Reserves are the easiest part of the budget to push off. You total the operating costs, set the assessment increase owners will accept, and whatever remains goes to reserve funding.
That approach stopped working. Florida now ties the reserve figure for structural components to an engineering report, and the board's room to argue with it is narrow. Fannie Mae raised the bar nationally, requiring a bigger share of the budget to go toward reserves before buyers in your building can get a conventional mortgage. For most associations, the 2027 budget is the first one where both of those changes hit at the same time.
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What a condo reserve study actually covers
A reserve study has two parts. The first is a physical inventory: what the association must repair or replace, the condition of each component, how much useful life it has left, and what replacement will cost. The second is a funding plan that turns that inventory into an annual contribution number.
Boards tend to fixate on percent funded, which compares the cash you actually have in reserves against the balance the study says you should have for the age and condition of your components. A community at 20 percent funded isn't 20 percent through its project list. It's carrying most of the bill into the future.
Florida narrowed that exercise to the building's structure and major systems and wrote the result into statute. A conventional study advises the board. The Florida version constrains it.
Florida turned the reserve number into a legal input
Under Florida Statutes 718.112(2)(g), a residential condominium association must complete a structural integrity reserve study at least every 10 years for each building three habitable stories or higher, as determined by the Florida Building Code. The study covers the roof, the structure (including load-bearing walls and primary structural members), fireproofing and fire protection systems, plumbing, electrical, waterproofing and exterior painting, windows and exterior doors, and any other item with a deferred maintenance expense or replacement cost above $25,000 (or the inflation-adjusted amount the state division sets, whichever is greater).
The deadline for that study has already passed. Associations that existed on or before July 1, 2022 and are controlled by unit owners rather than the developer had to finish one by December 31, 2025. An association required to complete a milestone inspection on or before December 31, 2026 can complete the two together, and the statute closes that door with a flat deadline: in no event may the study be completed after December 31, 2026.
Here's the part boards keep missing: for budgets adopted on or after December 31, 2024, owners in a unit-owner-controlled association that's required to have the study can no longer vote to provide no reserves, or less reserves than required, for the items it covers. Owners can still reduce reserves for items outside that list by a majority of the total voting interests. On the structural components, the vote-to-waive option is gone.
A separate inspection follows its own calendar. Under Florida Statutes 553.899, condominium and cooperative buildings three habitable stories or more need a milestone inspection by December 31 of the year the building turns 30, then every 10 years after. A local enforcement agency can move that starting point to 25 years based on conditions like proximity to salt water, so the answer depends on your building department rather than a blanket rule. The flat "25 years within 3 miles of the coast" version that still shows up in board packets is not in the current statute. A milestone inspection performed within the past 5 years can stand in for the visual inspection portion of the reserve study, so the two reports do feed each other.
Boards have a few ways to soften the impact, namely through provisions HB 913 added in June 2025. An association that finished a milestone inspection within the previous 2 calendar years can pause or reduce reserve contributions for up to two consecutive annual budgets, but only to fund repairs the milestone inspection recommended, and only for budgets adopted on or before December 31, 2028. A separate provision lets an association that completes a milestone inspection delay the reserve study itself for up to 2 consecutive budget years, so the money can go toward the repairs the inspection called for. Reserves for structural items can also be funded through special assessments, lines of credit, or loans. Every one of those options takes a majority of the total voting interests, which is a vote the board must win.
Florida is not the only state with a deadline
Boards outside Florida often dismiss reserve study mandates as a reaction to Surfside, not something that applies to them. Four other states illustrate how far requirements vary, and three of them put a funding requirement in statute rather than only a study requirement.
New Jersey goes furthest. It requires a capital reserve study for planned real estate development associations (not only for buildings that reach a structural threshold) and requires the board to fund the recommended plan. Funding at 85 percent is allowed for up to five fiscal years, with disclosure of the special assessments that shortfall implies. Maryland works the same lever more quietly: residential condominium budgets must include the amount the most recent study recommends, with five fiscal years to get there. Hawaii puts a number on it: 50 percent of estimated replacement reserves, or 100 percent under a cash flow plan.
California runs two inspection clocks that feed each other, reviewing major components at least every three years and inspecting balconies and other exterior elevated elements every nine, with the inspector's report folded into the reserve study. Colorado went the other direction. A bill requiring reserve studies passed both chambers in 2022 and was vetoed, and the state's Division of Real Estate says plainly that no reserve study is required and that no funding minimum is set by the state.
The mortgage lender is watching too
State law isn't the only thing pushing reserve numbers higher. Fannie Mae sets the floor for what a condo or co-op budget must put toward reserves before buyers in the building can qualify for a conventional mortgage.
That floor is going up. Under Lender Letter LL-2026-03, Fannie Mae is raising the minimum reserve allocation from 10 percent of annual budgeted assessment income to 15 percent, effective for loan applications dated on or after January 4, 2027. The baseline funding method that some associations relied on to clear the old threshold was eliminated on August 3, 2026.
A project that doesn't meet the 15 percent floor can become non-warrantable, which means conventional Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac financing isn't available for its units. Buyers would need portfolio loans, larger down payments, and higher rates. That shrinks the buyer pool and puts downward pressure on resale values.
This one isn't state-specific. It applies to every condo and co-op in the country where owners buy with a mortgage. Boards that were funding reserves at exactly 10 percent to check the box now need to get to 15 percent in the budget they're writing right now.
Most associations are not where they think they are
Association Reserves published its industry report in April 2026, drawn from more than 100,000 reports prepared for more than 25,000 properties. It sorts communities into three bands: 70 percent funded or better is Strong, 30 to 70 percent is Fair, and under 30 percent is Weak, where the firm says deferred maintenance is common and special assessments are highly likely.
