Florida’s big post-Surfside stress test for aging condos is running into an unexpected problem: the numbers themselves. A new review of the state’s first round of milestone inspection filings finds thousands of completed inspections, but also flags shaky reporting that could blur the true picture of building safety, especially in Miami-Dade County. The analysis, released five years after the Champlain Towers South collapse, lands as condo boards and owners across South Florida scramble to meet inspection and reserve-study deadlines.
What the state report found
A report by the Legislature’s research arm, the Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability, says local building officials reported 8,736 completed Phase 1 milestone inspections and 1,575 completed Phase 2 inspections for 2024 and 2025, along with 1,587 extension requests and 903 permit applications for needed repairs. Estimated repair values ranged from under $1,000 to as much as $30 million.
Inspectors identified 30 buildings in 2024 and 24 buildings in 2025 as unsafe or uninhabitable, most of which were not vacated. Those findings, along with the agency’s concerns about the reliability of the data, are detailed in the watchdog’s July review, according to OPPAGA.
Why Miami-Dade’s counts drew scrutiny
The state review and local coverage point to uneven reporting formats and mapping choices that made it harder to roll everything up into a clean statewide tally, with Miami-Dade’s submissions drawing particular attention. As reported by Local 10, the way Miami-Dade classified and entered its data did not always line up neatly with other counties.
That confusion traces back to how Miami-Dade’s long-running recertification program overlaps with the newer statewide milestone framework. The county’s approach and its legacy rules are laid out on the Miami-Dade recertification portal, which explains how older buildings have been tracked for years under a separate system.
How the rules work and who must report
Under Florida law, qualifying condominium and cooperative buildings must undergo milestone inspections, with local enforcement agencies responsible for collecting the reports and sending the results to the state. The Department of Business and Professional Regulation is the central hub that receives those submissions and posts guidance for building officials and associations.
The statutory framework for milestone inspections is set out in Florida Statute 553.899 and related DBPR materials on how and when results must be reported.
OPPAGA’s recommendations
OPPAGA flagged several “limitations of DBPR’s data collection” that make it tougher to compare counties or draw firm statewide conclusions. The watchdog recommended that DBPR consider clearer, standardized instructions for local enforcement agencies, for example through a webinar or guided tutorial, so officials enter information the same way from one jurisdiction to the next.
Sharpening those procedures, the report says, would make statewide tallies more useful for lawmakers, insurers and the public, and would help ensure that buildings identified as unsafe are easier to spot in the system and harder to ignore.
What owners and buyers should watch
Condo owners and prospective buyers are not expected to memorize statute numbers, but they are expected to pay attention. Associations must distribute and publish an inspector-prepared summary of each milestone inspection, and that document should be a first stop for anyone trying to gauge a building’s condition.
Beyond that, buyers and residents are told to check county recertification pages and the Department of Business and Professional Regulation’s condominium resources, including inspection listings maintained by DBPR, to see whether inspections were filed and what they found. For Miami-Dade properties, the county’s online recertification system remains a key place to confirm whether a milestone inspection appears in local records or whether a building has been classified as unsafe, according to the Miami-Dade recertification portal.
As regulators and legislators sift through OPPAGA’s July 2026 review, the core tension is hard to miss: statewide safety rules only work if the data behind them are consistent, searchable and trusted. For residents of aging Miami-Dade buildings, the real test will be whether those spreadsheet entries translate into clearer notices and timely repairs for properties that inspectors have already flagged as unsafe.
