SIRS and milestone inspections in Tampa

The milestone inspection

Section 553.899 of the Florida Statutes requires a structural inspection of condominium and cooperative buildings that are three stories or more. It is carried out by a Florida-licensed architect or engineer and the report goes to the local building official, which in Tampa Bay means the city building department for buildings inside city limits and the county for unincorporated land.

The first inspection is due by December 31 of the year the building reaches 30 years of age, counted from its certificate of occupancy, and then every 10 years. Buildings whose certificate of occupancy was issued on or before July 1, 1992 had until December 31, 2024. The statute also lets the local building official require the first inspection at 25 years where local conditions justify it, and nearness to salt water is the example most often given. Ask your building department which rule it applies before you plan around the 30-year date.

For a Tampa board the first visit is a walk-through: the architect or engineer looks at the structure and writes up what they see. Only if that look turns up serious structural decay does a second, deeper round start, with testing and a repair plan to follow. Either way, every item in that report lands in the SIRS as spending the association has to plan for soon.

The structural integrity reserve study

The SIRS lives in section 718.112(2)(g). It applies to residential condominium and cooperative buildings three habitable stories or higher, and it must be redone at least every 10 years. For associations that existed when the rules took effect, the first one was due by December 31, 2025, after HB 913 moved the original date back a year.

The study has to cover a fixed list of components:

• the roof and the load-bearing walls and primary structural members;
• fireproofing and fire protection systems;
• plumbing and electrical systems;
• waterproofing and exterior painting;
• windows and exterior doors;
• anything else that would cost over $25,000 (indexed to inflation) to repair or replace, where leaving it undone would harm the items above.

Somebody has to walk your Tampa building in person. The law accepts a Florida-licensed engineer or architect, or a credentialed reserve specialist, and that person can do the walk-through or sign off on someone else’s. Since HB 913, the business that prepares the SIRS should not be the one hired to carry out the repairs it recommends; confirm how that applies with the association’s attorney.

Two consequences matter most to a Tampa board. First, once owners control the association, any budget adopted from December 31, 2024 onward must fund the SIRS reserves in full, with no vote to waive or trim them. Second, within 45 days of receiving the study the association has to distribute it to owners or tell them where to find it, and file a statement with the state’s condominium division.

What changed in 2024 and 2025

A bill to revise the SIRS again in the 2026 session (SB 722) does not appear to have become law; confirm with the association’s attorney before relying on that. If the legislature acts in a later session, this page will say so.

HOAs in Tampa Bay

Most single-family and townhome communities in Brandon, Riverview, Wesley Chapel and Land O’ Lakes are homeowners associations under chapter 720. Section 720.303(6) requires an annual budget and governs reserve accounts where the budget has them, including how owners may vote to waive or reduce funding. There is no SIRS for an HOA. If an HOA maintains a building of three or more stories, the association’s attorney should confirm whether anything beyond chapter 720 applies.

Helene, Milton and the reserve schedule

Hurricane Helene passed offshore in late September 2024 and pushed storm surge flooding into coastal Pinellas and Hillsborough, as the National Weather Service in Tampa Bay recorded. Two weeks later Hurricane Milton came ashore near Siesta Key on October 9 and crossed the peninsula with heavy rain, as the Weather Prediction Center mapped. For plenty of associations that meant roof, seawall or garage repairs through 2025.

That work changes the numbers. A roof replaced in 2025 should appear with a new useful life and a smaller annual contribution; a SIRS prepared in early 2024 may still show the old one. If your study predates the repairs, ask for an update rather than waiting out the 10 years. Seawalls are not one of the named SIRS items, but a seawall that protects the structure can be argued into the catch-all category, and any reserve study will price it anyway. Whether yours belongs in the SIRS is a question for the engineer and the association’s attorney.

A sensible order of work

1. Find the certificate of occupancy date and confirm the milestone date with the building department.
2. If the milestone inspection is due within two years, schedule it first or alongside the SIRS, so the study can use the engineer’s findings.
3. Order the SIRS with a full reserve study, so the pool, paving and elevators are funded in the same plan.
4. Adopt the next budget with the SIRS line funded, and send the study to owners within the 45 days.