The numbers land at 25.7 percent Strong, 40.3 percent Fair, and 34 percent Weak. Roughly three in four associations sit below the Strong threshold. The real picture is likely worse: the sample only includes associations that hired a professional reserve study provider, a group that tends to be more financially proactive than average. Associations that haven't commissioned a study at all aren't in the data.
What the study feeds
The study lands on four decisions the board must make.
The assessment is the obvious one. The funding plan sets the reserve contribution, and the contribution sets the assessment. In Florida the proposed budget must reach every owner at least 14 days before the meeting where the board considers it. If the proposed budget raises assessments above the 115 percent statutory threshold, the board must present a substitute budget without discretionary spending at the same time.
Once the reserve contribution is set, the question becomes where the money comes from. The board picks between regular assessments, a special assessment, and borrowing; in Florida the last two need an owner vote when they're funding the items the study covers.
The study is also an official record. Florida requires an association managing a condominium with 25 or more units to post its most recent structural integrity reserve study and milestone inspection reports to the association website, which we covered in Florida's 25-unit condo website law. Once it's posted, owners can read the number without asking the board for it.
The last piece is the work calendar. A study that flags the roof at four years of remaining life is telling you when to collect bids, not only how much to save.
Where the software fits
BuildingLink doesn't calculate reserves, and no property management platform should claim to. That work belongs to an engineer or a credentialed reserve analyst. What a platform holds is the material the study gets built from and the records it generates afterward.
The document library keeps the study, the milestone report, and the meeting materials in one place, with permissions that control whether a document is visible to management only, to board members, or to every owner. Documents can be expired into an archive instead of deleted, which matters when the next study needs the last one for comparison. That sits inside BuildingLink's broader record keeping and administration tooling.
Maintenance history is the other half. The study prices components based on their condition, and a condition argument holds up better with a paper trail behind it. Maintenance reports pull request and work order history by category, component, time to close, and vendor, and communities can complete inspection checklists using the GEO by BuildingLink staff app.
Then comes the vote, which only counts if enough owners cast one. BuildingLink's communication tools can help the board reach quorum. Management can send filtered notices to owners with meeting reminders and vote deadlines, segmented by occupant type, floor, or building. Sent messages and automatic notifications are logged, so the board can show the notice went out.
Why this budget cycle
Two deadlines make the 2027 budget the one where all of this comes due. In Florida, the compliance date for completing a structural integrity reserve study was December 31, 2025, so a board building a 2027 budget without a finished study is late rather than early. Nationally, Fannie Mae's 15 percent reserve allocation takes effect January 4, 2027, and the 2027 budget is the one that must hit that number.
Work backward from those deadlines, and the window to act narrows fast. Without a study, the reserve contribution is a guess. With one, a study that pushes the budget past the statutory threshold sends the board to an owner vote, which is a separate process on a separate timeline. Boards that start in August get to choose. Boards that start in November take what the calendar gives them.
If you're building the 2027 budget now, our guide Mastering Reserve Studies and Budgeting covers how to read a study and turn it into a funding plan owners will approve. To see how the document, maintenance, and communication pieces work together, connect with a member of our team.
Frequently Asked Questions
It depends on the state. Florida requires a structural integrity reserve study for each residential condominium building three habitable stories or higher, at least every 10 years. Maryland, New Jersey, Hawaii, California, Nevada, Utah, Washington, and Oregon each have their own rules on different intervals, and Colorado has none. Even where no statute applies, a board setting assessments without a study is estimating its largest obligation from memory, and falling short of Fannie Mae's reserve threshold can make the building non-warrantable for conventional mortgages.
A conventional reserve study covers every major component the association maintains, including amenities, paving, and mechanical equipment. Florida's structural integrity reserve study is narrower and focused on the building itself: roof, structure, fire protection, plumbing, electrical, waterproofing and exterior painting, windows and exterior doors, plus any other item with a deferred maintenance expense or replacement cost above $25,000 (or the inflation-adjusted amount the state division sets, whichever is greater). Many associations run one study that satisfies both purposes.
Not for the components a structural integrity reserve study covers. For budgets adopted on or after December 31, 2024, members of a unit-owner-controlled association required to obtain that study may not vote to provide no reserves or less reserves for those items. Owners can still reduce reserves for items outside the study by a majority of the total voting interests, and an association operating a multicondominium can provide no reserves or less reserves if the state division has approved an alternative funding method. Separately, an association that completed a milestone inspection within the previous 2 calendar years can pause or reduce contributions for up to two consecutive annual budgets with that same majority, for budgets adopted on or before December 31, 2028.
Florida runs a 10-year cycle for the structural integrity reserve study. Other states move faster: Maryland and Nevada on five years, California every three, and Washington associations under the newer act annually, with a professional site visit every third year.
In Florida, reserves for the items a structural integrity reserve study covers can be funded through regular assessments, special assessments, lines of credit, or loans, and the last three each require a majority of the total voting interests. New Jersey allows funding at 85 percent of the recommended plan for up to five fiscal years, with disclosure of the special assessments that gap implies. The shortfall gets disclosed rather than absorbed quietly.
Fannie Mae requires condo and co-op projects to allocate at least 10 percent of annual budgeted assessment income to reserves for the project to be eligible for conventional mortgage financing. That minimum rises to 15 percent for loan applications dated on or after January 4, 2027. A project that falls short can become non-warrantable, meaning buyers can't get Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac-backed loans and have to turn to costlier alternatives. Boards should make sure the 2027 budget meets the new threshold.