Vol. 1, No. 1October 2026Free to Florida condo owners

The Breezeway

Name: Covenant Builders
Address: 876 47th Avenue, Vero Beach, FL, 32966, US
Telephone: (772) 473-7115
Price range: $$

News for Florida condo owners and boards

Full edition · Facts checked October 19, 2026

Reserves & SIRS

The last SIRS deadline is December 31. After that, the law allows no more late ones.

Most associations owed their structural integrity reserve study by the end of 2025. One narrow group got one more year. That year ends in ten weeks.

A SIRS — structural integrity reserve study — is the study that tells your association how much money to save for the big parts of the building: roof, structure, waterproofing, windows and doors, plumbing, electrical and fireproofing. Florida law requires one every 10 years for condo buildings three stories or taller.

The first round was due December 31, 2025. The law made one exception: if your building also had a milestone inspection due by December 31, 2026, the association could do both at the same time and finish the SIRS with it. The statute then says no study may be completed after December 31, 2026. So if your building is in that group and the SIRS is not finished, the clock is running out.

Once a SIRS is done, the association has 45 days to report it to the state through the Department of Business and Professional Regulation (DBPR) online system. The law does not set an automatic fine for missing the deadline. The risk is elsewhere: a board member who willfully and knowingly fails to get the study done breaches their duty to the owners, the state can bring civil penalties, and a budget built without it is not a lawful budget.

There is a money side too. Since budgets adopted on or after December 31, 2024, owners can no longer vote to cut or skip the reserves the SIRS calls for. The SIRS number goes straight into what every owner pays.

What to do this month: if you are an owner, ask your manager or board two questions in writing — "Is our SIRS finished?" and "Has it been reported to DBPR?" If you are on the board and the answer is no, call your engineer and your association attorney this week, not in December.

Also this month

Board rules

Budget season: 14 days’ notice, and the 115% rule

Most associations adopt next year’s budget this fall. Florida law requires the proposed budget and the meeting notice to reach every owner at least 14 days before the meeting. If the new budget would raise assessments above 115% of last year’s, the board must also offer a substitute budget with no discretionary spending, sent by mail or hand delivery. Owners pick the substitute only by a majority of all voting interests. Required reserves, SIRS items and insurance premiums don’t count toward the 115%.

Selling or refinancing

January 4: Fannie Mae’s condo reserve bar rises to 15%

For Fannie Mae-backed loans with applications on or after January 4, 2027, a condo project must budget at least 15% of its assessment income for reserves, up from 10%, or fund at the highest level its reserve study recommends. Fannie Mae has already ended its “limited review” for most projects over 10 units. If your budget falls short, buyers and owners who refinance in your building may struggle to get a conventional loan.

Condo insurance

Citizens condo policies get a clearinghouse by 2027

A law signed June 16, 2026 tells Citizens Property Insurance to build a clearinghouse for condo association and commercial policies by January 1, 2027. If a private insurer offers coverage within 15% of the Citizens rate, the policy must move to that private company. Separately, Citizens raised condo association rates from July 1, 2026: an average of 7.7% for multiperil and 14.1% for wind-only policies.

On the ballot

Amendment 3 and condo units: what it would change

Amendment 3 on the November 3 ballot would raise the homestead exemption on non-school taxes to $150,000 in 2027 and $250,000 in 2028. For units that are not a homestead — second homes and rentals — it would cut the yearly cap on assessed-value increases from 10% to 5%. It needs 60% of the vote to pass. It would not change association fees.

Storms & safety

Six weeks of hurricane season left. Four things for the board to have on file.

The Atlantic season runs through November 30. A quiet month is the cheapest time to get the building’s paperwork in one place.

Late-season storms still reach Florida. For a condo building, the hard part after a storm is rarely the cleanup. It is finding the documents the board needs, fast, while owners are calling.

None of this costs money. It takes one board meeting and a shared folder.

1.Dated photos of the building
Every elevation, the roof, breezeways, balconies, garage, pool deck and equipment rooms. Store them off-site, not only on the manager’s laptop.
2.The latest milestone and SIRS reports
They show what condition the building was in before the storm. Keep a copy where every director can reach it.
3.A current owner contact list
Phone and email for every unit, plus who is out of state for the season. You will need it for emergency notices.
4.Who can act in an emergency
Florida law gives boards extra emergency powers after a declared state of emergency. Ask your association attorney now which ones apply to your building, and write the answer down.

How we got here

From one night in Surfside to the letters in your mailbox

Every rule in this paper traces back to June 24, 2021.

Shortly after 1 a.m. on June 24, 2021, part of Champlain Towers South, a 12-story condominium in Surfside, collapsed. Ninety-eight people died. It soon came out that serious structural damage had been reported to the association years earlier, and the major repairs had not yet been done.

Florida answered with SB 4-D, signed May 26, 2022. It created milestone inspections for condo buildings three stories and taller and required structural integrity reserve studies, and it ended the long-standing practice of owners voting to skip reserves for structural items.

SB 154, signed June 9, 2023, adjusted the rules — including dropping the automatic 25-year inspection trigger for buildings within three miles of the coast and setting 30 years statewide, unless a local building official chooses 25. HB 913 in 2025 then gave associations new tools to pay for repairs: loans and lines of credit, and a temporary pause on reserves after a milestone inspection — each with an owner vote.

A state report from July 2026 counted 8,736 Phase 1 and 1,575 Phase 2 milestone inspections completed so far, and 54 buildings found unsafe or uninhabitable in 2024 and 2025.

Ask the builder

"What is the difference between a milestone inspection and a SIRS?"

One looks at the building today. The other plans the money for tomorrow.

A milestone inspection is about safety right now. A licensed engineer or architect inspects the building when it turns 30 years old (25 where the local building official requires it), then every 10 years. Phase 1 is a visual inspection. If it finds substantial structural deterioration, Phase 2 follows with closer testing and a list of repairs. The report goes to your local building department.

A SIRS is about money. It looks at the building’s big components, estimates how long each one will last and what it will cost to replace, and sets how much the association must save each year. It goes to the state.

The two often happen together, and the law lets them. But they answer different questions: "Is the building safe?" and "Can we afford to keep it that way?"

Have a question about your building? Text it to (772) 473-7115 and we may answer it in a future issue.

From our sponsor

Free for boards: two handouts before your next vote

The Board Financing Guide. Special assessment, loan, line of credit or a mix — what each costs an owner per month, and the vote each one needs.
8 Questions for Every Bidder. One page to hand every contractor who bids your building’s repairs.

Tell us your building and we’ll email both. Rather talk? Call or text (772) 473-7115.

General information, not legal, financial or engineering advice. Your association’s attorney, engineer and manager have the final word.

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