Miami-Dade Recertification
Sweetwater’s Building and Zoning Department publishes its own memorandum and filing instructions for the recertification, and takes the report by e-mail. One team prepares the complete package for your Sweetwater building to match them.
- Engineer
- Juan Tercero, PE., M.Sc. · Florida PE 105256
Your city
How building recertification is handled in Sweetwater
In Sweetwater the recertification is handled by the City of Sweetwater Building and Zoning Department. Its forms page gathers two documents under the program’s former 40-year name: a Building Department Memorandum explaining what the county code requires of the owner, and a sheet of electronic submittal instructions on how the report reaches the city and how it is reviewed. The rows below follow those two documents.
- The memorandum
- Sweetwater’s Building Department Memorandum tells the owner that a written Recertification Report goes to the Building Official, certifying that each building is structurally and electrically safe for continued occupancy. The memorandum still repeats the county code on its earlier schedule; the ages and days in force are the county’s, in the rows further down.
- Filing by e-mail
- The city’s instructions begin with a permit application, signed by the owner and the engineer, that obtains a permit number for the recertification. The report documents ride in that same e-mail as PDF files, on the structural and electrical certification formats; if the submission is accepted, the department e-mails a receipt back.
- The review
- Sweetwater’s instructions say the report is reviewed by the city’s engineer and by every applicable trade. The applicant then gets a phone call on the status of the permit: either it is ready to be picked up, or there are comments that still have to be answered before it can be.
- What the report carries
- The memorandum wants every page of the structural and electrical reports to carry the engineer’s or architect’s signature and seal. When a lot holds several buildings, it also wants a site plan or survey copy marking each one, with the building under recertification plainly singled out.
- Lot certificates
- The city’s memorandum also asks for documents certifying that the parking lot meets the county’s illumination standards and guardrail requirements, and it encloses the county chapter that sets them. It notes that those standards were made retroactive when the county adopted them.
- Claiming an exemption
- If a building is exempt, has not reached the age or has been demolished, Sweetwater’s memorandum asks the owner to tell the office and send whatever documentation exists. An exemption claimed for a building still standing also needs dated photographs of its front and its rear.
- If it is late
- The memorandum warns that no report means a Civil Violation Notice or ticket, issued without further notice, and a referral to the Unsafe Structures Unit to start condemnation proceedings. Once an unsafe structures Notice of Violation is issued, it says, the building must be vacated and may end up being demolished.
- Two street addresses
- The memorandum and the recertification instructions print a street address for the department that differs from the one on its Building and Zoning page. The address on this page is the Building and Zoning page’s; confirm it with the department before anything goes out on paper.
Building office City of Sweetwater Building and Zoning Department 1695 NW 110 Ave, Unit 109 Sweetwater, FL 33172 Phone: (305) 485-4526
Read on the website of the City of Sweetwater Building and Zoning Department:
When it applies
The deadlines that apply in Sweetwater
The schedule is Miami-Dade County’s, printed here for a building in Sweetwater; the date on your own notice is the one that counts.
- First due in Sweetwater: At 30 years — 25 for condominium and cooperative buildings of three or more stories within 3 miles of the coast.
- Then in Sweetwater: Every 10 years, for the life of the structure.
- Time to file in Sweetwater: 90 days from the Notice of Required Inspection.
- If repairs are needed in Sweetwater: 150 days from the Notice to finish repairs that need no permit and to obtain permits for the rest.
- Condominiums & co-ops in Sweetwater: The recertification serves as compliance with the state milestone inspection — no separate milestone report is filed.
Miami-Dade County’s rows, for Sweetwater. Source: Code of Miami-Dade County, Section 8-11(f) · Last verified:
Questions & answers
Questions boards in Sweetwater ask
How is a recertification report filed in Sweetwater?
By e-mail. Sweetwater’s instructions open with a permit application signed by the owner and the engineer, sent to the city’s submittals mailbox together with the report documents as PDF files. The city’s general submittal sheet adds that permit applications are taken by e-mail only and that hard copies are not accepted at the office. The complete package we deliver for a Sweetwater building is put together for that route.
Who reviews the recertification report in Sweetwater?
The city’s own engineer, along with every trade the report touches, according to Sweetwater’s instructions. When that review is done the department phones the applicant, either to say the permit can be picked up or to pass on comments that need an answer. Neither of the city’s documents gives a review time.
How long does a Sweetwater owner have to file the recertification report?
The days are the county’s, in the “Time to file” row above, and the time for repairs is under “If repairs are needed”. Sweetwater’s memorandum still prints the counts from an earlier version of the county code, so the date on your notice and the rows above are what to go by.
What happens in Sweetwater if the recertification report is never filed?
Sweetwater’s memorandum lists the steps: a Civil Violation Notice or ticket, with no further notice, and the case sent to the Unsafe Structures Unit for condemnation proceedings. After an unsafe structures violation the building has to be emptied, it adds, and demolition can follow. Already past the date on your Sweetwater notice? Send it all the same.
Is Sweetwater’s recertification the same as the 40-year recertification?
Yes. The city’s forms page still files it under the 40-Year Recertification name, and the memorandum uses that name throughout. It is Miami-Dade County’s building recertification; the ages in force now are under “First due” and “Then” above, not the one printed in the memorandum.
One team
The complete recertification for a building in Sweetwater
Next step
Received the memorandum or a notice from Sweetwater’s Building and Zoning Department? A phone photo of it is all it takes — or, without one, the address and the year the building went up. From it we work out what Sweetwater’s department wants, and our answer is a proposal covering 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.