The first statewide picture of how Florida's aging condo buildings are faring is out — though it's not a full picture.
After the 2021 collapse of the Champlain Towers South condominium in Surfside that killed 98 people, state lawmakers created new safety standards. They required older condominium and cooperative buildings to undergo inspections to identify structural problems.
The first report is out.
"Milestone inspections identified 30 buildings in 2024 and 24 buildings in 2025 as unsafe or uninhabitable," the summary reads. "Building officials reported most buildings determined unsafe or uninhabitable were not vacated."
ALSO READ: Deadly collapse of Surfside condo happened over several weeks, investigation finds
But there's a catch. The Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability (OPPAGA), the Florida Legislature's research arm that put the report together, wasn't working with a complete data set.
The Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation (DBPR), which collected the data, didn't get it from all local jurisdictions: "DBPR received 2024 milestone inspection reporting data from 71% of local enforcement agency jurisdictions," OPPAGA wrote, "and 2025 reporting data from 64%."
The report went out of its way to mention deficient reporting from three areas in 2025: Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties.
"It doesn't paint a confident picture of where we are with a lot of these buildings," said Republican Rep. Juan Carlos Porras of Miami. "I think there were a lot of buildings that could have been probably deemed unsafe that weren't."
In the report, 54 buildings were designated "unsafe or uninhabitable." Porras expressed concern about how most of the buildings weren't vacated. Yet, there's some vagueness in what being "unsafe or uninhabitable" actually means for the buildings.
The report itself acknowledges this. It notes Florida law doesn't define either "unsafe" or "uninhabitable." And it mentions that Florida Building Code defines "unsafe" but not "uninhabitable."
OPPAGA mentions local building officials used different approaches when considering the designation.
The report pointed to a few examples of damage found in "unsafe or uninhabitable" buildings. One showed sealant along an exterior walkway had parted on an Osceola County building. Another showed ceiling water damage in an Orange County condo. And a third photo displayed a close-up on structural corrosion to a Pinellas County condo building.
Lawmakers passed legislation last year modifying parts of the post-Surfside law, but Porras said "there's still a lot that needs to be addressed."
"There needs to be a stronger enforcement mechanism from the state on this reporting process," he said, adding that he thinks "a lot of the fault" lies on condo associations, their boards and property managers for not providing information or maintaining their buildings.
Sen. Jim Boyd of Bradenton, the incoming Senate president, sponsored the original post-Surfside legislation.
"The purpose of the report was for the Legislators to have an understanding of what inspections are revealing statewide," said Katie Betta, a Senate spokesperson, in an email. "They can take that information and determine if additional legislative action is needed."
A note: homeowners associations and condo associations are a big deal for Porras. He pushed a measure last legislative session that would've reformed how they work. It didn't make it to the finish line.
The Community Associations Institute disagreed with that legislation. And it disagrees that more legislation is needed.
"No, I would like to see things settle," said Dawn Bauman, CAI's CEO, when asked if more reform was needed. "A lot of changes have been made. Let's see how this goes... Let's let this settle and let this be adopted, so that there is some level of calm and focus and investment in the condo market.
The report also identified 903 applications for permits to repair buildings, with estimated repair costs ranging from less than $1,000 to $30 million
"Common types of repairs include concrete, electrical and structural," it reads.
While 54 buildings were designated "unsafe or uninhabitable," Bauman pointed out this was out of many thousands across the state.
"Condominiums are overwhelmingly safe in the state of Florida, if you look at the numbers," she said. "I don't think there's anything alarming coming from this report. I actually think it's the opposite."
She said the lack of reporting in some places is a result of stakeholders getting used to the new process.
"I think it's normal, and it just takes time," Bauman said. "I don't think anyone's hiding anything."
The report included a section identifying data limitations, including the lack of definition of "unsafe and uninhabitable."
OPPAGA also found unclear instructions on the reporting form made it difficult to determine which local jurisdictions had submitted milestone inspection data: "DBPR is unable to verify submissions to ensure that the correct official is reporting for each jurisdiction because the department does not have a comprehensive list of local enforcement agencies and the corresponding jurisdiction," the report explained.
Ana Barbosa, administrative director of the Broward County Board of Rules and Appeals, said officials faced a learning curve as they adapted to the new reporting system.
Broward County sent its own data in but was one of the areas the report called out for having jurisdictions — 23% of municipal building officials — not reporting data.
