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Florida condo milestone inspection requirements now decide whether a building can even get its master policy quoted. Any condo or co-op building three stories or taller has to pass a structural inspection once it turns 30 and fund a reserve study for its structural components. Carriers check both before they put a number on the renewal.
Both mandates grew out of the Champlain Towers South collapse in Surfside on June 24, 2021, which killed 98 people. For how the underlying insurance statute works, see Florida Statute 718.111(11) condo insurance requirements.
A milestone inspection is a structural safety check required under Florida Statute 553.899. It applies to condo and co-op buildings three stories or taller. The 30-year clock runs from the date the certificate of occupancy was issued, and a licensed engineer or architect repeats the inspection every decade after that.
The inspection runs in two phases. Phase One is a visual review by a licensed engineer or architect. If it finds no substantial structural deterioration, the building is finished until the next cycle. Phase Two kicks in only when Phase One flags real deterioration, triggering deeper testing and a repair timeline.
SB 4-D, the 2022 law passed right after Surfside, first set an earlier 25-year trigger for buildings within three miles of the coast. SB 154 in 2023 revised that coastal rule, but a local building official can still order an earlier inspection on an aging coastal structure.
The deadlines fall into a few buckets:
| Building status | Milestone inspection deadline |
|---|---|
| Already 30+ years old when the law took effect in 2022 | Initial deadline was December 31, 2024 |
| Turns 30 in 2025 or later | December 31 of the year it turns 30 |
| Every building, ongoing | Re-inspect every 10 years |
The Structural Integrity Reserve Study, or SIRS, is a reserve study for a building's major structural parts, required under Florida Statute 718.112(2)(g). Condo and co-op buildings three stories or taller must complete one at least every 10 years. They can no longer waive reserves for the components it covers.
Boards often shorthand it as the Florida SIRS Structural Integrity Reserve Study, and it changed how associations budget for big-ticket repairs.
The study has to price out reserves for a set list of structural and safety components:
For budgets adopted on or after December 31, 2024, members can no longer vote to waive or underfund reserves for these SIRS components. Later legislative sessions added flexibility, letting associations use loans or lines of credit to fund them, but the reserves themselves stay mandatory.
For associations that existed before July 1, 2022, the first SIRS was due by December 31, 2024. After that, the study repeats at least every 10 years.
Carriers now treat the milestone report and SIRS as underwriting documents that shape the quote. Before quoting a condo master policy (the building's shared insurance), most underwriters want the milestone inspection, the SIRS, the reserve schedule, and a replacement-cost appraisal. Florida requires that appraisal at least every 36 months under F.S. 718.111(11).
A complete, funded file can decide whether a building lands with a standard, state-regulated carrier, known as the admitted market and backed by Florida's guaranty fund, or gets pushed into surplus lines. Surplus lines carriers are non-admitted, so that guaranty fund does not stand behind them, and they usually charge more for the same building.
In practice, Florida condo milestone inspection insurance underwriting now starts with the compliance file. Some underwriters decline overdue buildings before reviewing the rest of the submission.
Non-compliance can shrink the pool of carriers willing to quote, which usually pushes the premium (the annual cost of the policy) higher. Florida condo master policy costs climbed hard after 2022, when carriers fled the state. Buildings that can show a clean milestone report, a funded SIRS, and a current appraisal are the ones seeing relief first.
Across the Florida condo accounts brokers are placing right now, buildings with complete, funded documentation draw more competitive terms than those carrying open deferred-maintenance findings. Non-compliant buildings often lose their admitted-market options and end up in surplus lines at a real premium jump.
Special assessments to catch up on newly required reserves pile on. The same building now carries a higher insurance bill and a reserve-funding duty it could once defer.
The safety mandates now affect which carriers will quote and what an association pays.
Start assembling the compliance file three to four months before your renewal date. A broker shopping a condo master policy needs the milestone report, a funded SIRS, a current appraisal, and the building's claims history. Without those, the quotes that come back are weaker.
Submit the milestone report, funded SIRS, appraisal, and claims history together, three to four months before renewal. Meeting the Florida condo milestone inspection requirements is now part of the renewal, not a side project. Coverwatch shops the full compliance package across its carrier network for the Florida condo association master policy accounts it places. It starts months ahead of expiration, so nothing is missing when the quotes come back.
Under Florida Statute 553.899, condo and co-op buildings three stories or more in height must complete a structural milestone inspection by December 31 of the year they turn 30, then repeat it every 10 years. A licensed engineer or architect runs a visual Phase One. A deeper Phase Two follows only if the first phase finds substantial structural deterioration.
Non-compliant buildings often lose access to their standard admitted-market carriers and get pushed toward the surplus lines market, where premiums run higher and consumer protections are thinner. Missing reserves and deferred maintenance can also lead Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to treat the building as non-warrantable, which blocks conventional financing for unit sales.
A milestone inspection (Statute 553.899) is a structural safety check by an engineer or architect at 30 years, repeating every decade. A SIRS (Statute 718.112) is a reserve study that estimates the remaining life and replacement cost of a building's structural components and forces the association to fund them. One inspects the structure; the other pays to maintain it.
No. For budgets adopted on or after December 31, 2024, members cannot waive or underfund reserves for the structural components a SIRS covers. Boards can fund those reserves through regular assessments, special assessments, or, under later reforms, loans and lines of credit, but the reserves themselves are required.
Costs vary with building height, unit count, and how many structural systems need evaluation. A single smaller building often runs a few thousand dollars, while large multi-building complexes can reach the tens of thousands. A licensed engineer or architect has to perform the study, which is part of why quotes range so widely.
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