When you buy a resale condo in Florida, your most useful week isn't the one you spend touring. It's the seven business days after you've signed the contract and received the association's documents. Under the 2026 version of Florida Statute 718.503, a resale buyer can cancel within 7 days of signing the contract and receiving the required documents, not counting Saturdays, Sundays, and legal holidays. Those documents now include the building's safety and reserve paperwork. With year-end approaching, that paperwork tells you more about a Jupiter condo's future costs than any listing photo can.
The county market gives buyers time to read it.
A condo market that gives buyers room
In September 2026, according to MIAMI REALTORS' Palm Beach County report, the county's median condo sale price was $310,000, up 3.33% from $300,000 a year earlier. The single-family median rose 6.67% to $656,000. Supply is where the two markets really part ways. The same September report shows 6.8 months of condo supply, which MIAMI classifies as balanced, against 3.6 months for single-family homes, which it classifies as a seller's market.
Condo inventory has been shrinking. Active condo listings in September 2026 totaled 5,858, down 15.27% from a year earlier. Condos also went under contract faster, at a median of 53 days compared with 65 a year before. Those are countywide figures covering every condo from West Palm Beach to Tequesta, not a Jupiter-only series. Still, the pattern holds across the county. A condo buyer usually isn't racing other offers the way a single-family buyer often is. That leaves time for questions, and in a Florida condo the questions that matter most are answered in the reserve study and the inspection records.
The paperwork Florida now puts in front of every resale buyer
For a resale by an owner who isn't the developer, 718.503 entitles the buyer to current copies of these documents, at the seller's expense:
- The declaration, articles of incorporation, bylaws, and rules
- The annual financial statement and annual budget
- The milestone inspection summary, if the building requires one
- The most recent structural integrity reserve study, known as the SIRS, or a statement that it hasn't been completed
- The turnover inspection report, if a turnover inspection took place on or after July 1, 2023
- The statute's question-and-answer sheet, plus the state's governance form
For contracts signed after December 31, 2024, the contract itself must include added acknowledgment language whenever a milestone inspection, turnover report, or SIRS applies. The buyer's 7-day window runs from signing and receipt of those current documents. In practice, the date you receive the complete package matters as much as the date you sign. This is general information, not legal or financial advice. Please confirm how these rules apply to your purchase with a Florida real estate attorney or another qualified professional.
What the reserve study can tell you
The SIRS is where a building's future costs show up. Florida Statute 718.112 requires one at least every 10 years for each condo building with three or more habitable stories. It covers the roof, structure, fire protection, plumbing, electrical systems, waterproofing and painting, windows and doors, and certain other components.
What gives the study weight in 2026 is how the funding rules changed. For budgets adopted after December 31, 2024, associations generally can't waive or underfund the components the SIRS identifies. The statute lets associations fund those reserves through regular assessments, special assessments, loans, or lines of credit. It also allows a limited, owner-approved pause or reduction in reserves to pay for repairs found in a milestone inspection, available under specific conditions for budgets adopted on or before December 31, 2028. Those changes came largely through HB 913, which the governor approved on June 23, 2025.
So when you read a SIRS, you're reading a forecast of monthly dues and possible assessments, not just a maintenance log. A building whose study shows large near-term items, alongside a budget that has to fund them, may cost more to own next year than the listing's current fee suggests.
Why December 31, 2026 sits inside your escrow
Most owner-controlled associations that existed by July 1, 2022 had to complete their SIRS by December 31, 2025. The statute carves out one group. If a building's milestone inspection is due by December 31, 2026, the association can complete the SIRS at the same time as the inspection, but no later than December 31, 2026.
That date is about nine weeks out from publication. A contract signed in early November with a typical escrow period could close right around it. For a building in that group, the resale package might include a statement that the SIRS isn't finished yet, which the statute expressly allows. A study completed a few weeks later could change the budget the buyer inherits. The Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation keeps a public SIRS reporting page with lists of association submissions. The department says the database shows submissions exactly as associations filed them, includes only completed forms, and reflects online submissions within one business day.
