Guide
Three names, two laws, one building. In Miami-Dade and Broward, the county inspection and the state milestone inspection are one report — the reserve study is something else.
- Engineer
- Juan Tercero, PE., M.Sc. · Florida PE 105256
Guide
The state milestone inspection
After the Surfside collapse, Florida added a milestone inspection for condominium and cooperative buildings of three habitable stories or more. It has two phases: a visual first phase, and a second phase only where the first finds substantial structural deterioration. The state row below is the statute’s.
- Florida — Applies to: Condominium and cooperative buildings of three habitable stories or more
- Florida — Phase two: Only where phase one finds substantial structural deterioration
In Miami-Dade and Broward, the county report meets it
Both counties already had programs for older buildings, and the state inspection is met through them. A board in either county owes no milestone inspection on top of its county report; the county report is the milestone inspection.
- What state law adds is the board’s duties to unit owners: telling them about the inspection, and sharing the engineer’s summary once the report arrives.
- Those duties, with their days, are on each county program’s page under “What the board must do”.
- Buildings that are not condominiums or co-ops answer only to the county program.
- Miami-Dade — Condominiums & co-ops: The recertification serves as compliance with the state milestone inspection — no separate milestone report is filed.
- Broward — Condominiums & co-ops: The BSIP report serves as phase one and phase two of the state milestone inspection.
The structural integrity reserve study (SIRS)
The reserve study is a different obligation under Florida’s condominium and cooperative laws, and it is not an inspection report. It estimates what the roof, the structure and the other components the law lists will cost to repair or replace over their life, and how much the association should set aside each year to pay for it.
The two are connected: what an inspection finds is what a reserve study has to budget for. A board that has a recent recertification or BSIP report in hand gives the people preparing its reserve study a far better picture of the building.
Which one is due first?
For the inspection, the date is the one on your county’s notice. For the reserve study, the association follows the state’s condominium and cooperative laws and its own counsel. When the board does not know where the building stands on the first, that is where we start: send the address and any letter, and we confirm which inspection reaches the building and when.
Questions
Questions condo boards ask about the three
Do we file a milestone report and a recertification report?
Not in Miami-Dade or Broward. The county report serves as the milestone inspection; in Miami-Dade the county says outright that no separate milestone report is filed.
Our apartment building is a rental, not a condominium. Does the milestone law reach it?
No. The milestone law reaches condominium and cooperative buildings; a rental building still answers to the county program, which covers almost every building type.
Does a recertification replace the reserve study?
No. They answer different questions: one says what condition the building is in, the other plans the money to keep it there.
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.