Guide
No letter yet, or not sure it applies to you? The age that counts is on a public record you can check yourself, and each county reads it differently.
- Engineer
- Juan Tercero, PE., M.Sc. · Florida PE 105256
Guide
Start with the county the building is in
Miami-Dade and Broward count a building’s age from different records, so the first question is the county, not the city. A building in Aventura answers to Miami-Dade’s program; one across the county line in Hallandale Beach answers to Broward’s.
Then find the age the county counts from, and compare it with that county’s rows below. If the building is past that age, or close to it, a notice is coming or already late, whether or not a letter has arrived.
In Miami-Dade: the year built on the Property Appraiser’s record
Miami-Dade counts from the year built that the county Property Appraiser shows for the property. You can look the building up by address on the Property Appraiser’s public search and read that year on the property’s record. A renovation does not change it.
The county’s rules ask the building office to send courtesy notices ahead of the formal one. They help, but not receiving them changes nothing: the building comes under the program because of its type and its age. The types are in the row below; the ages, in the “First due” row of the guide on the program’s three names.
- Miami-Dade — Applies to: Almost every building type — condominiums, co-ops, apartments, offices, retail and industrial. Outside the program: single-family homes, duplexes, and buildings with both an occupant load of 10 or less under the Florida Building Code and a gross area of 2,000 sq ft or less.
In Broward: the certificate of occupancy
Broward counts from the date of the certificate of occupancy, which is in your city’s building records — not from the year the Property Appraiser shows, which can be a different year.
Each year the Board of Rules and Appeals sends each city its list of the buildings that reach inspection age, and the city mails the notices by certified mail in the summer. Your city’s building office can tell you whether the building is on its list; we can read the record for you before we propose.
The age Broward counts to, and the interval after it, are printed with their source in the guide on the Broward notice.
When it is not clear
Some cases need a closer look: a property with several buildings built in different years, an addition, a building that was recertified under an earlier schedule, or one bought recently whose seller never mentioned an open file.
- Send us the address and, if you have it, the year built or the date of the certificate of occupancy.
- Tell us whether the building was ever inspected under the program, and when.
- We confirm which program reaches the building and where it stands before we propose anything.
Questions
When the age is not the whole answer
We never received a letter. Can we start anyway?
Yes, and it is the calm way to do it. An inspection done before the notice leaves time to plan repairs instead of rushing them.
Does a single-family home need a recertification?
No, in either county. The rows on each county’s program page list the small residential buildings outside each program.
We are buying a building. How do we know if a recertification is open?
Ask the seller for the last report and any notice, and ask the city’s building office whether a file is open on the address. We can review what you receive before closing.
Keep reading
Where to go from here.
Next step
A county notice in your hand, a building that worries you or a new project — describe it and attach what you have. A phone photo of the letter is enough. You hear back from the engineer, with questions or with a written proposal.
The proposal is free. We usually reply within two hours.