Florida SIRS and Funding Requirements FAQ

Florida’s condo law changed faster in three years than it had in the previous thirty. Boards are now expected to read statute, interpret engineering language, and set a funding model, usually as volunteers, usually between other jobs.

This FAQ is built for that reality. Each answer is short enough to read before a meeting and specific enough to act on. Where the law leaves room for judgment, we say so.

Reader’s note: This is education, not legal advice. Your association’s attorney should confirm how these rules apply to your documents.

The basics

What is a SIRS?

A Structural Integrity Reserve Study is a state-required study that identifies the structural and life-safety components of a condominium building, estimates how long each will last, estimates what each will cost to replace or repair, and sets out how much the association needs to set aside to pay for them.

It is not a general-purpose reserve study with a new name. It is narrower in scope and stricter in consequence.

Why does it exist?

The law followed the 2021 collapse of Champlain Towers South in Surfside, which killed 98 people. Legislators and engineers concluded that deferred structural maintenance, and the absence of money to pay for it, were a statewide problem rather than a single-building one. The SIRS and the separate milestone inspection program are the two main responses.

Who has to have one?

Condominium and cooperative associations responsible for buildings that are three stories or higher. Homeowners associations governed only by Chapter 720 are generally outside the SIRS requirement, though a traditional reserve study remains a sound practice for them.

Is it the same as a milestone inspection?

No. They are often confused, and boards often need both.

A milestone inspection can surface a repair that your SIRS did not anticipate. That is a reason to treat the two documents as a pair.

What the study covers

Which components must be included?

The statute lists the structural and safety systems every SIRS must address: the roof; the structure, including load-bearing walls and other primary structural members and systems; fireproofing and fire protection systems; plumbing; electrical systems; waterproofing and exterior painting; and windows and exterior doors. It also requires the study to include any other item whose replacement or deferred-maintenance cost exceeds $25,000 (or the inflation-adjusted figure the Division publishes, whichever is greater; the 2026 figure is $25,675) and whose failure would negatively affect those systems.

The study is based on a visual inspection of the condominium property. A desktop estimate prepared without anyone visiting the building does not fit that description. A milestone inspection completed within the past five years that meets the requirements can stand in for the visual-inspection portion.

What about the pool, the clubhouse, or the parking garage lighting?

Items outside the statutory list are not part of the SIRS. They still wear out. Most boards run a traditional reserve study alongside the SIRS so that the full capital picture sits in one budget conversation. The funding rules differ for the two categories, as discussed below.

How often is it updated?

At least once every ten years. A board that sees significant change in cost, condition or scope sooner has good reason to refresh earlier.

Who is allowed to prepare it?

The study must be performed or verified by a licensed engineer, a licensed architect, or a credentialed reserve professional (Reserve Specialist or Professional Reserve Analyst). A design professional or contractor who bids to prepare the study must disclose in writing if they intend to bid on work it recommends. Anyone who bids on that recommended work may not have a direct or indirect interest in the firm that wrote the study, or be a relative of someone who does, unless it is disclosed in writing. A contract signed without the required disclosure is voidable. Track this during any RFP.

Funding

Can owners vote to waive SIRS reserves?

Not for budgets adopted on or after December 31, 2024. This is the most significant change in the law: for the components listed in the SIRS statute, owners may not vote to provide no reserves or lesser reserves. Reserves for other items can still be waived or reduced by a majority vote of the total voting interests. There are narrow exceptions, such as an alternative funding method approved by the state for a multicondominium, and a temporary pause or reduction of up to two consecutive annual budgets (for budgets adopted through 2028) after a milestone inspection, by a majority vote, to fund the repairs it recommends.

Can the association pool reserves?

Yes, within limits. Reserve accounts may be pooled for two or more required components, but reserves for SIRS components may be pooled only with other SIRS components. The budget must provide enough funding that available funds meet or exceed projected expenses for every component in the pool, based on the most recent SIRS. The board can change its accounting method between pooling and straight-line without a member vote. SIRS reserves may not be used for any purpose other than replacing or maintaining those components.

What if we waived reserves for years and have a gap?

A unit-owner-controlled association that must have a SIRS may secure a line of credit or loan sufficient to cover the cumulative amount of previously waived or unfunded reserves. Funding from it must be immediately available to the board for required work without further owner approval, and the borrowing must appear in the annual financial statement that is also given to prospective purchasers. Note that the statute requires a majority vote of the total voting interests to approve a special assessment, line of credit or loan for SIRS reserves in the first place.

Borrowing changes the shape of the cost; it does not remove it. Debt service becomes a line in the operating budget. A board that borrows should model how that line behaves over the full term, not only in year one.

What is the difference between component and cash flow funding?

Component (straight-line) funding builds each item’s reserve over its remaining life. Cash flow (pooled) funding tests the combined balance against projected spending year by year. The statute recognizes both accounting methods, and the SIRS itself must include a baseline funding plan that keeps the reserve cash balance above zero each year. We cover the trade-offs in our post on Florida reserve funding methods.

Deadlines and obligations

What was the deadline?

Existing associations controlled by unit owners had to complete their first SIRS by December 31, 2025, following an extension from the earlier 2024 date. The statute adds that an association required to complete a milestone inspection on or before December 31, 2026 may complete the SIRS at the same time, and that in no event may a SIRS be completed after December 31, 2026. An association that completes a milestone inspection may also delay the SIRS for up to the two consecutive budget years that follow. Whichever applies to your building, the practical priority is the same: commission the study now.

What does the board have to do once the report arrives?

Several things, in sequence: an officer or director signs an affidavit acknowledging receipt, and within 45 days the association distributes the study to each unit owner (or notifies owners that it is available for inspection and copying on written request) and files a SIRS report with the Division of Condominiums through the association’s online account, confirming the study was completed and provided. The budget must then be based on the study’s funding plan. Our guide to the steps after delivery is here: You got your SIRS. Now what?

What happens if we do not comply?

If officers or directors willfully and knowingly fail to complete a SIRS, the statute defines that failure as a breach of their fiduciary relationship to the unit owners. The same is true of a willful and knowing failure to have a milestone inspection performed. Directors have Business Judgment Rule protection in many circumstances; a willful failure to follow a specific statutory mandate is a harder position to defend. Separately, an association may not adopt a budget whose reserve funding departs from the most recent SIRS plan without first obtaining an updated study.

There is also a market consequence. Lenders and the agencies that purchase mortgages look closely at condo projects. A building with no study or an unfunded plan can find that buyers cannot get financing, which narrows the pool to cash purchasers and puts pressure on unit values.

Do buyers see the SIRS?

Increasingly, yes. Sophisticated buyers, their attorneys and lenders ask for it, and any line of credit or loan the association has secured must be disclosed to prospective purchasers. A clear, current, fully funded plan is now a selling point for a unit rather than a back-office document.

One practical question

Where should a board start?

With the document it already has. Pull the existing reserve study, the last milestone inspection report and the current budget. Put them side by side. The gaps between those three are your agenda for the next meeting.

SmartProperty’s Living Reserve Study® keeps component data, costs and funding projections current as your building changes, so the next conversation starts from a real number instead of a ten-year-old PDF. Talk to our team about your building.