Miami-Dade Recertification
In the City of Miami the Unsafe Structures Section runs the recertification, and the documents are submitted online. One team delivers yours complete, on the city’s forms.
- Engineer
- Juan Tercero, PE., M.Sc. · Florida PE 105256
Your city
How building recertification is handled in the City of Miami
In the City of Miami the recertification runs through the Unsafe Structures Section of the Building Department. The city says it recertifies structures as per the Miami-Dade County Code, and its page has the owner hire an architect or engineer to inspect the property and then submit the documents online. What comes next is what Miami’s own pages say, one subject at a time.
- The notice
- The city’s recertification page speaks to owners who have received a notification that their building is due, and adds that they will have received a letter about it. Miami’s page does not say who sends that letter or how it arrives. In iBuild, the recertification option shows only when the building is due.
- Filing the report
- The City of Miami takes the application and the documents online. Its page has the applicant create an account in iBuild, start a Building Permit Application and look for the option “Architect/Engineer (Building Recertification)”. An e-mail from ePlan/ProjectDox then asks the applicant to log in, and the files are uploaded in ProjectDox.
- File names
- The reports go up as PDF files saved under the City of Miami Standard Naming Convention: RC-S for the structural report and RC-E for the electrical report, with the cover letters and the photos in separate files under names of their own. The city’s naming page warns that improperly named files may be rejected during Prescreen.
- The city’s forms
- Miami publishes its own edition of the structural report form, under the heading of the Building Department’s Unsafe Structures unit. The recertification page presents the documents it links as the required ones and adds a tip: the forms outline the minimum requirements, and the architect or engineer may want to include more.
- What goes with it
- Besides the reports, Miami’s page asks for a Parking Lot Illumination Certificate, if applicable — the city posts its own form for it — and a signed, sealed and dated cover letter carrying the professional’s recommendation. Where documents are digitally signed, the page requires one of the signature providers the city lists.
- After filing
- Miami’s page says the applicant then receives one of two things — a letter stating that the recertification is complete, or a notice with the changes needed — and it gives a time for that reply. The ProjectDox steps on the same page name an “Applicant resubmit Task” among the upload tasks.
- Repairs
- Miami’s page sets the order: the report is submitted before any repairs are started. Where repairs are needed, it says the proper permitting procedures must be followed before the building can be recertified. The City of Miami’s structural form has one box for the initial report and another for the amended report after completion of repairs.
- If it is late
- Miami’s page says an overdue building cannot use the online process: the owner must visit the Recertification Division of the Unsafe Structures Section, within the Building Department, in person. Whether a building counts as overdue is for the letter and that office to settle.
Building office City of Miami Building Department, Unsafe Structures Section 444 SW 2nd Ave, 1st Floor Miami, FL 33130 Phone: (305) 416-1177
Read on the website of the City of Miami Building Department, Unsafe Structures Section:
When it applies
The deadlines that apply in the City of Miami
The schedule is Miami-Dade County’s, printed here for a building in the City of Miami; the date on your own notice is the one that counts.
- First due in the City of Miami: At 30 years — 25 for condominium and cooperative buildings of three or more stories within 3 miles of the coast.
- Then in the City of Miami: Every 10 years, for the life of the structure.
- Time to file in the City of Miami: 90 days from the Notice of Required Inspection.
- If repairs are needed in the City of Miami: 150 days from the Notice to finish repairs that need no permit and to obtain permits for the rest.
- Condominiums & co-ops in the City of Miami: The recertification serves as compliance with the state milestone inspection — no separate milestone report is filed.
Miami-Dade County’s rows, for the City of Miami. Source: Code of Miami-Dade County, Section 8-11(f) · Last verified:
Questions & answers
Questions boards in the City of Miami ask
How do we submit a recertification report to the City of Miami?
Online, unless the building is overdue — then Miami’s page requires a visit in person. Otherwise the applicant opens an account in iBuild, applies there and uploads the documents in ProjectDox. Only one e-mail address can be used for the whole process, and the upload link goes to that address alone — so settle who files before the account is opened. The complete recertification we deliver goes on the forms that Miami’s page lists.
Can we ask the City of Miami for more time to recertify?
Once, yes. Miami’s page speaks of a one-time extension and says the request must be received before the recertification due date. It is sent by e-mail to the city’s recertification mailbox, with the full property address, and the page gives a time for the answer, though not the length of the extension.
What happens in the City of Miami if the recertification is not filed on time?
Miami’s pages do not spell out each step. They show that Unsafe Structures issues recertification violations, and the city’s hearing guide lists a recertification hearing before the Unsafe Structures Panel, which may give time to comply or require demolition where it finds a violation. Send us what you received — a phone photo is enough — and we confirm what Unsafe Structures is asking for and by when.
Is our building exempt from recertification in the City of Miami?
Miami’s page lists single-family homes, duplexes and small structures within a set size and occupancy load as exempt. An owner who feels a building is exempt requests the exemption by e-mail, with the full property address and the reasoning, and the page gives a time for the reply. Not sure where yours falls? Send the letter and we read what Miami’s office is asking of your building.
Is the City of Miami’s recertification the same as the 40-year recertification?
Yes. One of the city’s own pages, on appealing an Unsafe Structures violation, still calls it by the former 40-year name. The program is Miami-Dade County’s building recertification, which the City of Miami says it carries out as the county code provides; the ages and the days now in force are the county’s, in the rows above.
One team
The complete recertification for a building in the City of Miami
Next step
Send the letter about your building in the City of Miami — a phone photo is enough — or, with no letter yet, the address and the year built. We read what the Unsafe Structures Section is asking for and by when, and reply with a proposal for the complete recertification.
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.