Florida due diligence
Florida Condo Due Diligence Checklist
Florida is the most heavily and aggressively regulated condominium market in the United States, and the single highest-priority state for CondoSignal. In the wake of the June 2021 Champlain Towers South collapse in Surfside (98 deaths), Florida enacted a cascade of structural-safety and financial-accountability laws — SB 4-D (2022), SB 154 (2023), HB 1021 (2024), HB 1203 (2024, HOAs), and HB 913 (2025) — that together impose mandatory milestone inspections, mandatory Structur….
Risk Intelligence
Review the documents before your contingency ends
Expert Matching
Need a real estate lawyer or mortgage specialist?
Free personalized checklist
Customize this checklist for your purchase
Answer a few quick questions and we'll prioritize the documents that matter most for your situation. No documents required.
Private by default. Save only when you choose.
The Florida document checklist
26 documents to review — 10 required by Florida statute. Every item explains what to verify.
Request immediately
Statute-backed documents the association must provide or make available.
- Declaration of Condominium (CC&Rs) Key here — § 718.503 resale package.
- Articles of Incorporation — resale package.
- Bylaws — resale package.
- Rules & Regulations — resale package.
- Q&A / Frequently Asked Questions sheet (§ 718.504) Key here — resale package.
- Governance form — resale package.
- Most recent year-end financial statement AND annual budget Key here — expanded by HB 913.
- Milestone Inspection Report (Phase 1 / Phase 2) Key here — must be provided if available (HB 913); critical for 3+ story buildings.
- Structural Integrity Reserve Study (SIRS) Key here — must be provided if available; check funding adequacy.
- Estoppel Certificate Key here — assessments owed, special assessments, fees, delinquencies, unit-level litigation/violations (fee-capped, binding, due in 10 business days).
Confirm you received these
Commonly provided in the resale package — verify none are missing.
- Reserve account balances / funded vs. SIRS-recommended Key here — request proactively to quantify funding gap.
- Board & member meeting minutes (12+ months) Key here — assessments, repairs, litigation; for older minutes.
- Master insurance policy declarations page Key here — carrier, limits, wind/flood coverage, deductible schedule.
- Special-assessment notices (levied & pending) Key here — quantify per-unit exposure.
Ask for these yourself
Not automatic. Request them proactively — a gap here is itself a signal.
- 36-month replacement-cost appraisal Key here — required basis for property coverage (§ 718.111(11)).
- Insurance claims history Key here — storm-loss frequency.
- Association loan documents — outstanding bank loans/lines of credit.
- Engineering / structural / facade / waterproofing reports Key here — beyond milestone, any consultant studies.
- Building permit history — open/expired permits, esp. structural.
- Violation notices on the unit — open code/association violations.
- Delinquency report (association-wide) Key here — financial-stress indicator.
- Management contract — CAM/firm term and fees.
- Developer-transition documents Key here — turnover accounting in newer buildings.
- Litigation summary Key here — construction defect, insurance, structural, collection suits.
- Flood zone determination / NFIP or private flood policy Key here — coverage gap check.
- My Safe Florida Condo grant / wind-mitigation status Key here — mitigation credits.
Want this same review on your actual documents? We do it free, with page citations you can verify.
Get my free risk report →Where Florida due diligence deserves the most attention
Insurance risk (10/10) — the nation's most stressed condo-insurance market; master premiums doubled; flood gap; Citizens eligibility tied to compliance.
Reserve risk (10/10) — mandatory, non-waivable SIRS funding with large gaps and catch-up assessments.
Structural risk (10/10) — milestone-inspection regime, coastal corrosion, Surfside legacy; highest in the U.S.
Legal complexity (9/10) — three statutory chapters plus building-safety code, amended yearly (SB 4-D, SB 154, HB 1021, HB 1203, HB 913); dense and fast-moving.
Buyer disclosure risk (7/10) — strong statutory package and 7-day rescission, but compliance/currency varies and key items must be verified.
