Academy/Inspections & Building Safety
Creating an inspection program
Every board's inspection duties come from the same four layers, in the same order.
A board builds its inspection program from four layers: state statute if one exists, local building and fire code, safety standards incorporated by reference such as NFPA and ASME, and the association's own governing documents. Check them in that order. Most states have no statute like Florida's, but the underlying duty to maintain common elements still applies.
Four layers decide what you must inspect
Every inspection requirement your board will ever face comes from one of four layers, and they carry different weight.
State statute comes first, if your state has one. Florida's milestone inspection law is the clearest example: it sets deadlines by building height, age, and distance from the coast for condominium and cooperative buildings three habitable stories or taller.
"building that is three habitable stories or more in height as determined by the Florida Building Code and that is subject, in whole or in part, to the condominium or cooperative form of ownership"
Source: Florida Statute 553.899, Building safety inspection and repair, The Florida Senate
Local building, fire, and property maintenance codes come second. A city or county can run its own recertification or facade program on top of, or in place of, any state law, such as New York City's five year facade inspection cycle or Miami-Dade County's building recertification program.
Standard-setter codes incorporated by reference come third. States rarely write their own fire or elevator inspection procedures from scratch. Florida's fire statute points to NFPA's own inspection standards, and New York City's code sends elevator inspection frequency straight to ASME's own table.
Your governing documents, read against your state's general common-interest-ownership law, come fourth. Read the layers in that order, and hedge or ask a professional wherever a layer is silent.
Most boards have no statute like Florida's, and that isn't the end of the story
It is tempting to assume every state now has a mandatory recertification law. It does not. Only three programs are confirmed for this course: Florida's statewide milestone and reserve study rules, California's law covering exterior elevated elements such as balconies and stairways, and city or county programs such as New York City's facade program and Miami-Dade County's recertification program. Check whether your own state, county, or city has adopted a similar program before assuming you have, or don't have, one.
Missing a statute does not mean inspection is optional. In California, Nevada, and states that share their approach, the association's duty to maintain and repair the common area is itself a matter of state law, separate from any inspection-specific statute.
"the association is responsible for repairing, replacing, and maintaining the common area, other than exclusive use common area"
Source: California Civil Code 4775, California Legislative Information
An inspection program is how your board discharges that duty. It exists even where no law names a schedule.
Turn the layers into a checklist for your building
Start by gathering four facts about your own building: its certificate of occupancy date, its height in stories, its distance from the coast if any, and what systems it has, elevators, pools, fire protection, wood-framed balconies.
Those facts tell you which lessons in this course apply to you. A five-story coastal Florida condominium needs to work through structural, facade, and elevator inspections, plus Florida's Structural Integrity Reserve Study. A two-story inland HOA with no elevator may only need fire and roof inspections tracked against its own reserve study and local code.
Florida's reserve study law is worth noting as a model of how a mandatory program can tighten over time: budgets adopted after December 31, 2024 can no longer vote to underfund the structural components the study covers. Whether your state's reserve study rules, if any, work the same way is a question for your own statute.
Build your program layer by layer, confirm it against your own documents, and revisit it whenever your building crosses an age or height threshold.
Check yourself
Answer before you read the explanation, recalling it is what makes it stick.
Your association's state has no milestone inspection law. What should your board conclude?
Your engineer's report cites NFPA's own standards for your fire sprinkler inspection cycle. Which layer of the hierarchy is this?
Phase One of a Florida milestone inspection finds no substantial structural deterioration. What happens next?
Sources
- Florida Statute 553.899, Building safety inspection and repair, The Florida Senate
- Florida Statute 718.112(2)(g), Structural Integrity Reserve Study, The Florida Senate
- Senate Bill 326, enacting California Civil Code 5551, California Legislative Information
- Title 1 of the Rules of the City of New York, section 103-04, Facade Inspection Safety Program, New York City Department of Buildings
- 40-Year (Building Recertification) Program, Miami-Dade County Regulatory and Economic Resources
- Florida Statute 633.312, Inspection of certain fire hydrants and fire protection systems, The Florida Senate
- California Civil Code 4775, California Legislative Information
- Nevada Revised Statutes 116.3107, Upkeep of common-interest community, Nevada Legislature
Related elsewhere in the Academy
Inspections & Building Safety
Once you know which layers apply to your building, the next lesson walks through structural inspections in detail.
Whether your state or city has a mandatory inspection law, and which codes and standards apply to your building, vary widely. Confirm your building's exact requirements with your local building department and your own governing documents.