A "Jupiter" address doesn't tell you whose clock applies
The milestone inspection follows a separate schedule, and it's set locally. Under Florida Statute 553.899, the statewide default for the first inspection is age 30, with repeats every 10 years. A local enforcement agency can move the first inspection to age 25 based on local conditions, including proximity to salt water.
Around Jupiter, a single mailing address can cover several local governments. The Town of Jupiter, Juno Beach, Jupiter Inlet Colony, Tequesta, and unincorporated Palm Beach County each appear as separate options in the Palm Beach County Property Appraiser's advanced search. The appraiser's glossary defines the location address as the street address and the municipality as an incorporated area of the county, so the two fields answer different questions. The table below compares the official schedules.
| Jurisdiction | First milestone inspection | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Unincorporated Palm Beach County | Age 25 within 3 miles of a coastline; age 30 beyond that; every 10 years after | County Building Division |
| Town of Jupiter | Ordinance 18-23, dated October 2023, sets age 30 and lets the local agency require age 25 | Town ordinance text |
| Tequesta, Juno Beach, Jupiter Inlet Colony | Age 30 under state law unless the local enforcement agency sets age 25 | Florida Statute 553.899 |
Jupiter's ordinance lays out the town's default in plain terms:
"...must have a milestone inspection performed by December 31 of the year in which the building reaches 30 years of age, based on the date the certificate of occupancy for the building was issued, and every 10 years thereafter."
That ordinance dates to 2023, so before relying on it, ask the Town's building department which age currently applies to a specific building. For Tequesta, Juno Beach, and Jupiter Inlet Colony, ask each town's building department the same question. With a five-year gap between the two schedules, two condos of the same age a few miles apart can be at very different points in the inspection cycle. Whether a 27-year-old building has already been through its first inspection, or won't face one for a few more years, depends on which side of a municipal line it sits.
What follows an inspection matters too. Under 553.899, a Phase 2 inspection is required only if Phase 1 finds substantial structural deterioration. Repairs identified in Phase 2 generally must begin within 365 days. A milestone summary that mentions Phase 2 points to repair work, and possibly assessments, within roughly a year.
Oversight is uneven, so the documents carry more weight
Building departments are supposed to report inspection results to the state. Many haven't. The Palm Beach Post reported in July 2026 that 17 of the county's 39 municipal building officials hadn't submitted the required milestone inspection data. The story noted that no unsafe buildings were listed, but it was clear that a missing report doesn't mean a building is safe. The Florida Legislature's OPPAGA office put Palm Beach County's 2025 municipal nonreporting rate at 44%. Statewide, 71% of jurisdictions responded for 2024 and 64% for 2025. For a buyer, the association's own documents and the building department are usually the most direct sources on a specific building.
These rules can reshape whole buildings, too. In December 2024, the Palm Beach Post reported that safety-inspection requirements helped lead owners at Beach Sound, a 12-unit oceanfront condo, toward a developer buyout and redevelopment plan. Developers reportedly offered as much as $2 million per unit. In a later report, the Post described the existing Tequesta oceanfront building as 40 years old.
Frequently asked questions
Can a seller hand over a SIRS that isn't finished? Yes. Under 718.503, the resale package can include either the most recent SIRS or a statement that it hasn't been completed.
Does the seven-day window start when I sign? It runs from signing the contract and receiving the required current documents, not counting weekends and legal holidays.
Do these rules cover every condo? Milestone inspections and the SIRS apply to condo buildings with three or more habitable stories. A low-rise villa community may fall outside them.
How do I find out which building department oversees a condo? Look up the address in the Property Appraiser's search and check the municipality field. Then ask that department which inspection age applies to the building.
If you're considering a Jupiter-area condo this fall, we'd be glad to help you request the right documents early, find the building department that oversees it, and read the reserve study before your seven days begin. Reach out to The Kelly Team when you're ready. Let's Connect.
