What to know before you buy a condo in Florida
The documents a Florida condo seller must give you, your 7 days to cancel, and what the milestone inspection, reserve study and estoppel show.
The short answer
Once you're under contract for a resale condo in Florida, the seller must give you the association's documents, including its budget and, where they exist, the milestone inspection summary and the structural integrity reserve study1. You then have 7 days, not counting weekends and legal holidays, to cancel in writing1. The documents show the building's condition and what owners may pay84.
- To cancel a resale contract in writing after you get the documents, not counting weekends and legal holidays1
- 7 days
- First milestone inspection for a condo building of three or more habitable stories, due by December 31 of the year it turns 308
- 30 years
- An association needs a structural integrity reserve study at least this often for each such building4
- 10 years
- For the association to issue the estoppel certificate, its statement of what's owed12
- 10 business days
On this page
A condo comes with a second set of papers, the association's. They show what the building needs, what has been set aside for it, and what owners may pay.
This guide covers resales. It's general information, so have your agent or a Florida real estate attorney review a specific building's documents.
Have a home in mind?
Paste its link. Comped reads the listing and the county's records for that home, and a licensed agent is there when you want to see it.
No link yet?
What the seller has to give you
Once you've signed a contract for a resale unit, you're entitled to a current copy of eight documents at the seller's expense, plus a governance form from the Division of Florida Condominiums, Timeshares, and Mobile Homes of the Department of Business and Professional Regulation (DBPR)1.
| Document | What it tells you |
|---|---|
| Declaration of condominium | What you own, your share of the common elements and common expenses, and your votes. It can limit how units are used, occupied and sold3. |
| Articles of incorporation, bylaws and rules | How the association is set up and run, from board meetings to elections4. |
| Annual financial statement and annual budget | What the association took in and spent, and the year's planned costs and reserves54. |
| Milestone inspection summary, if the building has had one | The inspector's material findings and recommendations on the building's structure8. |
| Structural integrity reserve study, or a statement that there isn't one | Each major part's remaining useful life and replacement cost, and how much to set aside each year4. |
| Turnover inspection report, for a turnover inspection performed on or after July 1, 2023 | The condition, useful life and replacement cost of the roof, structure and other systems when the developer handed over control6. |
| Frequently Asked Questions and Answers | Voting rights, limits on use and leasing, the regular assessment for each type of unit, and court cases in which the association could owe more than $100,0007. |
| Governance form | The division's summary of how the board runs the association, and owners' rights1. |
Your contract must also say, in conspicuous type, if the association is required to have a milestone inspection, a turnover inspection report or a reserve study and hasn't completed it, or if it isn't required to have a milestone inspection or a reserve study1.
An association with 25 or more units must post its records, including its budget, inspection reports and latest reserve study, on a website or app with a section only owners can open5. Ask the seller for the rest.
How long you have to cancel
You have 7 days, not counting Saturdays, Sundays and legal holidays. They run after you've both signed the contract and received the documents, and you cancel by delivering written notice1.
“THIS AGREEMENT IS VOIDABLE BY BUYER BY DELIVERING WRITTEN NOTICE OF THE BUYER’S INTENTION TO CANCEL WITHIN 7 DAYS, EXCLUDING SATURDAYS, SUNDAYS, AND LEGAL HOLIDAYS, AFTER THE DATE OF EXECUTION OF THIS AGREEMENT BY THE BUYER AND RECEIPT BY BUYER OF…”
Any waiver of the right has no effect. The same clause lets you push closing back by up to 7 such days after you receive the documents, and the right ends at closing either way1.
Monday
You sign the contract
Wednesday
The documents arrive
With both done, the 7 days start to run.
Thursday to Friday of the next week
7 days to read them
Saturdays, Sundays and legal holidays don't count.
Friday of the next week (key date)
Last day to cancel
Deliver written notice that you cancel.
The window was 3 days until HB 913, a 2025 law, lengthened it to 7 from July 1, 20252. A contract can instead state that you received the documents more than 7 such days before you signed, and a sale by the developer gives you 15 days1. A resale contract with neither clause can be cancelled by the buyer before closing1. Ask your agent which clause yours uses.
Ask for the documents early
Ask for them in writing, early. The clause counts the 7 days from when documents you asked for in writing arrive1.
Does the building need a milestone inspection?
