Majestic Sun turns 25 this year. So does the milestone inspection question that comes with it, at least for anyone selling inside the twin towers on Seascape Resort's stretch of Scenic Gulf Drive. A quarter mile east, Destin Surfside crossed that same line back in 2011 and has been through it again since. A short walk in the other direction, Ariel Dunes I and II won't face the question for another six years. Three buildings, one corridor, three completely different compliance clocks. None of it shows up in a listing photo.
That gap matters more this year than it has in any prior selling season, because the paperwork behind it just became mandatory for real. Florida's House Bill 913, effective July 1, 2025, pushed the deadline for a completed Structural Integrity Reserve Study to December 31, 2025, for any condominium association with a building three or more habitable stories that existed before July 1, 2022. That deadline is now seven months in the rearview mirror. If you're listing a Miramar Beach condo this August, you're listing in the first full season where lenders, title companies and buyers' agents can actually expect this document to exist, and where its absence is treated as a red flag rather than a work in progress.
The Document That Didn't Exist Two Years Ago
Before 2022, a condo association could vote to waive reserve funding for big-ticket items like the roof or the plumbing risers and call it a budget decision. That option is gone for the eight components covered under Florida's SIRS law: roof, load-bearing walls and primary structural members, fire protection, plumbing, electrical, waterproofing, windows and exterior doors, and any other item over the statutory threshold that affects those systems. For budgets adopted after December 31, 2024, an association cannot waive or underfund reserves for any of these categories, full stop.
The dollar threshold that decides what counts as a qualifying "other item" also moved. It started at $10,000, was raised to $25,000 under HB 913, and now adjusts annually for inflation, landing at $25,675 for 2026. A component repair or replacement that would have been optional to reserve for a few years ago may now be a mandatory line item on your building's books.
Once a SIRS is complete, the association has 45 days to submit the SIRS Reporting Form electronically to the Division of Condominiums. Both the SIRS and any milestone inspection report have to be kept on file for 15 years. For a seller, that's the paper trail a buyer's agent, a lender, or a title company can now legitimately ask you to produce before closing.
Same Corridor, Different Clocks
The SIRS requirement applies to every qualifying building regardless of age, as long as it existed before July 1, 2022. The separate milestone inspection requirement is the one that's age-gated, and it's where the real divergence shows up along Scenic Gulf Drive.
A milestone inspection is triggered at 30 years from a building's certificate of occupancy under the statewide default, or at 25 years if the local building official has adopted an earlier trigger for coastal proximity. That decision is not automatic statewide. It's made building department by building department, which means a seller can't assume which clock applies without asking.
| Building | Location | Year Built | Age in 2026 | SIRS Status | Milestone Timeline |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Destin Surfside | 1096 Scenic Gulf Drive, Miramar Beach | 1986 | 40 years | Required, must already be filed | Passed the 25-year mark in 2011 and the 30-year mark in 2016. Due again this year under the statewide 30-year, 10-year-cycle default |
| Majestic Sun | Seascape Resort, Miramar Beach | 2001 | 25 years | Required, must already be filed | Hits the 25-year coastal trigger this year, if Walton County's building official enforces it. Otherwise not due until 2031 |
| Ariel Dunes I & II | Seascape Resort, Miramar Beach | 2007 | 19 years | Required, must already be filed, even though milestone isn't due | Not due until 2032 at the earliest under either threshold |
Read that table again and notice what stays constant. Every one of these buildings, the 1986 tower and the 2007 towers alike, was legally required to have a completed SIRS on file by the end of last year. The age gap only shows up in the milestone column. A seller inside Ariel Dunes can honestly tell a buyer the building has years of runway before a structural inspection is due. A seller inside Destin Surfside is selling into a building that's either mid-cycle or overdue depending on which threshold Walton County applies, and that's a conversation worth having with the association's property manager before a buyer's agent asks it for you.
What This Looks Like At The Closing Table
Florida law entitles a buyer to the SIRS as part of the standard condo disclosure package. Under the newer rules, associations with 25 or more units generally have to make it accessible online. A buyer's agent who knows to ask isn't being difficult. They're doing what the statute anticipated.
The document that actually holds the association's structural condition and its financial state are the same document, just read two different ways. The milestone inspection answers whether the building is sound today. The SIRS answers whether the reserves are on pace to fund whatever the inspection found, or whether a special assessment is quietly building on the horizon. Reading the funding percentage for each of the eight components, not just the total reserve balance, tells a buyer's agent something the total number hides. Many buyers' agents now treat a component with less than half its funding target and under a decade of useful life left as grounds to renegotiate price or walk. That's not a legal standard. It's a practical one, and it's becoming a common one.
There's also a quieter risk that doesn't show up in any single document. HB 913 lets associations fund reserves through loans, lines of credit, or special assessments rather than monthly dues alone. That flexibility can make a building's finances look stable on paper while it's carrying debt that lands on owners eventually. A seller who can show clean minutes and a straightforward funding path has a real advantage over one whose board just took out a line of credit to cover a gap the SIRS uncovered.
Before You List: Five Things To Pull Together
- Get the SIRS Reporting Form confirmation from your association or property manager, showing it was filed with the Division of Condominiums within 45 days of completion.
- Ask for the funding percentage on each of the eight structural components individually, not the headline reserve balance.
- Confirm your building's certificate of occupancy date and ask the local building official whether Walton County enforces the 25-year coastal trigger or defaults to 30, so you know exactly where your building sits on the milestone timeline.
- If a milestone inspection has already happened, request the Phase 1 report and confirm whether Phase 2 destructive testing was triggered, since that starts a 365-day clock on repairs.
- Check whether your building appears on any secondary-market condo project list that could complicate a buyer's financing, since a denied loan can stall a sale that has nothing wrong with the unit itself.
None of these documents guarantee a faster sale by themselves. What they do is remove the single biggest source of last-minute renegotiation on a Florida condo closing right now, which is a buyer's lender or agent finding out mid-contract that something wasn't on file.
FAQ
Does this apply to single-family homes or villas in Miramar Beach, or just condo towers? SIRS and milestone inspections apply only to condominium and cooperative buildings three or more habitable stories tall, governed under Florida's condo statute. Single-family homes and HOA-governed communities fall under a different, still-waivable reserve framework, so this specific paperwork doesn't apply to them.
What if my association hasn't finished its SIRS yet? As of this year, that association is technically non-compliant. Expect questions from title companies and lenders, and expect a buyer's agent to ask for a timeline. The practical fix is getting the study underway immediately and being able to show the board's documented steps toward compliance, which is far better than silence during a live transaction.
Will any of this actually delay my closing? Most sales close on documents already on file without issue. The exception is a building where a milestone inspection just triggered Phase 2 testing or where the SIRS revealed a funding gap the board hasn't addressed yet. In those cases, expect a buyer to ask for a longer inspection contingency or to renegotiate price around the funding shortfall.
Selling a Miramar Beach condo this year means selling into a market where the building's paperwork carries as much weight as its view. If you want a second set of eyes on where your building sits on the SIRS and milestone timeline before you list, or you're comparing towers along Scenic Gulf Drive and want the real compliance picture behind each one, Marie Babin and her team have spent years inside these associations and know which questions to ask before a buyer does. Connect with our Coastal Experts to get your building's documents in order before your first showing.
