

Ask about pending or planned special assessments directly. These are not always small. I have seen special assessments on Florida condos ranging from $10,000 to $50,000+ per unit, depending on the age of the building and what needs fixing. A $10,000 assessment is an annoyance. A $50,000 one can break a household budget.

Check whether the building has completed its milestone inspection. If it has not, and it is past its deadline, the association is racking up $500 per day in fines, and the unresolved structural issues are still sitting there. That is risk you do not want to inherit.

The Lender Trap: Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac

Here is something most buyers do not see coming, and it can stop a purchase dead in its tracks.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two giants that back most conventional home loans, have tightened their requirements for Florida condos. They have started flagging buildings with significant deferred maintenance, insufficient reserves, or failed inspections as "non-warrantable".

If a condo building is on the non-warrantable list, conventional financing becomes very hard to get. Lenders may require a much larger down payment, sometimes 25% or more, or you may be pushed into alternative financing with higher rates and stricter terms. Some buyers find out their dream condo cannot be financed the normal way, and the deal falls apart.

This also affects resale. When you go to sell your condo a few years down the road, the next buyer will face the same financing challenges. A building that is hard to finance is a building that is harder to sell, and that can drag down values. So the lender trap is not just a closing-day problem, it is a long-term ownership problem too.

The Lender Rules Are Changing Too: What Buyers Need to Know

Just when you thought you had a handle on the SB 4-D requirements, there is another layer of change that is going to affect condo buyers. And this one comes from the lender side, not the state legislature.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two government-sponsored enterprises that back the majority of conventional home loans in the United States, have announced major changes to how they handle condo financing. These changes are coming in two phases, and they will affect virtually every condo buyer on the Gulf Coast.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Eliminate the Limited Review

For years, established condo projects could go through what was called a "Limited Review" or sometimes a "Streamlined Review." I will explain what that means in plain English.

When you apply for a conventional loan to buy a condo, the lender does not just check your credit and income. They also check the condo building itself. They need to make sure the association is financially healthy, because if the association goes broke, your home loses value and the lender is left holding a bad loan.

The Limited Review was a lighter version of that check. For condo projects that had already been approved in the past, the lender could skip a deep dive into the association's finances and reserves. It was faster, it required less paperwork, and it meant the loan could close sooner. Many buyers never even knew it was happening, because the Limited Review was the default for most established buildings.

That is changing. Effective August 3, 2026, both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have eliminated the Limited Review process entirely. Every condo loan for projects with more than 10 units now requires a Full Review.

A Full Review means the lender must do a complete investigation of the condo project's financial health. Here is what they will look at:

• Reserve funding levels: how much money the association has set aside for future repairs
• Pending litigation: whether the association is being sued or has filed lawsuits
• Insurance coverage: whether the building has adequate property and liability insurance
• Owner-occupancy ratios: what percentage of units are owner-occupied versus rented out
• The building's structural condition: including any findings from the milestone inspection

Why does this matter to you as a buyer? Three reasons.

First, the process will take longer. A Full Review requires more documents from the association, and those documents take time to gather. What used to take a few days can now take weeks. If you are on a tight closing timeline, that is a real factor.

Second, more condos may fail to qualify for conventional financing. If the condo association's finances are not in order, if the reserves are low, if there is pending litigation, or if the building has structural issues, the lender may simply say no. The loan gets denied, and you are back to square one.

Third, this is a significant tightening of lending standards. It is not a minor policy tweak. It is a fundamental change in how condo loans are underwritten. And it could affect resale values for condos that do not meet the new requirements, because the pool of buyers who can get financing for those buildings just got smaller.

Reserve Funding Requirement Jumps from 10% to 15%

There is another change coming that is just as important, and it is about how much money the condo association is required to hold in reserves.

Previously, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac required condo associations to fund their reserves at a minimum of 10% of the annual budget. That was the baseline. If an association was putting away at least 10% of what they spent each year, they met the standard.

Starting January 2027, that minimum jumps to 15%. That is a 50% increase in the minimum reserve funding requirement. And here is the thing: this is on top of the SB 4-D requirements for structural reserves that we talked about earlier. The two requirements stack on each other.

This creates a compounding effect. Associations that already had low reserves are now looking at a much bigger target. They need to find significantly more money to meet the new 15% threshold. And there are only two ways to get that money: higher monthly condo fees or special assessments. Sometimes both.

For buyers, this means a few things to watch out for. Monthly costs are likely to increase as associations raise fees to meet the new standard. The lender will also scrutinize whether the association is meeting this new 15% threshold. If the association is not there yet, and does not have a credible plan to get there, the loan may not go through.