If it's a condo or co-op building of three or more habitable stories, yes, from age 30, counted from its certificate of occupancy8.
| The building | First inspection due |
|---|---|
| Three or more habitable stories, condo or co-op | By December 31 of the year it turns 308 |
| The same, where the local enforcement agency requires it sooner | By December 31 of the year it turns 258 |
| A one- to four-family dwelling of three or fewer habitable stories | Not required8 |
Then one every 10 years. The local enforcement agency can extend the first deadline for good cause8.
The local enforcement agency is the local government office that enforces the building code9. It can require the first inspection at 25 years where local conditions call for it, such as nearness to salt water8.
The association arranges it. Phase one, a licensed architect or engineer's visual examination, is due within 180 days after the association receives the local enforcement agency's written notice; phase two, which may include testing, follows only if phase one finds substantial structural deterioration8.
The report goes to the association and the local building official with a separate summary of its material findings and recommendations. Within 45 days, the association must send the summary to every owner8. Repairs for deterioration found in phase two must start within 365 days after its report8.
What the reserve study tells you
A structural integrity reserve study, or SIRS, is a study of the reserve funds needed for future major repairs and replacements of the condominium property10. An association must have one at least every 10 years for each building of three or more habitable stories4.
It's based on a visual inspection, done or checked by a licensed engineer or architect, or by a certified reserve specialist or professional reserve analyst. It covers the roof, the structure, fireproofing and fire protection, plumbing, electrical systems, waterproofing and exterior painting, and windows and exterior doors. It also covers any other item costing more than $25,675 (the 2026 threshold, adjusted each year) whose failure would harm those411.
For each item, the study states its remaining useful life and its replacement cost, and it recommends a yearly amount to set aside so the money is there by the end of that life4.
Roof replacement cost$600,000
Already in the roof reserve$150,000
Remaining useful life10 years
The associationEach of 50 units
Still to set aside$450,000$9,000
Each year$45,000$900
Each unit's share a month, for the roof alone$75
Reserves owners can't vote away
The budget's reserves for these items must be based on the latest study4. For a budget adopted on or after December 31, 2024, owners can't vote to skip, cut or spend them on anything else. The exceptions to skipping or cutting are narrow: a vote to terminate the condominium, or an association running more than one condominium with an alternative funding method the division has approved4.
In budgets adopted by December 31, 2028, owners can also vote to pause or cut reserve contributions for up to two budgets to pay for repairs from a milestone inspection completed in the previous two calendar years4.
Reserves can come from regular or special assessments, loans or lines of credit, and the last three must show in the annual financial statement a buyer receives4. Compare the study's yearly amounts with the budget.
Special assessments and the estoppel certificate
A special assessment is any charge to owners beyond the regular assessment in the year's budget10, and its purpose must be set out in a written notice12. A new owner is liable, along with the previous owner, for any assessments that came due and went unpaid before title passed12.
The estoppel certificate is the association's signed statement of what's owed on the unit, issued within 10 business days of a request. It lists the regular assessment, everything owed including special assessments, any transfer or similar fee, open rule violations, and whether the board must approve the sale12.
It's good for 30 days, or 35 if it was mailed. The association can't later collect more than it states from someone who relied on it in good faith12.
The fee is capped by law and adjusted for inflation every five years12; DBPR's next update is due by July 1, 202713.
- Account paid up$299
- Account paid up, requested expedited and delivered within 3 business days$418
- Account delinquent$478
- Account delinquent, requested expedited and delivered within 3 business days$597
- Not delivered within 10 business days$0
If the association must approve the sale and its documents provide for a fee, it may charge up to $184 per applicant. Spouses, or a parent or parents and any dependent children, count as one applicant413.
Who pays what is in your contract
Who orders and pays for the estoppel certificate, and who pays an assessment voted before closing but due after it, depend on your contract. Ask your agent how yours handles them.
How to check a building before you sign
Start with the documents, then compare them with what DBPR and the local building official hold. Check flood risk separately; flood disclosure and flood insurance when you buy in Florida covers it.
- DBPR's SIRS database lists the associations that have reported a completed reserve study, exactly as they submitted it14. The study itself comes from the seller1.
- The milestone inspection report goes to the local building official as well as the association, and an association that must have a website posts it there8. Ask the seller for the summary.
December 31, 2024
First milestone inspections due before this day
For buildings that turned 30 before July 1, 2022.
July 1, 2025
7 days to cancel
HB 913 took the resale buyer's window from 3 days to 7.
