Florida’s condo safety laws mean for buyers: Florida post-Surfside legislation — including SB 4-D, SB 154, HB 1021, and HB 913 — requires older condo buildings to complete a Structural Integrity Reserve Study (SIRS) and Milestone Inspection, and prohibits associations from waiving structural reserve contributions. For buyers in Cocoa Beach, Satellite Beach, and Indialantic, this means low HOA fees on older buildings are now a red flag, not a selling point. Before going under contract, request the SIRS, the milestone inspection report, the reserve fund status, and the last 12 months of HOA board meeting minutes.
By Carrie Liotta | May 11, 2026
If you’re thinking about buying an oceanfront condo in Cocoa Beach, Satellite Beach, or Indialantic right now, there’s a conversation we need to have before you fall in love with a unit.
The condo landscape in Florida has changed significantly. Laws are in place today that didn’t exist before 2022. They affect what you’ll pay to live there, how much reserves a building is legally required to hold, and whether certain buildings are even insurable the way they used to be.
Oceanfront condos on the Space Coast aren’t off the table — but they require more due diligence than they did five years ago, and most buyers aren’t doing enough of it.https://www.youtube.com/embed/imTpfSUnrqc
Florida’s condo safety laws mean for buyers: What the Post-Surfside Laws Actually Changed
After the Champlain Towers collapse in Surfside in 2021, Florida passed some of the most significant condo safety legislation in the country. Senate Bill 4-D started it. SB 154 refined it. HB 1021 added governance oversight. The most recent update, HB 913, went into effect July 2025.
What all of this means for you as a buyer: buildings that were quietly deferring maintenance for decades have been forced to come clean. Some of that is showing up as special assessments. Some of it is showing up as dramatically higher HOA fees. Florida’s new condo reserve requirements have fundamentally changed the financial picture for a lot of buildings — especially older ones on the coast.
I’m not telling you to avoid condos. I’m telling you to go in with your eyes open, because the information is now available if you know how to ask for it.
Here are the three things every oceanfront condo buyer on the Space Coast needs to know right now.
1. Ask for the SIRS and Milestone Inspection Report — Before You Tour
This is the most important thing I can tell you.
Before you tour, before you make an offer, ask for two documents: the Structural Integrity Reserve Study (SIRS) and the Milestone Inspection Report.
Florida law now requires buildings that are three stories or higher and 30 years or older to have these completed. For buildings near the coast, the trigger age drops to 25 years. If a building that should have these documents doesn’t have them yet, that’s a red flag — not a negotiating chip.
Here’s what each document tells you:
- The SIRS identifies which structural components need funding and how much. It’s a financial roadmap for the building’s most critical repairs.
- The Milestone Inspection tells you the physical condition of the building. If a Phase 2 inspection was triggered — meaning there’s actual structural deterioration that required deeper investigation — you need to know what was found and what’s been done about it.
Under Florida’s current condo laws, you’re entitled to review these documents as a prospective buyer. If a seller or HOA won’t produce them, watch Carrie explain why that’s your signal to walk at 4:29.
I had a buyer looking at an oceanfront condo in Cocoa Beach — beautiful building, incredible views, price that seemed like real value. We pulled the financials. The reserve fund was well below what the new mandatory funding requirements were going to require. The building had also deferred major seawall work. The HOA fees were about to move significantly, so we walked.
Two streets over, the buyer found a building that had gotten ahead of the new requirements, completed their milestone inspection, and had a fully funded reserve. She paid a bit more per unit. She has not had a surprise assessment. That’s the difference between doing the homework and skipping it.
Thinking about relocating to the Space Coast and want answers from people who already made the move? Join my private Facebook group, Moving to Brevard County, Florida — locals, newcomers, aerospace folks, and military families all in one place asking real questions and getting real answers. Or schedule a call directly: calendly.com/carrieliotta.
2. Low HOA Fees on Older Buildings Are Now a Red Flag
This one catches buyers off guard.
Since January 2025, Florida condo associations cannot vote to waive or reduce their structural reserve contributions. Before Surfside, owners could vote to skip reserve funding to keep monthly fees artificially low. That option no longer exists for structural components.
What this means for you: buildings with aging infrastructure and underfunded reserves are going to be brought up to the legally mandated level. That means HOA fees are going up — it’s not a matter of if, but when and by how much.
If you’re looking at a building built in the late 1980s or early 1990s that still has a very low monthly HOA, ask one direct question before you go any further: Has this building completed its SIRS, and is it currently funding reserves at the required level?
The answer tells you whether the number you’re looking at today is the number you’ll be paying a year from now. If the monthly costs are a deciding factor in your decision between a condo and a single-family home on the Space Coast, this question matters more than almost anything else.
3. Special Assessments Are Real — and the Minutes Will Warn You
In South Florida, some buildings issued special assessments in the six figures per unit after milestone inspections revealed years of deferred maintenance. That’s not the norm on the Space Coast, but the same underlying conditions exist in some buildings here — and the legislation has forced those buildings to confront what they’ve been ignoring.
The cost of deferred work doesn’t disappear. It gets passed to owners.
When you’re doing your condo due diligence, request the HOA board meeting minutes from the last 12 months. Special assessments don’t appear out of nowhere — they get discussed before they get issued. If there are conversations in those minutes about upcoming major expenditures (roof replacement, seawall work, elevator systems), you’re looking at a building where costs are likely to increase. Understanding how special assessments affect your purchase price in Florida is a key part of evaluating any condo offer.
Read the minutes. Watch Carrie walk through exactly what to look for at 6:04.
The Market Has Split — Price Alone Won’t Tell You Which Side You’re On
Oceanfront condos on the Space Coast can be an excellent purchase. The views are real. The lifestyle is real. And there are buildings out there that have done the work, completed their inspections, and are in excellent financial shape.
But the market has bifurcated. There are buildings that got ahead of the new laws, and buildings that are still catching up. The listing price alone will not tell you which category you’re looking at.
The SIRS, the milestone inspection, the reserve funding status, the board meeting minutes — that’s where the truth is. The Cocoa Beach waterfront market in 2026 is more nuanced than it’s ever been, and the buyers who succeed are the ones who know what to ask for before they fall in love with a view.
Know how to look for it — or work with someone who does.
If you’re relocating to the Space Coast and want help evaluating condos the right way, I’m here. I work with buyers in Cocoa Beach, Satellite Beach, Indialantic, and Merritt Island every day.
Reach out directly: 256-479-2800 | carrieliotta@gmail.com | Book a free discovery call
