Florida Statute 718 Reserve Study Requirements

Florida Statute 718 reserve study requirements now compel every condominium association operating a building three or more habitable stories tall to complete a Structural Integrity Reserve Study, or SIRS, and to fully fund reserves for the structural components it identifies. Owners can no longer vote those reserves away. The initial SIRS was due by December 31, 2025, and a new one must follow every 10 years.¹

Which Buildings Need a SIRS and When

Any condominium building three or more habitable stories tall must have a SIRS. The original December 31, 2024 deadline was pushed to December 31, 2025 by HB 913, so by 2026 the study should already be in hand.¹ After that first study, the association owes another one every 10 years.

Four-family dwellings with three or fewer habitable stories above ground are exempt from the SIRS requirement, and from milestone inspections as well.

What a SIRS Must Cover

A SIRS reaches deeper than the reserve studies many associations were used to. At a minimum, it must address:

Roof
Structure, including load-bearing walls and other primary structural members
Fireproofing and fire protection systems
Plumbing
Electrical systems
Waterproofing and exterior painting
Windows and exterior doors
Any other item with a deferred maintenance or replacement cost above $25,000 whose failure would negatively affect the structural integrity of the components above¹

The Division of Florida Condominiums began publishing an inflation-adjusted figure for that $25,000 threshold by February 1, 2026, so check the DBPR site for the current number.

The study must include a baseline funding plan showing that the reserve cash balance for all SIRS components stays above zero throughout the recommended funding period. Board officers and directors then sign an affidavit confirming they received the completed report. That affidavit closes off any later claim that the board didn’t know what the study found.

Where a component’s useful life estimate isn’t readily available or exceeds 25 years, the association doesn’t have to reserve full replacement cost, but it must still reserve the deferred maintenance expense the SIRS recommends.²

Who Is Qualified to Perform the Study

A SIRS, including its visual inspection component, must be performed or verified by a licensed engineer, a licensed architect, or a person certified as a reserve specialist or professional reserve analyst by the Community Associations Institute or the Association of Professional Reserve Analysts.² A study by anyone outside those categories will not satisfy the statute.

Any design professional or licensed contractor bidding to perform a SIRS must disclose in writing whether they also intend to bid on the related repair or replacement work. The disclosure is mandatory. Professional fees for a study on a medium-sized complex generally run several thousand dollars, varying with the building’s size, age, and complexity.

Reserves That Can No Longer Be Waived

This is where the law changed most sharply. Before SB 4-D, unit owners could vote by simple majority to waive or reduce reserve funding for any component. That authority no longer exists for SIRS components.

For any budget adopted on or after December 31, 2024, a unit-owner-controlled association that must obtain a SIRS may not vote to waive or reduce reserves for the structural components listed in Section 718.112(2)(g), meaning roof, structure, fire protection, plumbing, electrical, waterproofing, windows and doors, and the qualifying catchall items.³ Those reserves are locked. Owners also cannot vote to redirect reserve funds set aside for those components to any other purpose.⁴

For non-SIRS components, such as a clubhouse renovation, pool resurfacing, or landscaping infrastructure, the older rules still apply. A majority of total voting interests can vote to provide no reserves or reduced reserves for those items. The proxy ballot for any such vote must include a conspicuous warning in bold, capitalized letters stating that waiving reserves may result in special assessments.³ Only unit owners whose units are subject to the assessment funding those specific reserves are eligible to vote.

Developer-controlled associations face a tighter rule: they may not vote to waive or reduce reserves at all before turnover of control to unit owners.³

How Reserve Amounts Are Calculated

The statutory formula divides estimated replacement cost, or deferred maintenance expense, by estimated remaining useful life. That yearly quotient is what the association must set aside for each component. Every budget must include reserves for roof replacement, building painting, and pavement resurfacing regardless of cost, plus any other component with a replacement or deferred maintenance cost above the $25,000 threshold.¹

For associations subject to a SIRS, the reserve amounts for structural components must track the findings and recommendations of the most recent SIRS, not the board’s own estimates. Associations can adjust reserve assessments annually to reflect changed cost estimates or a longer useful life produced by deferred maintenance.

Florida law allows either the straight-line (component) method, which funds each item separately, or the pooling method, which aggregates reserves across components. Reserve funds may not be commingled with operating funds except for investment purposes. When operating and reserve assessments are collected together, the reserve portion must be moved into a separate reserve account within 30 days.

The board must adopt the annual budget at least 14 days before the start of the association’s fiscal year. If the board fails to timely adopt the budget a second time, the prior year’s budget stays in effect until a new one is adopted.¹

How Milestone Inspections Fit In

The SIRS travels alongside a separate obligation under Section 553.899: the milestone inspection. Condominium buildings three or more habitable stories tall must undergo a milestone inspection by December 31 of the year the building turns 30, measured from the certificate of occupancy date. A local enforcement agency can shorten that to 25 years where local conditions, particularly proximity to salt water, warrant it. After the initial inspection, another is due every 10 years.⁵

Phase one must be completed within 180 days of the association receiving written notice from the local enforcement agency. If phase one reveals substantial structural deterioration, a phase two inspection with more detailed testing follows. Buildings that had already turned 30 before July 1, 2022 had an initial deadline of December 31, 2024; those reaching 30 between July 1, 2022 and December 31, 2024 had until December 31, 2025.⁵ Associations whose milestone inspection was due on or before December 31, 2026 were allowed to coordinate it with the SIRS and complete both at once.

Records Owners Can Demand

Associations must maintain official records that include reserve study reports, financial calculations, and budget documents. Any member or authorized representative can request access, and the association has 10 business days after a written request to make the records available for inspection or copying. Wrongful denial entitles the requesting member to actual damages or minimum damages of $50 per calendar day starting on the 11th business day, for up to 10 days.⁶

Consequences of Non-Compliance

Board officers and directors owe a fiduciary duty to the association. They must act in good faith, with the care an ordinarily prudent person in a similar position would exercise, and in a manner they reasonably believe serves the association’s interests.⁶ Failing to fund required reserves or to complete a SIRS can breach that duty and, where the failure rises to bad faith, recklessness, or willful disregard, expose board members to personal liability for monetary damages.

Beginning July 1, 2027, a board’s failure to fund reserves for SIRS-identified items, or to make repairs recommended by a milestone inspection or SIRS, is explicitly classified as a violation of Chapter 718.⁷ Disputes about that failure go to presuit mediation rather than nonbinding arbitration.

The Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation oversees condominium associations and can investigate complaints, including those tied to the procedural completion of a SIRS and milestone inspections.⁸ The Division of Florida Condominiums can impose civil penalties, including for failing to properly disclose reserve funding information in year-end financial reports. Penalties for a single minor violation can range from $500 to $2,500, calculated at $5 to $10 per unit.

Lenders scrutinize reserve health when evaluating association loan applications, and insurance carriers factor financial stability into coverage decisions. A reserve shortfall can mean higher premiums, reduced coverage, or denial, and those consequences pass through to every unit owner in the building.

1
Florida Senate. Florida Statutes 718.112 – Bylaws
2
Online Sunshine. Florida Statutes 718.112 – Bylaws
3
Florida Senate. Florida Statutes 718.112 – Bylaws
4
Florida Senate. SB 4-D Bill Text
5
Online Sunshine. Florida Statutes 553.899 – Milestone Inspections for Condominium and Cooperative Buildings
6
Online Sunshine. Florida Statutes 718.111 – The Association
7
Online Sunshine. Florida Statutes Chapter 718 – Condominiums
8
Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation. DBPR Condominium Information and Resources