TL;DR
Florida underwriting alert
Florida's post-Surfside laws created two structural obligations for condominium associations: the milestone inspection under Fla. Stat. 553.899, and the structural integrity reserve study, or SIRS, under Fla. Stat. 718.112. They were written as safety and reserve-funding rules. What boards are discovering is that they have also become an insurance problem. Carriers now treat a building's structural and reserve status as underwriting information, and they are non-renewing associations that look like a future structural claim.
Three things move a Florida condo from routine renewal to scrutiny or non-renewal: visible deferred structural maintenance, a SIRS that identifies significant funding shortfalls the association is not addressing, and a milestone report with open structural items and no remediation plan. Individually each raises questions. Together they read as a building whose structure the owners are not maintaining, which is exactly the profile a carrier does not want.
The same building gets very different outcomes depending on how its structural story reaches the market. A report handed over cold, full of open items, invites a non-renewal. The same report paired with a funded remediation schedule and a clear board narrative keeps markets at the table. The work is not just being compliant, it is making the compliance legible to an underwriter before they decide.
A non-renewal is not the end of the market, but it does start a clock. The faster you can assemble the structural documentation and a credible funding plan, the more options stay open. The associations that struggle are the ones that treat the non-renewal notice as the moment to start gathering paperwork rather than the moment to present paperwork they already had ready. This is also where a review against your state statute and lender requirements keeps the replacement policy from creating a new problem.
Common questions
Both are windows into a building's structural condition and its funding. A structural integrity reserve study (SIRS) shows whether the association is funding the components that keep the building sound, and a milestone inspection reports on structural safety. An underwriter reads deferred structural maintenance and an unfunded SIRS as a higher risk of a large future claim, which is why they now ask for both before quoting or renewing.
Not necessarily, but you need a plan. Underwriters respond very differently to "here is our remediation schedule and the funding behind it" than to a silent report full of open items. A documented plan to address structural findings, with a funded reserve behind it, keeps far more markets open than an unaddressed report does.
Earlier than you think. Gather your SIRS summary, milestone report, and reserve-funding plan 90 days before renewal so there is time to present them to the market and address questions. Waiting until the renewal notice arrives is how boards end up with a single take-it-or-leave-it quote or a non-renewal.
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