Two condos sit within a five-minute walk of each other on Ocean Drive in Juno Beach. Both face the Atlantic. Both list at roughly the same price per square foot. One building's association finished its first legally mandated structural inspection and reserve study years ago and has been collecting fully funded reserves ever since. The other's board is only now working through that same process for the first time, because its building didn't exist when the older one already needed a second inspection cycle. The listing photos will not tell you which is which. The certificate of occupancy will.
Florida's post-Surfside inspection and reserve laws don't apply evenly across a coastline. They attach to a specific date: the day a building's certificate of occupancy was issued. Everything that follows, when the first milestone inspection is due, when the structural integrity reserve study has to be filed, whether reserves must already be fully funded, runs off that single number. Juno Beach's oceanfront stock spans construction dates from the early 1970s through a building still finishing interior work this year. That spread means the town's small run of beachfront towers is not one market with one set of obligations. It's several markets, each on its own statutory clock, priced as if they were the same thing.
The Rule That Ties Age to the Calendar
The framework goes back to Senate Bill 4-D, passed after the 2021 Champlain Towers South collapse in Surfside, and refined twice since by Senate Bill 154 in 2023 and House Bill 913 in 2025. Under Florida Statute 553.899, any condominium or cooperative building three stories or taller has to undergo a milestone inspection, and the trigger age depends on location. Buildings within three miles of the coastline hit that trigger at 25 years from their certificate of occupancy. Inland buildings get 30. After the first inspection, the requirement repeats every ten years.
The date that starts the clock isn't when the association was formed or when the last owner closed. It's the certificate of occupancy, the day the building was legally cleared for people to live in it. A Palm Beach Gardens engineering firm that performs these inspections across the county, Building Mavens, has flagged this as one of the most commonly misunderstood parts of the law: owners assume the clock started at purchase or at turnover from the developer, when it actually started at construction.
Buildings that were already past the 25 or 30-year mark when the law took effect in 2022 didn't get to wait for their next anniversary. They fell into what the industry calls the catch-up window: any building old enough to already owe an inspection had to complete one by December 31, 2024.
What That Looks Like Along Juno Beach's Sand
Walk the oceanfront corridor and the age spread is not subtle. Juno by the Sea, the five-story original building at the north end of the development, was chartered in 1971. Its companion tower at 840 Ocean Drive went up two years later, in 1973. A few blocks south, Cove Tower East, a 22-story building with 86 units, dates to 1979. Every one of those buildings crossed the 25-year coastal threshold decades before the statute existed, which puts all three squarely in the catch-up group required to complete a first milestone inspection by the end of 2024.
Then there's Waterfront on the Ocean, a beachfront building completed in 1996 with 59 units. As a coastal building, its 25-year milestone trigger arrived in 2021, a year before the statewide law even existed. That timing places its exact first-inspection deadline in the same transitional territory the law created for buildings whose applicable age had already passed by the time the statute took effect, a detail worth confirming directly with the association rather than assuming from the building's age alone.
At the other end of the spectrum sits Caretta, the new condominium community delivering its first units in the first quarter of 2026. Its certificate of occupancy resets the clock entirely. Under the statute, its first milestone inspection isn't due until roughly 2051. A buyer choosing between a resale unit at Waterfront and a new unit at Caretta isn't just choosing a finish level or a floor plan. They're choosing between a building mid-cycle in a legally mandated inspection and reserve regime and one that won't face that regime for a generation.
The Second Clock: Reserves, Not Just Inspections
Milestone inspections check the building. The Structural Integrity Reserve Study, or SIRS, checks whether the association has actually saved enough money to pay for what the building will eventually need. Every association with a building three stories or higher has to complete one, evaluating eight components that include the roof, load-bearing structure, waterproofing, and windows and doors, then update it at least every ten years.
The deadline for an association's first SIRS was extended by House Bill 913 from December 31, 2024, to December 31, 2025. Associations whose milestone inspection also falls due by the end of 2026 are allowed to combine the two studies, but that combined deadline can't slip past December 31, 2026 either way.