Legal Framework
Florida regulates common-interest communities through three separate chapters, plus building-safety provisions in Chapter 553. Florida did not adopt the Uniform Condominium Act or UCIOA; it built its own, far more detailed statutory regime.
Reserve Studies and Reserve Funding
Florida has the most aggressive reserve mandate in the country for condominiums, born directly out of the Surfside collapse. This is a flagship CondoSignal topic for Florida.
Structural Inspections and Building Safety
This is Florida's defining, nation-leading regime — the post-Surfside milestone inspection law. It is the most important structural-safety mandate in any U.S. state and a central CondoSignal differentiator.
Insurance Requirements and Insurance-Market Risk
Florida has both detailed statutory insurance mandates for condos and the most stressed property-insurance market in the country. This is co-equal with structural safety as the top consumer angle.
Resale Disclosures and Buyer Cancellation Rights
Florida gives condo buyers stronger statutory disclosure and a longer rescission window than most states, and HB 913 (2025) recently expanded both.
Assessments, Special Assessments, and Borrowing
The board may levy a special assessment without a full-membership vote unless the declaration/bylaws specifically require owner approval. This is a key Florida feature: post-Surfside, boards have unilaterally imposed very large special assessments (commonly $20,000+ per unit, sometimes six figures) to fund milestone repairs and reserve catch-up.; Notice: For a non-emergency special assessment, written notice of the meeting must go to every owner at least 14 days in advance, be conspicuously posted, and the notice/assessment must state the specific purpos…
Florida legal references
- Fla. Stat. § 553.899 (2024/2025), Mandatory structural inspections
- Fla. Stat. § 718.112 (2025), Bylaws (budgets, reserves, SIRS, special assessments)
- Fla. Stat. § 718.111 (2025), The association (records & insurance)
- Fla. Stat. § 718.116 (2024), Assessments; liens
- Fla. Stat. § 718.503, Disclosure prior to sale; voidability
- Fla. Stat. § 718.203, Warranties
- Fla. Stat. § 720.3085 (2025), Payment for assessments; lien claims
- Fla. Stat. § 720.30851 (2025), Estoppel certificates
- Fla. Stat. Chapter 720 (2025), Homeowners' Associations
- Fla. Stat. Chapter 468, Part VIII (CAM licensing)
- Fla. House — HB 913 (2025), Condominium and Cooperative Associations
- Fla. Senate — HB 913 (2025) Bill Summary
- Fla. House — HB 1021 (2024) enrolled text
- Fla. Senate — HB 1203 (2024), Homeowners' Associations
Informational only. Not legal advice. Always confirm against the current statute and counsel.
Need help applying these Florida statutes to your specific purchase? We can connect you with state-licensed counsel and specialists familiar with this exact regulatory environment.
Find a Florida specialist →How CondoSignal reviews this
We read the reserve study, operating budget, and 24 months of meeting minutes together — florida condo documents risk usually lives in the contradiction between documents, not in any single one of them. Every finding cites the source document, the page number, and the quoted text behind it.
See our 8-category framework →Risk Intelligence
Review the documents before your contingency ends
Most buyers get 7–14 days to review condo documents. Upload the packet — we read the reserve study, budget, minutes, and insurance summary and flag the risks, every finding linked to the exact page. Free.
Expert Matching
Need a real estate lawyer or mortgage specialist?
We can connect you with vetted real estate lawyers, mortgage brokers, and insurance brokers familiar with the specifics of condo and HOA transactions.
- HOA lawyer
- Realtor
- Mortgage broker
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
Risk Intelligence
Review the documents before your contingency ends
Most buyers get 7–14 days to review condo documents. Upload the packet — we read the reserve study, budget, minutes, and insurance summary and flag the risks, every finding linked to the exact page. Free.
Expert Matching
Need a real estate lawyer or mortgage specialist?
We can connect you with vetted real estate lawyers, mortgage brokers, and insurance brokers familiar with the specifics of condo and HOA transactions.
- HOA lawyer
- Realtor
- Mortgage broker