Building Recertification in West Miami

The letter

West Miami’s letter of notification says the Building Department hears from the Property Appraiser’s Office about the building’s age and then writes to the owner. The template the city posts still describes the county rule on the earlier schedule; for a West Miami building the ages and days in force are the county’s, in the rows further down.

Sending the report

The letter asks for the completed Recertification Report to be mailed to the City of West Miami Building Department, to the department’s own attention. The city runs a permit portal for its permits, but nothing on its site says a recertification report is filed there, so the route is confirmed with the department before the package goes out.

The city’s forms

West Miami posts its own set: the letter of notification, a structural form under the Building Department’s heading, electrical inspection guidelines, general considerations guidelines and the parking-lot certification forms, each still labelled with the program’s former 40-year name. The letter says the forms are PDFs the architect or engineer fills in and then prints.

Paper copies

An owner who would rather work from paper can call the Building Department and ask for a hard copy of the forms, the letter says. Its closing line sends further questions to the Billing and Collection Unit Supervisor, on the department’s main line.

What the report carries

West Miami’s letter wants the electrical and the structural report signed and sealed on every page by the engineer or architect. Where the lot has two buildings or more, a site plan or a copy of the survey has to show where each one sits and point out which one is being recertified.

The lot certificates

The city’s letter encloses the county’s parking-lot illumination and guardrail chapter and requires the certifications of compliance with both as part of the submission. The city’s guardrail form adds that, where a lot abuts a canal, lake or other water without a compliant guardrail, the owner must get a permit to install one.

Claiming an exemption

Where the building is exempt, younger than the letter assumes or already torn down, West Miami asks the owner to tell the office and send the documents on hand; a claim for a building that still stands goes with dated photos of the front and the back.

If it is late

West Miami’s letter says a missing report brings a Civil Violation Notice or ticket with no further warning, and a referral to the Unsafe Structures Unit to open condemnation proceedings. After an unsafe structures Notice of Violation the building must be emptied, the letter goes on, and demolition can be where it ends.

Building office City of West Miami Building Department 901 SW 62 Avenue West Miami, FL 33144 Phone: (305) 266-4214

Read on the website of the City of West Miami Building Department: October 17, 2026