December 31, 2025 (key date)
First reserve studies due
For owner-run associations that existed on July 1, 2022. Buildings that turned 30 on or after July 1, 2022 and before December 31, 2024 needed their first milestone inspection before this day.
December 31, 2026 (key date)
Last day for those first reserve studies
For an association that existed on July 1, 2022 and paired its study with a milestone inspection due by this day.
December 31, 2028
Last day to adopt a budget that starts a pause
Up to two consecutive budgets, for milestone inspection repairs.
Property taxes are separate from the association's assessments: each unit is taxed on its own15. Property taxes after you buy explains how a home's tax resets after a sale. A unit you make your permanent home can qualify for homestead16; see when to file for homestead after you buy.
Looking at a real condo?
Paste its link. Comped's report works out the taxes after you buy for that unit, and a Comped agent checks it before it's sent.
No link yet?
Have the documents reviewed
This guide explains what Florida law requires, not what a building's documents or your contract say. Your licensed Comped agent can walk you through them, and a Florida real estate attorney can review them.
Questions buyers ask
For a resale, 7 days, not counting Saturdays, Sundays and legal holidays, after you've both signed the contract and received the association's documents. You cancel by written notice; the right can't be waived and ends at closing. The window was 3 days before July 1, 2025. A sale by the developer gives you 15 days.
Eight, at the seller's expense: the declaration, articles of incorporation, bylaws and rules, financial statement and budget, the milestone inspection summary if any, the reserve study or a statement that there isn't one, any required turnover inspection report, and the Frequently Asked Questions and Answers sheet. You also get a governance form.
Condo and co-op buildings of three or more habitable stories. The first is due by December 31 of the year the building turns 30, then every 10 years. The local enforcement agency can require the first one at 25 years where local conditions, such as nearness to salt water, call for it.
Generally not for the items in its structural integrity reserve study. In budgets adopted on or after December 31, 2024, owners can't vote to skip, cut or redirect those reserves, with narrow exceptions such as a vote to terminate the condominium. Budgets adopted by December 31, 2028 may pause them for up to two budgets to pay for milestone inspection repairs.
Sources
Primary sources only: the statutes, rules and agency documents each figure comes from.
- 1.Fla. Stat. §718.503, Developer disclosure prior to sale; nondeveloper unit owner disclosure prior to sale; voidability
The Florida Senate · flsenate.gov · checked
- 2.CS/CS/HB 913 (2025), enrolled text
The Florida Senate · flsenate.gov · checked
- 3.Fla. Stat. §718.104, Creation of condominiums; contents of declaration
The Florida Senate · flsenate.gov · checked
- 4.Fla. Stat. §718.112, Bylaws
The Florida Senate · flsenate.gov · checked
- 5.Fla. Stat. §718.111, The association
The Florida Senate · flsenate.gov · checked
- 6.Fla. Stat. §718.301, Transfer of association control; claims of defect by association
The Florida Senate · flsenate.gov · checked
- 7.Fla. Stat. §718.504, Prospectus or offering circular
The Florida Senate · flsenate.gov · checked
- 8.Fla. Stat. §553.899, Mandatory structural inspections for condominium and cooperative buildings
The Florida Senate · flsenate.gov · checked
- 9.Fla. Stat. §553.71, Definitions
The Florida Senate · flsenate.gov · checked
- 10.Fla. Stat. §718.103, Definitions
The Florida Senate · flsenate.gov · checked
- 11.Reserve threshold
Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation · www2.myfloridalicense.com · checked
- 12.Fla. Stat. §718.116, Assessments; liability; lien and priority; interest; collection
The Florida Senate · flsenate.gov · checked
- 13.Estoppel certificate fees and transfer fees
Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation · www2.myfloridalicense.com · checked
- 14.SIRS reporting and database
Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation · www2.myfloridalicense.com · checked
- 15.Fla. Stat. §718.120, Separate taxation of condominium parcels; survival of declaration after tax sale; assessment of timeshare estates
The Florida Senate · flsenate.gov · checked
- 16.Fla. Stat. §196.031, Exemption of homesteads
The Florida Senate · flsenate.gov · checked
General information about Florida law, not legal or tax advice. For your home, ask your county's property appraiser, a tax professional or your Comped agent.
What changed
When a law, a rule or a county's figures change, we update the guide and note it here.
Published.
Keep reading
Get started
Found a home you like?
Send it to Comped.
Skip the forms and the app downloads. Paste the link, say what you want to do, and we take it from there.
No link yet?