Legislation Regarding Structural Integrity and Condo Safety

On June 24, 2021, part of Champlain Towers South in Surfside collapsed in the early morning. Ninety-eight people died. For years afterward, the investigation, the litigation, and the legislation proceeded in parallel.

What emerged is not one law but a sequence of them, each filling gaps the previous one left. Boards who follow the sequence can understand why the requirements look the way they do, and can anticipate where they may go next.

Reader’s note: This summary is for orientation, not legal advice. Statutes are amended frequently. Confirm current text and application to your association with counsel.

The structure of the response

Florida’s approach rests on three ideas:

1. Look at the building. Periodic structural inspections by qualified professionals.
2. Plan for what you find. A reserve study focused on structural and safety components.
3. Pay for it. Funding rules that prevent associations from deferring those costs by vote.

Each piece of legislation touches one or more of these.

Timeline

2022: Senate Bill 4-D, the foundation

Passed in a special session, SB 4-D created the architecture that remains in place:

• Milestone inspections. Buildings of three stories or more with a condominium or cooperative component must be inspected by a licensed engineer or architect at a set age, with repeat inspections every ten years. The original threshold was 30 years, reduced to 25 for buildings within three miles of the coastline.
• Structural Integrity Reserve Studies. Condominium and cooperative buildings of three stories or more must complete a SIRS covering defined structural components.
• Funding. Owners may not vote to waive or reduce reserves for the SIRS components in budgets adopted on or after December 31, 2024.

2023: Senate Bill 154, clarification and relief

SB 154 responded to implementation questions and to the practical difficulty of getting thousands of studies done:

• Replaced the 25-year coastal milestone rule with local discretion: a local enforcement agency may require inspection at 25 years where conditions such as proximity to salt water justify it, and may extend a deadline for good cause.
• Revised the SIRS component list, adding the building structure (load-bearing walls and primary structural members and systems) and removing "floor" and "foundation" as separate items.
• Let Certified Reserve Specialists and Professional Reserve Analysts perform or verify the study, and let a milestone inspection from the prior five years stand in for the visual-inspection portion.
• Required budgets adopted on or after January 1, 2025 to be based on the most recent SIRS, and exempted small residential structures and non-association components.

2024: House Bill 1021, reporting and transparency

HB 1021 added accountability around the study. Associations must notify the Division of Condominiums within 45 days after a SIRS is completed, and the division was directed to maintain a database of associations that have completed one. The bill also allowed a temporary pause or reduction of reserve funding when a building is declared uninhabitable after a natural emergency, and added board-member training that covers milestone inspections and SIRS.

2025: House Bill 913, deadlines and detail

HB 913 added operational definition without changing the direction:

• Deadline. The first SIRS completion deadline for existing associations moved from 2024 to December 31, 2025, with an outer limit of December 31, 2026.
• Baseline funding plan. The study must include a plan that keeps the reserve cash balance above zero each year, and must distinguish required reserve items from others.
• Affidavit. An officer or director must sign an affidavit acknowledging receipt of the completed study.
• Threshold. The catch-all item threshold rose from $10,000 to $25,000, adjusted annually for inflation. The Division’s posted figure is $25,000 for 2025 and $25,675 for 2026.
• Pooling and method. SIRS reserves may be funded using the pooling accounting method, and a board may switch between pooling and straight-line without a member vote.
• Borrowing and assessments. Special assessments, lines of credit and loans for SIRS reserves require a majority vote of the total voting interests, and a line of credit covering prior shortfalls must be immediately accessible to the board.
• Pause after milestone inspection. An association that completes a milestone inspection may delay its SIRS up to two budget years, or pause or reduce reserve contributions for up to two budgets (for budgets through 2028) by majority vote.
• Conflicts of interest. Disclosure rules for professionals who both prepare studies and bid on the work.
• Milestone repairs. Counties must require repairs to begin within 365 days after a phase two inspection.

What is settled, and what is not

Settled:

• Three-story condo and co-op buildings need both inspections and a SIRS.
• SIRS reserves cannot be waived.
• A willful and knowing failure to complete a SIRS or a milestone inspection is a breach of fiduciary duty.
• Lenders and buyers treat the SIRS as part of due diligence.

Still in motion:

• The 2026 session did not change the SIRS statute: SB 722, a 2026 SIRS bill, died in committee on March 13, 2026. The current rules are the 2025 statute plus the Division’s rule
• The Division’s SIRS rule, 61B-22.005, which took effect October 4, 2026 and adopted DBPR Form 6000-10; a further proposed amendment, noticed October 22, 2026, addresses funding adjustments and switches between pooled and straight-line accounting
• Local enforcement approaches and timelines
• How agencies and courts will treat associations that are late
• Further adjustments to the interplay between inspection and reserve requirements
• Insurance and lending requirements that sit outside the statute but depend on it

What this means for boards

Compliance is a continuous obligation. The first SIRS is not the finish line. The ten-year cycle, the milestone inspection schedule, the annual budget and the reporting duties are recurring commitments.

Documents now flow outward. The SIRS and inspection reports reach owners, the state, lenders and buyers. A board that treats them as internal paperwork will be surprised by the audience.

Liability is more specific. The statute defines a willful and knowing failure to complete the study, or a milestone inspection, as a breach of fiduciary duty. That is not a reason for alarm. It is a reason to document decisions, follow procedure, and keep counsel involved.

Costs are real, and so is the benefit. Funding the plan raises assessments in many buildings. A building with a funded, current plan is also a building where buyers can get financing and owners are less likely to face a surprise.

Beyond Florida

Florida is the most active state, but not the only one. California, Hawaii, New Jersey and others have adjusted reserve or inspection requirements, and several are watching Florida’s model. Our state-by-state reserve requirements guides track those changes. Boards outside Florida can treat the Florida experience as a preview: the legislative conversation tends to move toward the same three ideas of inspection, planning and funding.

A short list of actions

• Confirm your milestone inspection status and date.
• Confirm your SIRS is complete, delivered, signed for and reported.
• Check that your budget reflects the funding schedule.
• Calendar the next deadlines: study updates, inspections, budget notice.
• Ask counsel to brief the board annually on legislative changes.

SmartProperty tracks legislation across all 50 states and builds the changes into the Living Reserve Study®. Talk to us about keeping your association current without keeping a lawyer on speed dial.