What to Check Before You Buy a Florida Condo: The HOA Due Diligence List Nobody Gives You

I bought my first Florida condo thinking I had done my homework. I read the bylaws, checked the monthly fees, looked at the bank balance, and figured I was good. What I did not know was how much I did not know.

Within a few years of closing, I was facing a roof replacement, a special assessment, and an HOA that was broke. I eventually ended up as board president just to solve the problems nobody warned me about.

If you are buying a Florida condo or HOA property right now, here is the list I wish someone had handed me before I signed anything.

Check 1: The Reserve Fund Balance Per Unit

Every HOA and condo association keeps reserves, which are savings set aside for major future expenses like roof replacement, repaving, pool resurfacing, and structural repairs. Ask for the current reserve balance and divide it by the number of units.

A community with 20 units and $20,000 in reserves has $1,000 per unit set aside. That sounds like something. It is not. A roof replacement on a 20-unit building can easily run $150,000 or more, which works out to $7,500 per unit. If the reserves are sitting at $1,000 per unit, someone is going to get a special assessment when that roof needs replacing, and that someone might be you.

Ask for the most recent reserve study as well. This document breaks down every major component of the property, estimates when it needs to be replaced, and shows what the association should be saving per month to be ready. If the association does not have a reserve study, that itself tells you something.

Check 2: The Age and Condition of Major Systems

In Florida, roofs are the big one. Insurance companies have been forcing roof replacements once shingles hit 15 years old, sometimes sooner. If the community's roof is 12 or 13 years old when you buy, you could be facing a mandatory replacement within two or three years of closing.

Ask about:

The age of the roof on your specific building. How it was last inspected and what the inspection found. The age of any elevators, the pool equipment, and any shared HVAC systems. Whether any major systems have been repaired recently or deferred.

A deferred repair is a delayed assessment. The money has to come from somewhere eventually.

Check 3: Whether the SIRS Has Been Completed

This one is specific to condominiums in buildings three stories or taller, and it is the most important thing on this list that most buyers have never heard of.

After the 2021 Surfside collapse, Florida passed laws requiring these buildings to complete a Structural Integrity Reserve Study, known as a SIRS. This is a formal engineering assessment of the building's major structural components, including the roof, load-bearing walls, foundation, plumbing infrastructure, and waterproofing. The deadline for most associations to complete their initial SIRS was December 31, 2025.

Here is why this matters to you as a buyer. The SIRS tells the association exactly how much it needs to save for structural repairs, and once adopted, those reserves cannot be waived or reduced by an owner vote. That means if the SIRS comes back showing the building needs $2 million in structural reserves over the next ten years and the association is currently funded at 15%, the dues are going up significantly. Or there will be special assessments. Or both.

Before you buy into any Florida condo building three stories or taller, ask specifically whether the SIRS has been completed and request a copy. Look at the funded percentage for each structural component. A SIRS showing the roof has three years of remaining useful life and is 15% funded is a large special assessment waiting to happen.

If the association has not completed its SIRS, ask why. If the building has reached the age threshold and the study has not been done, the association is non-compliant. That is a problem you do not want to inherit.

Check 4: The Delinquency Rate

This one is less obvious but extremely important. Ask what percentage of owners are currently delinquent on their dues.

Here is why it matters. If more than 10% of owners in the community are behind on payments, the association cannot qualify for most commercial loans. That means if a major project comes up and the reserves are not there to cover it, a special assessment is the only option. There is no borrowing to bridge the gap.

In a small community, this threshold is easy to hit. A 10-unit association where one owner has stopped paying is already at 10%. Two owners behind means 20%. I have personally been in this situation and it eliminates your financing options at the exact moment you need them most.

Check 5: Pending or Anticipated Special Assessments

Florida law requires sellers to disclose known special assessments. But there is a difference between a formally approved assessment and one that is coming but has not been voted on yet. A board that has been privately discussing a major roof replacement for six months has not necessarily disclosed anything yet because nothing official has been approved.

Ask directly. Talk to a board member if you can. Request the last six to twelve months of board meeting minutes and read them carefully. If the minutes show repeated discussions about a failing roof, aging systems, or reserve shortfalls, pay attention to what direction those conversations are heading.

You can also check the Florida DBPR's online database of registered condo associations. Search for the association, look at their annual filings, and see if any inspection reports or SIRS documents have been submitted. It takes about five minutes and can reveal things the listing will not.

The Bottom Line

Buying into a Florida HOA or condo community is not just buying a property. You are buying into a shared financial obligation with every other owner in that community. Their deferred maintenance is your potential special assessment. Their underfunded reserves are your future dues increase.

I learned all of this the hard way. You do not have to.

For more on how Florida HOAs and condo associations actually work from the inside, including what board members know that owners often do not, pick up a copy of Run the Board.

To learn even more, check out the following posts:

• The Complete Florida HOA and Condo Compliance Checklist

• What Do Florida HOA Fees Actually Cover 

• Top Benefits of HOA Compliance Tracking Tools