"It's not because they didn't complete it," Barbosa said. "It wasn't the case at all. It was a new system to them."
Palm Beach County, where 44% of municipal building officials didn't report, also sent in data: "Each municipality within Palm Beach County is responsible for submitting their own Milestone Report to DBPR," said Yleana Arias, building division coordinator for Palm Beach County's Planning, Zoning and Building Department, in an email.
Miami-Dade County also reported, but 21% of its municipal building officials didn't. The report said the county area had 23 "unsafe or uninhabitable" buildings, but the county didn't respond to emailed questions.
But a spokesperson for one of its cities, Aventura, did.
The report said this about the coastal city: "The City of Aventura reported that 19 condominium and cooperative buildings were determined unsafe or uninhabitable... but did not respond to OPPAGA's information request regarding whether these buildings were vacated."
Evan Ross, the city spokesperson, didn't know about the "information request" but disagreed with the "unsafe or uninhabitable" designations.
"Aventura has zero unsafe structures," Ross said. "We think it was just an error that classified 19 buildings as unsafe that aren't unsafe."
Ross said they're asking OPPAGA to revise the report.
OPPAGA refused to answer WUSF's questions, citing a statutory "work paper" disclosure exemption.
DBPR, which collected the data, said in an email that "any decisions regarding the consideration of information submitted after the reporting period closed would be within OPPAGA's discretion."
It also said its Building Code Administrators and Inspectors Board "will be initiating" the rulemaking process to allow enforcement against building officials who don't submit inspection reports on time.
"For questions regarding specific data, findings, or reporting reflected in OPPAGA's report, we recommend contacting the local building official for the applicable jurisdictions," it wrote.
Yet, that can be difficult, since there are hundreds of building officials across the state.
A jurisdiction jumble
The report said Pinellas County had eight "unsafe or uninhabitable" buildings. But the Pinellas County Building and Development Review Services said it didn't report any for its unincorporated areas and six municipalities the county also serves.
"We recommend reaching out to OPPAGA to see which municipalities reported those buildings," wrote Ashley Giovannetti, a county spokesperson. (OPPAGA, though, is citing the disclosure exemption.)
One "unsafe or uninhabitable" building was found in Orange County, but a spokesperson said it wasn't within its unincorporated area.
Brevard County had four: "This is the response I received from our Planning and Development Department: 'I have not received any unsafe milestone inspection reports for the unincorporated areas. It could be in any city or town in the county. I have no way of knowing,'" wrote Don Walker, a county spokesperson, in an email.
Monroe County had one, but spokesperson Kristen Livengood said she believed it was in Key West, which didn't respond to emails.
St. Lucie County had three. Those three were evacuated but residents have since returned.
One of the letters OKing residents to return:
"This damage was determined... to compromise the structural stability of the buildings," said spokesperson Erick Gill in an email. "Upon this discovery the buildings were evacuated... The current Engineer overseeing the repairs has verified to the residents that the buildings are safe to reenter."
Bay County had four. Its officials said they found one of them in the unincorporated area, meaning the three others are within its seven municipalities.
"Due to the extent of the required repairs on this building, the building owners association mandated full evacuation to allow for repairs to commence," said Robert Boulette, building official for Bay County's Building Safety Division, in an email.
"Declared value of repair for this permit is $2,900,055.90," he continued. "No estimated date of completion has been provided to this office as of this writing and the building shall remain vacant until the issuance of a Certificate of Completion."
What contributed to the decision: "The building was listed as unsafe due to the originally observed superficial damage to the exterior walkways and balconies from corroded reinforcing steel," Boulette wrote.
Boulette said inspectors found signs that corrosion-mitigation work performed about two decades earlier may have compromised "some areas of existing reinforcement." He said the majority of the units were for short-term vacation rentals, meaning the evacuation "did not displace very many permanent residents."
Osceola County had 10 "unsafe or uninhabitable" buildings.
"Based on those findings and corrective measures, none of the buildings were determined to require evacuation or to be uninhabitable," said Tyler Winik, an Osceola spokesperson, in an email.
"As of the report's publication, six of the 10 buildings identified had been fully repaired and restored," Winik wrote. "The remaining four are progressing through the inspection process while the necessary repairs are completed to bring them into compliance with applicable building code requirements."
See the complete OPPAGA report below:
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This story was produced by WUSF as part of a statewide journalism initiative funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
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