Buying a Florida Condo in 2026: The Questions Every Buyer Must Ask After the Milestone Inspection Law

A New Era of Condo Due Diligence in Florida

If you are shopping for a condominium in Daytona Beach, Ormond Beach, Port Orange, New Smyrna Beach, Palm Coast, or DeLand in 2026, you are buying in a fundamentally different legal environment than existed just a few years ago. Florida's landmark structural safety legislation, Senate Bill 4-D (enacted May 2022 and subsequently refined by SB 154 in 2023 and HB 913 in 2025), has rewritten the rules for condominium ownership statewide. The central mechanism is something called a milestone inspection, and understanding what it means for your purchase could be the difference between a sound investment and a financial headache measured in the tens of thousands of dollars.

What the Milestone Inspection Law Actually Requires

Florida Statute 553.899 mandates that condominium and cooperative association buildings three stories or taller undergo periodic structural inspections called milestone inspections. The age trigger is 30 years from the building's certificate of occupancy, and every 10 years after that. In coastal jurisdictions, local governments may impose a stricter 25-year trigger, though the statewide default remains 30 years. Buildings reaching their milestone in 2025 or 2026 were required to complete their Phase 1 inspection by December 31 of the applicable year.

A Phase 1 inspection is a visual assessment conducted by a licensed engineer or architect. If the inspector identifies signs of substantial structural deterioration, the association must proceed to a Phase 2 inspection, which involves destructive or semi-destructive testing to quantify the problem. Both phases carry real cost, and more importantly, they generate written reports that must be disclosed. Those reports are now part of the paper trail every serious buyer should demand before going under contract.

The Reserve Funding Change That Changes Everything

Equally significant is what SB 4-D did to reserve funding. Florida's prior law allowed condo associations to hold a membership vote and waive fully funded reserves, a practice that left many buildings dangerously underfunded for major repairs. That option is now eliminated for structural items identified in a Structural Integrity Reserve Study (SIRS). Effective December 31, 2024, associations must fund SIRS line items. There is no waiver vote available. For buyers, this has two immediate consequences: monthly assessments are rising at many associations to meet the new mandatory contributions, and special assessments are being levied at buildings that were chronically underfunded before the law changed.

The SIRS itself, which all qualifying associations were required to complete by December 31, 2025, quantifies the remaining useful life and replacement cost of major structural components including the roof, load-bearing walls, floors, foundation, fireproofing, plumbing, electrical systems, and windows. Reserve funding in 2026 budgets must reflect those findings. If the association you are considering has not yet delivered its SIRS, that is a serious red flag worth investigating before you submit an offer.

The Questions to Ask Before You Make an Offer

As both a Florida attorney and a REALTOR®, I walk buyer clients through a specific set of questions whenever we are evaluating a condo purchase. Here is what you should be asking:

• Has the building completed its milestone inspection? If the building qualifies under Fla. Stat. 553.899, ask for the Phase 1 report. If a Phase 2 was triggered, get that report too. Review the engineer's findings line by line.
• Has the association delivered its SIRS? The SIRS deadline for most qualifying associations was December 31, 2025. Request a copy and review the funding schedule. Unfunded or underfunded items signal future special assessments.
• What is the current reserve balance versus the SIRS-required funding level? A large gap between what the association holds in reserves and what the SIRS says is needed often means a special assessment is coming. That liability may fall on you the moment you take title.
• Are there any pending or anticipated special assessments? Florida law requires sellers to disclose known special assessments, but the Florida Realtors/Florida Bar "AS IS" contract and the standard residential contract both give buyers the right to review the association's most recent financial statements, meeting minutes, and the estoppel certificate. Use those rights. (See our detailed guide on HOA estoppel certificates in Florida, including fee caps and who orders them, for a full breakdown of how that document protects you at closing.)
• What does the association website show? Effective January 1, 2026, condominium associations with 25 or more units are required to maintain a website posting key documents including the SIRS, milestone inspection reports, meeting minutes, and budgets. If the association is out of compliance with this requirement, that alone tells you something about how it is being managed.
• What is the monthly assessment, and what does it cover? Assess the total monthly cost including the base maintenance fee, any special assessment installments already in effect, and your prospective insurance cost. Condo insurance premiums in Volusia County and Flagler County have increased substantially in recent years; budget accordingly.

Local Context: What Buyers Are Seeing in Volusia and Flagler Counties

In markets like Ormond Beach, Port Orange, and New Smyrna Beach, many of the older beachside condominium buildings were constructed in the 1970s and 1980s. That means a significant number of them hit their 30-year and 40-year milestones in the mid-2000s through the 2020s. Buyers are discovering that some of those buildings now carry the weight of deferred maintenance, milestone inspection findings, and freshly mandated reserve contributions all at once. In Palm Coast and DeLand, where newer construction is more common, the milestone inspection concern is less immediate but still worth verifying against the building's certificate of occupancy date.

None of this means you should avoid the condo market. It means you should enter it informed. A building with a clean Phase 1 report, a fully funded SIRS, and a professionally managed association is a very different asset from one that is scrambling to catch up with the law.

How an Attorney-REALTOR® Adds Value in This Environment

The 2026 condo market rewards buyers who ask the right questions early and negotiate from a position of legal literacy. As an attorney and REALTOR®, I help clients interpret inspection reports, analyze SIRS funding gaps, negotiate contract terms that address undisclosed assessments, and review the association documents that most buyers skim or skip. Florida's condo laws are not light reading, but understanding them before you close is far less expensive than understanding them after.

If you are considering a condominium purchase in Ormond Beach, Daytona Beach, Port Orange, New Smyrna Beach, Palm Coast, DeLand, or anywhere in the surrounding area, I would welcome the opportunity to guide you through it.

Reach out at arthursimpson.com to start a conversation.