A report on the soundness of high-rise residential buildings across Florida did not list any unsafe condominium complexes in the Palm Beaches, but whether that provides reassurance is debatable.

Palm Beach County had the highest rate of noncompliance among South Florida building officials tasked with reporting condominium safety inspection results to the state. The lack of data has created what industry officials describe as a significant void in understanding the true extent of structural problems in local condo buildings.

"The report highlights a real data gap," said the Community Associations Institute, a nonprofit organization that represents HOAs and condominium associations. The organization said Palm Beach County's reporting failures make it difficult to determine the full extent of structural issues locally and may be understating the number of buildings with significant structural concerns.

The review is based on a collection of building inspection reports mandated after the 2021 building collapse of Champlain Towers South condominium in Sunrise that killed 98 people.

The study found that 17 of Palm Beach County's 39 municipal building officials, or 44%, failed to submit required milestone inspection reports for 2024 and 2025.

The study did not identify the officials who failed to report, and their identity was not immediately available.

The law requires condominium buildings that are at least three stories tall and meet certain age thresholds to undergo milestone inspections and requires local building officials to submit inspection data to the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation.

 

The graphic shows statewide numbers of condo buildings inspected under the state law to ensure their structural integrity. A Phase Two inspection indicates that inspectors found structural issues that needed to be addressed. (Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability)

 

The findings were detailed in a report compiled by the Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability, the Florida Legislature's nonpartisan research arm.

Milestone inspections occur in two phases.

Phase One is a visual inspection designed to determine whether a more comprehensive Phase Two inspection is necessary. During Phase Two, a licensed engineer or architect must identify areas of substantial structural deterioration and recommend repairs.

There are nearly 600 condo buildings consisting of 25,000 units in Palm Beach County that are covered by the state law.

According to the state report, milestone inspections statewide identified substantial structural deterioration in 2,535 condominium and cooperative buildings. Repairs were completed on 903 buildings, with costs ranging from about $1,000 to $30 million.

A state map included in the report placed Palm Beach County in a category showing between 10 and 41 buildings that underwent Phase Two milestone inspections.

That means those structures had issues that warranted repairs. Broward and Miami-Dade counties fell into a much higher range, with between 155 and 308 such inspections.

Missing reports leave uncertain how many local condos have serious structural issues

However, because nearly half of Palm Beach County's municipal building officials failed to report inspection data, the actual number of those with structural issues could be significantly higher.

A spokesperson for the county Building Division reported Thursday, July 30, that 10 structures in the unincorporated area of the county had still not submitted Phase One reports.

In June of 2025, there were nearly 100 buildings that had not submitted those reports. The county may soon refer the 10 non-compliant buildings to the Code Compliance Division to enforce the state law. The 10 structures include:

  • Olympus Village in Lake Worth, 2 buildings

  • Wellington, A-M

  • Sabal Lake West of Boca West

  • Pines of Boca Barwood, 3 buildings

  • Village Green Boca Raton, 3 buildings

The study found that structural deterioration was concentrated primarily in coastal communities, where saltwater exposure accelerates corrosion of steel reinforcing bars embedded in concrete. As rebar corrodes, it expands and weakens a building's structural integrity.
 

Details on which types of residential buildings must be inspected under the state law designed to ensure their structural integrity. (Office of Program Policy Analysis and Governmental Accountability)

 

The report also highlighted ongoing uncertainty about what constitutes an "unsafe" building. Building officials across Florida use different standards when making that determination, and many buildings identified as unsafe remained occupied.

Five condominium buildings were evacuated statewide, including three in St. Lucie County. None of those were in Palm Beach County.

One of those properties was Villa Del Sol, a beachfront condominium complex at 11000 S. Ocean Drive on Hutchinson Island, just north of the Jensen Beach Causeway in southern St. Lucie County. Residents were ordered to leave after an engineer conducting a milestone inspection discovered severe concrete deterioration and rusted reinforcing steel.

Residents had roughly 30 minutes to gather belongings before leaving their homes. The buildings remain under repair.

The financial impact of the new law has been substantial. Condo associations across Florida have imposed special assessments to pay for mandated repairs. Some of those special assessments in Palm Beach County have exceeded $100,000.

Some developers have sought to purchase aging buildings for redevelopment. The average repair bill identified in the report approached $500,000.

Thirty buildings faced repair costs exceeding $1 million, with most of those properties located in Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade counties.

Greg Batista, a South Florida structural engineer who has done scores of Phase Two inspections, said he was not surprised by the findings of the report.

He noted that South Florida has a glut of older buildings that were always in need of repair. The post-Surfside law, he added, brings about a level of transparency that never existed before.

Buyers now can know beforehand the condition of the building they are buying into. "That helps to rekindle confidence in the real estate market," he said.

But Batista said he was concerned about the level of non-compliance cited in the report.

"There has to be better enforcement," he said.

Real estate lawyer Michael Gelfand said one of the reasons why some of the municipal building officials did not file reports with the state was because they did not have buildings that required Phase One or Two inspections. The report should have noted that, he said.

As for the law itself, Gelfand said it has done what it was intended to do by making sure buyers know what they are getting into when they buy a condo in a high rise. It has also helped to ensure that necessary repairs are getting done to prevent another tragedy from occurring.