2,500+ Florida Condos Show Structural Damage, State Report Finds

A new state report reveals that more than 2,500 Florida condominium and cooperative buildings showed signs of significant structural deterioration, and dozens were deemed “unsafe and uninhabitable”—yet only five were evacuated. 

The 24-page report, released this week by the Florida Legislature’s Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability (OPPAGA), compiled reporting data from “milestone” inspections that were carried out in 2024 and 2025.

Under a state law passed in the aftermath of the 2021 Champlain Towers South collapse in Surfside, which killed 98 people, Florida condominiums and co-ops that are three stories or taller and at least 30 years old are required to undergo milestone inspections and maintain their reserve funds to cover any necessary repairs and maintenance. 

In most jurisdictions, the process is split into two phases: Phase 1 is a visual inspection by a licensed engineer or architect to determine whether the building shows signs of severe degradation requiring a more in-depth Phase 2 inspection. 

As part of the Phase 2 inspection, testing is conducted to assess the building’s structural soundness and recommend specific repairs. Building owners then have one year to apply for permits to make the repairs. 

Post-Surfside collapse inspections

According to the report, between 2024 and 2025, Phase 1 inspections identified 2,535 buildings with “substantial structural deterioration,” mostly in coastal counties where properties are exposed to saltwater corrosion.

However, only 1,575 properties completed secondary inspections due to delays and a shortage of qualified engineers led to widespread extension grants.

Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties—Florida’s most populous counties—reported the highest number of buildings requiring Phase 2 evaluations, ranging from 218 to 543. Notably, these three South Florida counties accept a single unified inspection that covers both phase requirements.  

Across both years of Phase 2 inspections, building officials flagged 54 buildings as “unsafe or uninhabitable,” including 23 in Miami-Dade and 10 in Osceola counties.

However, the OPPAGA analysis stressed that state law provides no official definition of the terms “unsafe” and “uninhabitable,” nor does the Florida Building Code define “uninhabitable.”

Instead, local building officials and engineers conducting the evaluations were left to interpret these standards on their own.

The report features photos of damage found inside these “unsafe or uninhabitable” properties. One image shows a building in Osceola County with sealant adhesion failure on a walkway. Another depicts water damage in Orange County, while a third reveals corrosion of structural elements on a building in Pinellas County.

Only 5 of the 54 buildings singled out by the report were evacuated in 2024, including three at the Villa Del Sol complex in St. Lucie County.

Some residents of the 36 beachfront condos deemed unsafe for habitation two years ago were allowed to return only in June 2026.

Underreported inspection data

OPPAGA emphasized that the inspection data is incomplete because not all jurisdictions fully participated in the reporting process overseen by the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation.

The agency received 2024 milestone inspection reporting data from 71% of local enforcement jurisdictions, and 2025 data from just 64%.

In Palm Beach County, 44% of building officials did not report the 2025 data, while nonreporting rates in in Broward and Miami-Dade counties reached 23% and 21%, respectively.

“It doesn’t paint a confident picture of where we are with a lot of these buildings,” Rep. Juan Carlos Porras (R-Miami) told the station WUSF. “I think there were a lot of buildings that could have been probably deemed unsafe that weren’t.”

Across Florida, building officials reported 903 permit applications for needed repairs identified during the Phase 2 inspections in 2024 and 2025. The average report permit value rose from roughly $337,000 in 2024 to $496,000 in 2025.

The most common types of needed repairs invovled concrete, electrical, and structural work.