2026-08-04 · Josh Douglas
The short version: If you are looking at a condo in Cocoa Beach, Cape Canaveral, or Satellite Beach this fall, one question sorts the sound buildings from the expensive ones. Has the association completed its structural integrity reserve study? For older buildings the hard legal cutoff is December 31, 2026, and the answer tells you whether a special assessment is coming. Condo financing rules also changed on August 3, which matters more than most buyers expect.
Two inspections, and what each one is for
People use these interchangeably. They are different documents with different jobs.
- The milestone inspection is the safety one. Florida Statute 553.899 requires it for condominium and cooperative buildings three habitable stories or more, by December 31 of the year the building reaches 30 years of age based on its certificate of occupancy, and every 10 years after that. An engineer or architect looks at whether the structure is holding up. Phase one is visual. If it turns up substantial deterioration, phase two goes deeper.
- The structural integrity reserve study, the SIRS, is the money one. Under Statute 718.112(2)(g) it prices out the roof, load-bearing structure, fireproofing and fire protection, plumbing, electrical, waterproofing and exterior painting, windows and exterior doors, plus any other item with a deferred maintenance or replacement cost of $25,000 or more, or the inflation-adjusted figure set by the state division, whichever is greater. Then the association has to fund it.
There is a coastal wrinkle worth getting right. The statute lets the local enforcement agency decide that conditions like proximity to salt water require a building's first milestone inspection at 25 years instead of 30. That is a local call, not an automatic statewide rule for anything near the water. Ask the building department that permits the property whether it applies there. Do not take an agent's word for it, mine included.
December 31 is a wall, not a suggestion
Unit-owner-controlled associations that existed on or before July 1, 2022 were supposed to have a SIRS done by December 31, 2025. Buildings that owed a milestone inspection on or before December 31, 2026 were allowed to run the two together. The statute closes the door plainly: in no event may the structural integrity reserve study be completed after December 31, 2026.
So this fall you will be shown two kinds of buildings. Ones that have the study, know the number, and have a plan to pay for it. And ones that will produce that number within about five months of your closing. The second kind is not automatically a bad buy, but you are buying a liability nobody has priced yet. A 2025 law did raise the reserve-item threshold from $10,000 to $25,000, which shortened the list, but it left the expensive items alone. Those were always the roof and the concrete.
The documents you are already entitled to
On a resale, Statute 718.503(2) says the seller, at the seller's expense, owes the buyer:
- The declaration of condominium, plus the articles of incorporation, bylaws, and rules.
- The annual financial statement and the annual budget.
- The inspector-prepared summary of the milestone inspection report, where one applies.
- The most recent structural integrity reserve study, or a statement that one has not been completed. That statement is itself an answer.
- The turnover inspection report, for inspections performed on or after July 1, 2023.
- The frequently asked questions document and the state governance form.
Your cancellation right is real but short. The contract is voidable if you deliver written notice within 7 days, excluding Saturdays, Sundays, and legal holidays, after you sign and receive the documents, and it terminates at closing. That is not much time to read a reserve study for the first time while also scheduling a home inspection, so ask for these before you write the offer. A seller who will not produce the SIRS in advance has told you something useful.
One item is not on the statutory list and is worth asking your seller to request: the last year of board meeting minutes. Special assessments get argued about in minutes long before they get voted on.
The financing rule that already changed
Fannie Mae retired its Limited Review process for all loan applications dated on or after August 3, 2026, under Lender Letter LL-2026-03, issued March 18 and coordinated with Freddie Mac and the Federal Housing Finance Agency. Established projects that used to qualify for Limited Review now go through a Full Review, or the waiver of project review where that applies.
In plain terms, the shortcut that let some condo loans skip a hard look at the association's books is gone. Underfunded reserves, deferred maintenance, and a special assessment for structural repairs are now more likely to surface while your loan is being underwritten rather than after you own the place.
There is also a list. Fannie Mae keeps a database of projects it has designated unavailable for financing. Your lender can see it, you cannot, and the association is not always aware it is on there. Have a lender run the project review early in your inspection period, not the week before closing.
What this does not mean
Not every older beach condo is a trap. A building that finished its milestone inspection, completed its SIRS, assessed for the repairs, and did the work is often the safer purchase, because the painful part is behind it and reflected in the price. The building to be careful with is the one where nobody has looked yet.
The market gives you room to ask. Brevard's condo and townhouse median was $269,000 in June 2026, down 2.2% from a year earlier, against a single-family median of $400,000 that rose 2.6%. Condo supply sat at 6.4 months, down from 8.6 a year ago but still the softer half of this market. Closed condo sales were up 25.3% year over year, so this is not a market where you can stall for a month. It is one where nobody is going to lose you the unit for asking good questions.
Association finances, statutes, and lender rules all change every cycle here, so verify the specifics against the actual building and your own lender before you commit money. Run the numbers on the mortgage calculator and the closing cost estimator, pull the address on the flood zone lookup, and read the honest versions of Cocoa Beach and Satellite Beach first. If you want a straight read on a specific building's paperwork before you write an offer, text me at (321) 576-2239. I answer 8am to 8pm, usually within the hour. No pressure either way.