Florida condominium reserve funding rules, explained

Who this page applies to

This page explains the Florida condominium regime under Fla. Stat. chapter 718, specifically the annual-budget and reserve rules in § 718.112(2)(f), including the Structural Integrity Reserve Study (SIRS) framework in § 718.112(2)(g) added after the 2021 Champlain Towers collapse.

It does not cover:

• Florida planned-community HOAs under Fla. Stat. chapter 720, which have their own reserve-funding regime under § 720.303(6). The Chapter 720 rules are elective, the Chapter 718 rules are not — and the difference is the single most common source of confusion on this topic.
• Florida cooperatives under Fla. Stat. chapter 719, which have their own parallel budget and SIRS language under § 719.106.
• Condominium buildings outside the SIRS applicability scope in § 718.112(2)(g). The SIRS study requirement is tied to residential condominium buildings that are three habitable stories or higher, as determined by the Florida Building Code. The paragraph excludes buildings less than three stories, certain one-to-four-family dwellings with three or fewer habitable stories above ground, portions not submitted to condominium ownership, and portions maintained by someone other than the association.

If your community is a Florida condominium under Chapter 718, the rules below describe both the default reserve framework and the SIRS overlay.

The rule in ordinary language

Florida condominium reserves sit in a hybrid regime: the default is a statutory budget-and-reserves framework with a member-vote waiver path for some reserve categories, overlaid with a post-Surfside Structural Integrity Reserve Study regime that makes certain reserves non-waivable once SIRS applies.

Four things follow from that:

1. Reserves are statutory budget accounts by default. § 718.112(2)(f) requires the association’s annual budget to include reserve accounts, including roof replacement, building painting, pavement resurfacing, and other qualifying deferred-maintenance or replacement items. This is the opposite posture from a Chapter 720 HOA — Chapter 720 reserves come into being only after an affirmative member vote; Chapter 718 reserves exist because the statute puts them in the budget.
2. The waiver mechanism exists, but it has narrow scope. § 718.112(2)(f) allows unit-owner-controlled associations to vote to provide no reserves or less reserves for some reserve items, but that vote is tied to the total voting interests and does not override the SIRS carve-out described below.
3. SIRS creates non-waivable reserve categories. For budgets adopted on or after December 31, 2024, a unit-owner-controlled condominium association that must obtain a SIRS may not vote to provide no reserves or less reserves for the items listed in § 718.112(2)(g), except for the multicondominium alternative-funding approval described in § 718.112(2)(f). That turns the ordinary “waivable by member vote” posture into a “non-waivable by statute” posture for the SIRS items.
4. SIRS is not universal. The SIRS paragraph applies to each residential condominium building that is three habitable stories or higher, subject to the statutory exclusions for smaller buildings, certain low-rise one-to-four-family dwellings, non-condominium portions, and portions maintained by another party. A condominium building outside that scope continues to operate under the default waivable-reserves framework without the SIRS overlay. Determining which side of that line your building sits on is the first question, not the last.

The practical result is that “can we waive reserves in Florida?” has two different answers depending on (a) whether the association is a Chapter 720 HOA or a Chapter 718 condo, and (b) within Chapter 718, whether the SIRS paragraph applies to the specific building.

What is actually different about Florida condominiums

Three things readers routinely get wrong, specifically in Florida condos:

1. “Florida lets you waive reserves” is a Chapter 720 answer, not a Chapter 718 answer. A planned-community HOA under Ch. 720 can waive reserves annually under § 720.303(6). A Chapter 718 condo can waive some reserves — but not the ones governed by the SIRS paragraph, and only through a specific duly-called-meeting vote. Applying the Chapter 720 framing to a Chapter 718 condo is the single most common categorical error in Florida reserve discussions.
2. “SIRS applies to every condo” is wrong. The SIRS regime is scoped by § 718.112(2)(g)‘s residential-building and three-habitable-story trigger. Not every Chapter 718 condominium is subject to SIRS. A community’s SIRS status is a building-level question that has to be verified against the statute’s triggering scope, not assumed.
3. Post-Surfside compliance deadlines are embedded in the statute. Existing unit-owner-controlled associations that existed on or before July 1, 2022 must complete a required SIRS by December 31, 2025, with a coordinated milestone-inspection option under § 553.899 but no later than December 31, 2026. These are date-specific legal mechanics, not aspirational timelines. A board operating on a prior year’s understanding of SIRS is taking on real compliance risk.

Operational questions to ask

If you are on a board:

• Is the association within the SIRS applicability scope described in § 718.112(2)(g)? This is a residential-building and three-habitable-story question and must be answered before any other reserve question.
• If SIRS applies, has the association completed the required reserve study on the 10-year statutory cycle and met the December 31, 2025 deadline for existing unit-owner-controlled communities, or the § 553.899 coordinated deadline if that applies?
• For budgets adopted on or after December 31, 2024, is the board treating SIRS reserve categories as non-waivable, regardless of any prior waiver history?
• For reserve items outside the SIRS scope, if the association plans to reduce or waive, is the member vote being taken at a duly called meeting with proper notice?

If you are an owner:

• If you are told “we waived reserves,” ask whether the waiver applied to SIRS reserves or to non-SIRS categories. SIRS reserves may not be waivable once the SIRS regime applies to your building.
• Has the association’s most recent SIRS study been delivered to owners or made available for inspection? It is a real statutory product with specified required contents.
• If the association has skipped a SIRS completion deadline, that is a compliance question, not a budgeting choice — escalate it accordingly.

If you are a buyer:

• Before closing, determine whether the building falls within the SIRS applicability scope under § 718.112(2)(g). If it does, ask for the most recent SIRS study and the reserve amounts shown in it.
• A Florida condo with a current SIRS study and fully funded SIRS reserves is operating on the post-Surfside baseline. A Florida condo in SIRS scope with no SIRS study or underfunded SIRS reserves is a materially different risk profile, even if the dues look similar.
• If the seller tells you “reserves were waived,” ask whether that predates SIRS and whether it applied to items now captured by the SIRS non-waivable carve-out. A historically waived reserve is not a continuing waiver once SIRS kicks in.

What to do next

If you are trying to decide what a specific Florida condominium’s reserve posture means for a board decision, an owner dispute, or a buyer’s closing, the next useful step is usually determining SIRS applicability under § 718.112(2)(g), obtaining the most recent SIRS study (if any), and reconciling the reserve amounts in the current budget against both the waivable and non-waivable categories.

• Try the reserve calculator with Florida assumptions to model dues, reserve contributions, and special-assessment exposure.
• Ask for a Florida condo board reserve review if the association needs to compare the budget, SIRS, and meeting record.
• Ask for a Florida condo owner document check if the SIRS, budget, or reserve vote record is missing.
• Ask for a Florida condo buyer document check if you are reviewing the budget and SIRS before closing.

This page is the explainer layer, not a legal memo. For the underlying statute text, follow the source link in the callout above.