Why Brickell Condo Assessments Are Coming Now

Florida law gives condominium associations one final date to complete a Structural Integrity Reserve Study: no SIRS may be completed after December 31, 2026. The study prices what the building must set aside for its structure, its roof and its waterproofing. Once that number exists on paper, the board has to fund it — and unit owners meet it as an assessment.

That is why more buildings in Brickell will send a bill this year than last.

What a SIRS is, and why the date matters

A Structural Integrity Reserve Study is an engineer's estimate of what the building's major components will cost to repair or replace, and over what horizon. It covers the parts that hold the building up and keep water out.

Fla. Stat. 718.112(2)(g) sets the outer limit in plain words: in no event may the study be completed after December 31, 2026. For associations whose milestone inspection is due on or before that date, the study may be done alongside the inspection.

The consequence is arithmetic, not law. Before the study, a board could budget on habit. After it, there is a number, and the number has to be funded. Owners see that as a line on a budget or a letter in the mail.

What your own policy pays toward an assessment

Your unit policy has a coverage built for exactly this. It is called loss assessment, and Florida requires every residential condominium unit policy to include at least $2,000 of it, with a deductible of no more than $250. Fla. Stat. 627.714.

Two thousand dollars is the statutory floor, not a typical limit. An assessment in a Brickell tower is routinely five figures, and many owners are carrying the minimum without knowing it, because nobody raised it and nothing forced the question.

How that coverage actually responds — including an old endorsement edition that caps certain assessments far below the limit you bought — is its own subject. We covered it in what your loss assessment coverage pays.

What no policy pays

This is the part worth reading twice.

Loss assessment coverage answers an assessment that arises out of a covered loss — a hurricane damages the roof, the association's policy leaves a gap, the board assesses owners for the shortfall.

It does not answer an assessment for a façade, a roof replacement, a pool deck or a reserve study. Those are not losses. They are obligations the building always had and is now being required to fund on a schedule. No homeowners or condo policy in Florida is written to pay them, and any policy that claimed to would be insuring an expense rather than a risk.

If the letter from your board cites the SIRS, the reserve schedule or a milestone repair, assume your policy is not the answer and plan accordingly.

What to do before the letter arrives

Three things, in order, and none of them take long.

1. Find out what your loss assessment limit is set at. It is on your declarations page. If it reads $2,000, that is the statutory minimum and it was almost certainly never a decision.
2. Ask your association where its SIRS stands. Completed, under way, or not started tells you roughly how close the number is.
3. Ask what the study found, once it exists. Owners are entitled to the reserve schedule, and it is the best available forecast of what is coming.

Frequently asked questions

Does my condo policy pay for a special assessment? Only when the assessment traces back to a covered loss. An assessment to fund reserves or to repair deferred maintenance is not a covered loss.

My building already did its SIRS. Am I past this? You are past the deadline, not past the funding. The study produces the number; the budget that follows is where owners feel it.

Can I raise my loss assessment limit? Yes, and it is usually inexpensive relative to the exposure. It has to be done before an assessment is voted, not after.

I own the unit but rent it out. Does any of this change? The assessment reaches the owner either way. What changes is the rest of the policy, which should be written for a tenant-occupied unit. It also changes how Citizens classifies you at renewal, and that turns on your tenant rather than on you. See how Citizens classifies a rental.

Is the December 31, 2026 date the same for every building? No. The statute sets an outer limit. Associations whose milestone inspection falls on or before that date may complete the study at the same time, and different buildings reached the requirement on different schedules.

What to do next

Send us your declarations page. We will tell you what your loss assessment limit is, what it would cost to raise it, and whether the rest of your condo insurance matches what your building actually exposes you to.