Florida Statute 553.899
Take the certificate of occupancy year, add 30 — or 25 near salt water — and you have the deadline. It is arithmetic, and it is the most valuable unpublished number in this market.
Florida requires a milestone structural inspection of any condominium or cooperative building three habitable storeys or more, performed by 31 December of the year the building reaches 30 years of age, and every ten years thereafter. A local enforcement agency may determine that local circumstances require the first inspection at 25 years — discretion aimed squarely at buildings close to salt water, which in Miami is most of them.
Why this is the number that matters
Every condominium in Miami has a first milestone year that follows mechanically from its certificate of occupancy date. Take the CO year, add thirty — or twenty-five where the agency has exercised its discretion — and you have the deadline. It is arithmetic.
And essentially nobody publishes it building by building. Which means most buyers make an offer without knowing whether a structural inspection, and the reserve study behind it, lands inside their intended holding period.
The counter-intuitive part
A building that has already been through its milestone and funded the work is frequently a better buy than one that has not. The liability is behind it, the scope is known, and the price often has not caught up to that fact.
A building that has not been through it is offering you a discount whose size nobody has calculated. That is not the same as a bargain.
What to ask for, in writing
The certificate of occupancy date, and therefore the milestone year. The milestone inspection report, if performed, and what it found. The structural integrity reserve study. The master insurance policy and its per-unit deductible. And three years of budgets and reserve balances.
A seller who will not produce these has told you something useful. A building that produces them cleanly is worth paying more for, and that premium is rational.
Run the arithmetic yourself
Our Miami luxury condo index now carries a milestone calculator: enter a building’s certificate of occupancy year and it returns the deadline and where the building sits in the ten-year cycle.
Frequently asked questions
What is a milestone inspection in Florida?
A mandatory structural inspection of condominium and cooperative buildings three habitable storeys or more, required by Florida Statute 553.899 at 30 years from the certificate of occupancy and every ten years after.
Can the first inspection be required earlier than 30 years?
Yes. A local enforcement agency may determine that local circumstances — typically proximity to salt water — require the first inspection at 25 years.
How do I find my building’s milestone year?
Take the certificate of occupancy year and add 30, or 25 if the local agency applies the earlier threshold. The deadline falls on 31 December of that year.
Is an older building automatically a worse buy?
No. A building that has completed its milestone and funded the work has the liability behind it, and the market has often already discounted it.
Sources and further reading
- Florida Statute 553.899 — mandatory structural inspectionsflsenate.gov
- Josh Stein Realtor — Miami Luxury Condos, building by buildingjoshsteinrealtor.com