Florida condominium budgets must provide reserves for specified repair and replacement needs. Associations subject to a Structural Integrity Reserve Study (SIRS) must base those reserves on the study's findings and recommendations. The required amount is not a single percentage of every association's budget.
This guide is for board members and managers preparing a funding discussion. It explains the general framework; it does not determine a building's legal obligations or mortgage eligibility. Governing documents and property-specific exceptions matter. Association counsel should resolve applicability and voting questions.
What Florida requires
Ordinary reserve requirements and SIRS requirements overlap, but they are not interchangeable. A building outside the SIRS scope can still have reserve obligations. Florida's general budget provisions name roof replacement, building painting and pavement resurfacing regardless of cost, plus qualifying additional items above the applicable threshold.
For 2026, DBPR lists the inflation-adjusted threshold as $25,675. That threshold is not a blanket exemption for smaller projects or named reserve components. In the SIRS additional-item category, the failure to maintain or replace the item must also negatively affect a listed structural or safety component.
Sources: F.S. 718.112(2)(f)2.a., (f)6. and (g)1.; DBPR's annual reserve threshold.
Who needs a SIRS, and what it provides
The general SIRS requirement covers residential condominium buildings with three or more habitable stories, as determined by the Florida Building Code. The recurring study interval is at least every ten years. Initial deadlines and exceptions require a separate property-specific check; a milestone inspection and a SIRS serve different purposes.
The study covers the roof; primary structural systems; fire protection; plumbing; electrical systems; waterproofing and exterior painting; windows and exterior doors; and qualifying additional items. It identifies remaining useful life, estimated replacement or deferred-maintenance costs, and an annual funding schedule.
The study must recommend a baseline funding schedule with a goal of keeping reserve cash above zero in each budget year. It may recommend other schedules that meet the association's maintenance obligation. This does not mean every future replacement cost must already be held in cash today: the schedule connects contributions and available funds to when work is needed.
Sources: F.S. 718.112(2)(g); DBPR reserve FAQs. This article concerns condominiums under chapter 718; do not apply it unchanged to cooperatives or homeowners' associations.
Funding, owner votes and waivers
For budgets adopted on or after December 31, 2024, members of a unit-owner-controlled association required to obtain a SIRS generally cannot vote to omit or underfund the required SIRS reserves. The law includes limited exceptions, including certain multicondominium alternative arrangements and termination provisions. Other reserve categories have different waiver rules.
The SIRS funding provision permits regular assessments, special assessments, loans and lines of credit. A special assessment, loan or line of credit under that provision requires a majority of the association's total voting interests. This is not simply a majority of whoever attends a meeting. The provision excludes developer-controlled associations, associations with less than one year of nondeveloper owner control, and bulk-assignee or bulk-buyer-controlled associations.
SIRS reserves may be pooled with other SIRS components. A financing choice can also require the study to be updated to reflect its effect on the funding schedule. Confirm the applicable authority, notice requirements and governing documents before a vote.
Source: F.S. 718.112(2)(f)2., (f)4. and (g)4.c.. For financial illustrations, read special assessment, loan or hybrid.
The limited milestone-related reserve pause
For a budget adopted on or before December 31, 2028, a qualifying association may temporarily pause or reduce contributions to fund repairs recommended by a milestone inspection. Conditions include:
- The milestone inspection was completed within the previous two calendar years.
- A majority of total voting interests agrees to the change.
- The pause or reduction lasts no more than two consecutive annual budgets.
- The association is outside the developer, recent-turnover and bulk-ownership exclusions.
- After a pause, a SIRS is performed before contributions resume to establish funding needs and a plan.
This is a repair-linked funding tool, not a permanent waiver. The law separately addresses buildings declared uninhabitable after a natural emergency. ReserveGap does not model either pause.
Source: F.S. 718.112(2)(f)2.d.–e..
How lender reserve review differs
Florida funding rules and mortgage project review answer different questions. Following a state funding schedule does not establish mortgage eligibility, and meeting an annual lender benchmark does not establish that Florida obligations have been met.
Fannie Mae's Lender Letter LL-2026-03 sets these application-date changes:
- From August 3, 2026: Limited Review is retired. Established projects use Full Review or, where applicable, Waiver of Project Review. For the reserve-study alternative, the budget must include the study's highest recommended reserve allocation; baseline funding is not accepted for that alternative.
- From January 4, 2027: the Full Review replacement-reserve benchmark rises from 10% to 15% of annual budgeted assessment income. A qualifying reserve study remains an alternative to the percentage benchmark.
These are alternative review pathways, not two universal requirements that every project must satisfy together. A lender determines the applicable pathway and checks requirements beyond reserve arithmetic. This section describes Fannie Mae's letter; it is not a complete statement of every lender's or agency's rules.
Source: LL-2026-03, page 3. Read Florida baseline funding versus lender review and the highest recommended contribution pathway for the detailed comparison.
Prepare the board discussion
- Confirm the building's SIRS and milestone status, applicable deadlines and any voting conditions with counsel.
- Collect the adopted budget, current reserve balances, study funding schedules and component timing.
- Compare the annual reserve contribution with the study's highest recommendation and the percentage benchmark, keeping the lender pathways distinct.
- Examine projected cash when major work falls due. An annual contribution comparison alone cannot establish that repairs are funded on time.
- Compare funding illustrations using explicit interest rates, timing and ownership shares from the declaration. An illustration does not select or authorize a funding method.
See from reserve study to funding plan for organizing the figures into a discussion packet.
What ReserveGap provides
The free condo reserve calculator uses four dollar amounts and your state to show indicative annual mortgage reserve comparisons. It does not perform a SIRS or establish Florida funding requirements.
The paid report adds dollar shortfalls, funding illustrations and a ten-year cash projection using the figures you enter. For applicable Florida properties, the cash illustration uses the entered component schedule and building details. Its modeled zero floor is weaker than Florida's above-zero baseline goal, and its ten-year horizon may not cover the full study period. It is not a state-law determination. Other states' reserve requirements, including New Jersey's, are not evaluated.
Reports start at $149 per building; the $299 package adds the owner PDF. After checkout, we prepare your report and email it within one business day. It is not an instant download, a reserve study, an engineering report, legal advice or a lending decision.
View the fictional Example Towers board report to see the output, then compare packages. No account or subscription is required.