When you are reviewing the documents for a condo you are interested in, ask specifically about the reserve funding percentage. Is it at 10% today? Does the association have a plan to reach 15% by January 2027? If the answer is "we are working on it" without a concrete plan, that is a yellow flag worth investigating.

What This Means for Condo Buyers Right Now

Let me bring all of this together into practical advice you can use today.

If you are buying a condo after August 3, 2026, your lender will do a Full Review regardless of the building's age or condition. The Limited Review is gone. There is no shortcut anymore. So here is what I recommend:

• Ask your lender early whether the condo project will pass a Full Review. Do not wait until you are under contract. Have the conversation before you write an offer, so you know what you are walking into.
• Check whether the association's reserves meet the new 15% threshold, or will meet it by January 2027. Ask for the current reserve balance and the annual budget so you can see the numbers yourself.
• If the condo does not qualify for conventional financing, you may need a larger down payment or an alternative lender. That can mean tens of thousands of dollars more out of pocket. A 25% down payment instead of 5% is a big difference, and it is not something you want to find out about at the last minute.
• This could also affect your ability to sell later. If future buyers cannot get conventional financing for the building, your pool of potential buyers shrinks. And a smaller buyer pool usually means lower offers and longer time on the market.

I know this sounds like a lot. And it is. But here is the good news: knowledge is power in real estate. The buyers who understand these rules before they start shopping are the ones who will make smart decisions and avoid the nasty surprises. The ones who skip the homework are the ones who end up in trouble.

My advice: work with a lender who knows condo financing and understands these new rules. Not every lender does. Ask direct questions. Get the documents. And if something does not feel right, take a step back and investigate before you commit.

Red Flags to Watch For

As you tour condos and review documents, keep your eyes open for these warning signs. Any one of them deserves a conversation, and a few of them together are a strong reason to walk away:

• The association has not completed its milestone inspection even though it is past the deadline
• The SIRS shows significant deferred maintenance or underfunded reserves
• Large special assessments are pending or were recently imposed
• The building has high unit turnover or many units listed for sale at once
• The condo fee has recently increased significantly, especially a sudden jump to catch up on reserves
• The association has delayed or deferred maintenance on structural components

None of these are automatically deal breakers on their own. An older building with a recent, large assessment might have just finished a major repair and be in great shape going forward. The key is that you know about it and you price the risk in, instead of being blindsided after closing.

What the Seller and Association Must Disclose

The good news: you have rights here, and Florida law is on your side.

Under Florida law, sellers are required to provide certain condo documents to buyers, and the milestone inspection report and the SIRS are now part of the association's official records. That means buyers have the right to request these documents before closing. You do not have to take the seller's word that everything is fine, the paperwork has to be available.

If a seller or an association refuses to provide these documents, or drags their feet, treat that as a major red flag. In my experience, when someone will not show you the records, it is usually because the records do not look good. A healthy building has nothing to hide.

I always tell my buyers: get the documents in hand before you make an offer, not after. Once you are under contract, you have less leverage, and walking away gets more complicated.

The Positive Side

I do not want this guide to sound like doom and gloom, because there is a real upside to all of these rules.

These rules exist to protect buyers and to prevent another Surfside. That is not a small thing. When you buy into a building that complies with SB 4-D, you are buying into a building that has been inspected by an engineer, has a funded plan for its major repairs, and is being held to a standard that did not exist a few years ago.

• Buildings that comply with SB 4-D are safer and better maintained. That is the whole point, and it is a genuine benefit to everyone who lives there.
• Fully funded reserves mean fewer surprise assessments down the road. The money is already there when the roof needs replacing.
• Transparency gives buyers the information they need to make smart decisions instead of hoping for the best.
• Well-maintained condos with healthy reserves will hold their value better. Buyers and lenders alike are going to favor buildings that have their paperwork in order.

In a weird way, these rules are making the condo market more honest. The buildings that are doing it right are going to stand out, and that is exactly the kind of building you want to own in.

The Bottom Line

If you are buying a condo in Florida, especially one that is 25 years old or older, do not skip the due diligence. This is not a formality. It is the difference between buying into a well-run building and buying a ticket to a surprise $40,000 assessment.

Ask for the inspection reports and the SIRS before you make an offer. Look at the reserve balance with your own eyes. Ask about special assessments, past and pending. And work with an agent who actually understands these requirements, because most of the questions you need to ask are not the questions buyers used to ask.

Here is the way I think about it: the few hundred dollars and few hours you spend on proper due diligence can save you from tens of thousands of dollars in surprise assessments. That is the best return on investment in the entire home buying process.

Buying a condo on the Gulf Coast? I will help you navigate the new requirements and make sure you know exactly what you're getting. Contact me for a consultation.