The second substantive change is the SIRS

Like the milestone inspection, the SIRS involves a visual examination of certain building components deemed critical to structural soundness and safety. Its purpose is to determine an annual reserve amount that achieves the estimated replacement or deferred maintenance cost for the components, by the end of their useful lives. Condominiums must then incorporate those amounts into their annual budgets, meaning associations can no longer waive reserves for the specific SIRS components. SB 4-D also set the initial SIRS deadline as

December 31, 2024

– for condominium associations existing on or before July 1, 2022.A major concern with SB 4-D was that the SIRS components included load-bearing walls, floors, and foundations. Performing a visual inspection of these items, however, may be difficult or practically impossible without significant destructive work. The original list of SIRS components also included windows, but condominium associations typically only maintain windows if they are included as common elements (i.e., not windows deemed part of the units). Additionally, SB 4-D was unclear as to when annual budgets must start including reserves for SIRS components despite the initial deadline to have a SIRS report completed. Again, there were also numerous concerns with the feasibility and implementation of the SIRS.    SB 154 attempted to address these as well. For example, floors and foundations were removed from the list of SIRS components, and “load-bearing walls” was replaced with: “structure, including load-bearing walls . . . and primary structural systems as those terms are defined in s.627.706.” In addition, windows are now accompanied by “exterior doors,” along with clarification that the SIRS requirement only applies to components maintained by the association. SB 154 also authorized those performing the SIRS to determine that no reserves are required for certain components with an estimated useful life greater than 25 years – or the SIRS may recommend a deferred maintenance expense for such components. Either way, this was intended to address “structure” or any other SIRS component that may be difficult or impossible to inspect. Finally, the mandatory reserve requirement was clarified to apply to any budget adopted on or

after December 31, 2024

– meaning one adopted beforehand is the last time a unit owner-controlled condominium association can provide no reserves or less reserves than required by the SIRS.It is important to note that there are many additional aspects to SB 4-D that continue to remain in place. Furthermore, SB 154 includes new provisions that were not originally part of SB 4-D. It will thus take some time to reconcile both bills to understand the full impact on condominiums going forward. But the general takeaway from this “glitch bill” is that milestone inspections, SIRS, and increased reserve requirements are here to stay.