The funding side is where this becomes a real number on a real budget. Starting with any budget adopted on or after January 1, 2025, associations can no longer vote to waive or reduce SIRS reserve funding. The money the study says the building needs is the money the association has to collect, full stop, unless the board uses a narrow HB 913 provision allowing a temporary pause after a milestone inspection identifies repairs and the membership approves it.
Florida law also puts the disclosure obligation squarely on the seller. Under Florida Statute 718.503, a buyer under contract for a resale unit is entitled, at the seller's expense, to a current copy of the association's most recent SIRS or a written statement that none has been completed. That document, not the listing sheet, is where a buyer finds out whether the building's finances match its inspection status.
Why the Price Tag Hides This
Here's the mechanism the median price doesn't show. A building that already completed its milestone inspection and has been running under mandatory full reserve funding since 2025 has, in effect, already priced its known repair needs into monthly dues. A building just now entering that first cycle, whether because it's older and only recently caught up or because it's approaching its first anniversary trigger, may still be assessing what it owes and how to fund it. Two units can carry an identical asking price and a nearly identical HOA line item on paper, while one building has already absorbed the cost of compliance and the other hasn't started.
That gap doesn't always show up as a dramatic special assessment. It can show up as a jump in dues the year after a first SIRS comes back higher than the old informal reserve estimate, or as a board suddenly required to fund a roof or waterproofing line item it had been treating as discretionary. A buyer comparing price per square foot alone has no way to see which building is already past that adjustment and which is about to go through it.
What Six Decades of Construction Dates Look Like Side by Side
| Building | Certificate of Occupancy | Coastal 25-Year Trigger | Statutory Status Today |
|---|---|---|---|
| Juno by the Sea (original) | 1971 | Passed decades before the law existed | Catch-up group: first inspection required by Dec 31, 2024 |
| The Tower, Juno by the Sea | 1973 | Passed decades before the law existed | Catch-up group: first inspection required by Dec 31, 2024 |
| Cove Tower East | 1979 | Passed decades before the law existed | Catch-up group: first inspection required by Dec 31, 2024 |
| Waterfront on the Ocean | 1996 | Crossed in 2021, before the law existed | Transitional territory; confirm exact deadline with the association |
| Caretta | 2026 | Not reached until roughly 2051 | No milestone obligation for 25 years |
This table describes what the statute requires for a building of that age and location. It doesn't confirm whether any specific association actually met its deadline, which is exactly the kind of fact a buyer needs to verify directly rather than assume from a listing.
What to Ask Before You Write an Offer
- Request the association's most recent milestone inspection summary and confirm the date it was completed relative to the building's statutory deadline.
- Request the current SIRS or the written statement that none exists, which the seller owes you under Florida Statute 718.503 regardless of whether you ask.
- Ask whether the current budget was adopted before or after January 1, 2025, since that date determines whether reserve waivers were still legally possible.
- Review board meeting minutes from the past year for any discussion of pending repairs, financing, or special assessments tied to milestone findings.
- Confirm whether any HB 913 reserve pause has been approved by the membership, and if so, what it's deferring and for how long.
A Short FAQ
Does a completed milestone inspection mean the building has no more structural issues? It means the building passed a specific structural review as of that inspection date. It doesn't guarantee the association's reserves are adequate to fund everything the SIRS identifies, which is why both documents matter together.
Does a brand-new building like Caretta have zero obligations right now? It has no milestone inspection obligation for roughly 25 years. Its association will still be subject to Florida's broader condominium reserve and disclosure statutes as it transitions from developer to owner control.
Can a seller refuse to provide the SIRS? No. Florida Statute 718.503 entitles a resale buyer under contract to the current SIRS, at the seller's expense, or a written statement that one hasn't been completed.
If you're weighing two Juno Beach oceanfront units that look nearly identical on paper, the building's certificate of occupancy is the fact that actually separates them. Brad and Shannon Ball can help you pull the milestone and SIRS documents on any building you're considering before you write an offer, so the price you're comparing reflects the whole picture, not just the view.
