Florida condo and co-op buildings that received a certificate of occupancy in 1996 owe their first milestone inspection by December 31, 2026, under section 553.899 of the Florida Statutes.
That’s the state default. In parts of South Florida, a 1996 building’s deadline passed a while ago.
Does your building fall under the law?
Start with ownership.
The statute covers buildings three habitable stories or taller that are condos or co-ops, in whole or in part, and it doesn’t cover a plain office building, strip center or rental apartment complex.
Mixed-use towers are where people get tripped up. If there’s a commercial owner downstairs and condo units upstairs, the law makes that commercial owner responsible for compliance right alongside the association.
Small residential buildings are out. The statute excludes one- to four-family dwellings with three or fewer habitable stories above ground.
How the 30 years get counted
The count runs from the date on the certificate of occupancy, and the inspection is due by December 31 of the year the building turns 30. So a building certified in February 1996 and one certified in November 1996 are both due at the end of this year, and again in 2036.
Can’t find the certificate? In that case the law goes by the date of occupancy in the local building official’s records, so call the building department before you assume anything.
The 2022 law’s catch-up deadlines are behind us. Buildings that were already 30 before July 1, 2022, had until the end of 2024, and the next group had until the end of 2025.
Coastal buildings may be on a 25-year clock
Your city or county building department can move the first inspection up to 25 years. The statute specifically mentions “proximity to salt water” as a reason, and the association doesn’t get a vote.
For a 1996 building, a 25-year rule means the first inspection belonged in 2021. Two South Florida programs show how much earlier it can be:
- Miami-Dade’s recertification program required condo and co-op buildings three stories or taller, built between 1983 and 1997 and within three miles of the coastline, to be recertified by December 31, 2024. Other buildings from 1993 onward go at 30 years.
- Broward’s Building Safety Inspection Program applies to all buildings and structures once they’re 25, with listed exemptions that include federal, state, tribal-land and school board buildings.
Those county programs aren’t limited to condos. A 1996 office building in Broward is in the county program, unless it’s under 3,500 square feet, even though the state statute leaves it alone.
The letter starts the clock
Nothing happens officially until the building department mails a notice, certified with return receipt, to the association. Then the association has 14 days to tell unit owners and give them the completion date.
From the day that letter arrives, phase one has 180 days. It’s done when the engineer or architect sends the report to the building department.
Running late? The department can grant an extension for good cause, but the statute ties that to the owners already having a signed contract with an architect or engineer. That’s a good reason not to wait for the letter before hiring someone.
Phase one, and when phase two kicks in
Phase one is a visual inspection. A Florida-licensed engineer or architect walks the habitable and nonhabitable areas and writes up a qualitative assessment.
Phase two only happens if phase one turns up “substantial structural deterioration.” Cracks, sagging, signs of leakage, and peeling finishes don’t count by themselves unless the inspector decides they point to a structural problem.
A rust stain or a hairline crack can be cosmetic, or it can be corroding rebar showing itself early, as CCR laid out in why concrete damage starts before spalling appears.
If phase two is needed, the inspector has 180 days after the phase one report to file a progress report with a schedule. Testing can be destructive, but the law tells inspectors to pick spots that are least disruptive and easiest to patch.
One limit is easy to miss: the inspection isn’t a code check. A report can come back clean on a building that wouldn’t meet today’s Florida Building Code or fire code.
After the report
The report comes back sealed and signed, with a separate summary written by the inspector. Copies go to the association and to the building official, and the report has to say whether the inspector saw any unsafe or dangerous conditions.
Owners get the summary within 45 days, no matter what it found. The association mails or hand-delivers it, posts it on the property, and puts the full report on its website if it’s required to have one.
Repairs run on their own timer. Work on substantial structural deterioration has to start within 365 days of the phase two report. If the owners can’t show that repairs are scheduled or started in time, the building department has to review whether people can safely stay in the building.
As for fines, the state law doesn’t set any. Local agencies get to write their own “timelines and penalties,” so ask yours.
What engineers say
One Florida structural engineering firm tells associations, “Once your association receives written notice, Phase One is due within 180 days.“
The same firm’s guide for association managers is just as plain about who needs to know what. A board, it says, “needs to understand risk, cost, and timing,” and the engineering can stay with the engineer.
Now, when it comes to the impact of potential issues, their website describes: “A structural issue caught during permitting or early review is a markup. The same issue caught during a milestone inspection or a threshold inspection is a stoppage.”
Hiring comes with a disclosure rule of its own. An inspector who wants the repair job too has to tell the association in writing, and a repair contractor with an interest in the inspecting firm has to disclose it, or the association can void the contract.
Before December 31
With the date confirmed, get an inspector under contract. Comparing a few firms that do milestone inspections in Florida and asking how soon each could finish phase one is a sensible place to start.
