Florida homes for sale: condo document guide

Compare Florida homes for sale with a clear view of the condo documents that matter to the purchase. We help you gather property information and identify the questions to resolve with your advisers.

Our Florida condo documents buyer checklist starts with the property’s legal form. Chapter 718 governs Florida condominiums; cooperatives and homeowners’ associations have separate statutory regimes. For a nondeveloper residential condo resale, section 718.503 identifies documents the seller must provide to a purchaser under contract, at the seller’s expense. The checklist below separates those deliveries from additional records worth requesting through the seller or association. Under section 718.112, an owner or the owner’s authorized representative has association-record inspection rights; merely considering a purchase does not automatically give you those rights.

Florida’s milestone-inspection and structural integrity reserve study rules depend on the building and statutory criteria, not simply its condo label. The relevant height threshold is generally three or more habitable stories. A qualifying residential condo or cooperative building generally reaches its first milestone inspection at 30 years, then every 10 years; a local enforcement agency may require an initial inspection at 25 years based on local circumstances. A qualifying residential condominium association generally needs a structural integrity reserve study at least every 10 years, subject to exclusions and timing provisions. Ask for the certificate-of-occupancy date, local agency determination, available reports and repair status, or an explanation if a report is not complete. See Florida Statutes sections 553.899 and 718.112(2)(g).

Request the association’s current insurance policies and read them beside the declaration. Identify what the association insures, what falls to the unit owner, the deductibles, and where uninsured costs might arise. An insurance professional can help you consider coverage for your intended use. Ask about the status and scope of any disclosed litigation, including what the dispute concerns and whether it affects planned work. No mention in meeting minutes does not prove that no dispute exists. Florida condominium official-record provisions address insurance policies, but a prospective buyer does not automatically hold an owner’s record-inspection rights.