Florida SIRS Explained

If you're buying or own a condo unit in a Florida high-rise (three stories or above), the Structural Integrity Reserve Study — SIRS — is now the single most important financial document in your association's package. Here's what it is, why it exists, and how to read it.

What changed

After the Champlain Towers South collapse in Surfside, Florida overhauled its condominium structural integrity and reserve funding framework. HB 1021 (and predecessor SB 4-D / SB 154) now requires most condominium buildings three stories or higher to:

1. Complete a Milestone Inspection at 30 years of age (25 years within three miles of the coast), and every 10 years thereafter.
2. Maintain a Structural Integrity Reserve Study (SIRS) covering specific structural components.
3. Fund the SIRS components — waivers that were common in prior practice are no longer permitted for those items.

These reforms are why you're seeing dues increases and one-time catch-up assessments across many Florida condo communities. They're not arbitrary; they're statutory.

What the SIRS document looks like

A SIRS is part engineering report, part financial plan. It inventories the covered structural components, projects their remaining useful life, estimates replacement cost, and recommends a funding plan. A well-prepared SIRS reads cleanly. A weak one is often missing components, has stale cost estimates, or projects unrealistic funding levels.

What to look for

When CondoSignal reviews a SIRS, we cross-reference three things:

• The funding plan in the SIRS itself.
• The actual reserve balance in the latest financial statement.
• The reserve contribution line in the operating budget.

If all three agree, you have a healthy association. If they don't — most commonly, the SIRS recommends a funding level the budget isn't delivering — expect a special assessment or a steep dues increase to close the gap.

A note on "percent funded"

You'll often see a "percent funded" metric on reserve studies. As a rough guide: above 70% is generally strong, below 30% is generally weak. But trends matter more than snapshots. A 35% percent-funded association that's catching up under a multi-year plan is healthier than a 60% association that's losing ground.

Questions to ask

• "Has the SIRS been completed by an engineer or by an in-house team?"
• "How does the funding plan compare to the actual contribution in this year's budget?"
• "Is there a pending or recently approved special assessment to close any funding gap?"
• "Has the Phase I Milestone Inspection been completed? Was a Phase II required?"

Why this isn't legal advice

We are not your attorney. We surface what your documents disclose. A real estate attorney with Florida condo experience is the right person to advise on the legal implications of the disclosures we surface — particularly for any building with a pending Phase II inspection or a disputed assessment vote.