The Seven-Year Clock Highland Beach Condo Buyers Need to Understand Before They Offer

In June 2024, Eugene and Debbie Friedlander closed on a unit at the Toscana condominium community in Highland Beach. Not long after, a special assessment landed on their doorstep, one they say seller Mark Kaplan knew about and never disclosed. The dispute is now in Palm Beach County Circuit Court, and whatever the judge decides, the case has already done something useful for anyone shopping this market: it put a number on a risk that used to live only in board meeting minutes.

That number showed up again this month in a different form. A September 14, 2026 snapshot of active condominium listings across Palm Beach, Broward, Miami-Dade, Martin, and St. Lucie counties found that Highland Beach led every city in the table, with 16.5 percent of its 103 condos for sale disclosing an unresolved special assessment, structural integrity reserve study, milestone inspection, or 40/50-year recertification, without stating that the work was paid, complete, or funded. Palm Beach County as a whole sat at 3.0 percent. The five-county average was 5.1 percent. Highland Beach was running more than five times higher than the county it sits in.

The easy explanation is building age. Highland Beach's oceanfront stock skews older, and older buildings under Florida's post-Surfside safety laws carry more open paperwork. That is true, but it is not the whole story, and it is not the part a buyer actually needs to know before writing an offer.

Why the Number Runs Higher Here Than It Should

Florida's statewide milestone inspection law, Florida Statute 553.899, sets one clock for every qualifying building in the state: an initial structural inspection at 30 years of age, or 25 years if a local jurisdiction determines coastal exposure warrants it, then a repeat inspection every 10 years after that. That clock does not accelerate as a building ages. A 45-year-old tower and a 75-year-old tower both sit on the same 10-year rhythm under state law.

Highland Beach does not use the state's rhythm alone. The town's own Building Recertification Ordinance, adopted as Ordinance 2022-008, layers a local schedule on top of the statewide one. Under the town's rule, buildings 25 years or older recertify every 10 years, matching the state. But once a building crosses 40 years, Highland Beach shortens the interval to every 7 years. The ordinance applies to both Threshold Buildings, defined locally as structures over three stories or 50 feet tall, and Association Buildings covered separately under state law, which means most of the town's condo towers are caught by whichever trigger applies first.

That compression matters more than it sounds like it should. A building that turns 40 in Highland Beach does not get a decade of quiet before its next structural review. It gets seven years, and the town's Building Official is required to send a Notice of Required Inspection at least 180 days before that deadline arrives, whether or not the association has budgeted for it. For a buyer, that notice landing in a board's mailbox is often the first domino that leads to a special assessment.

The state law is what most Florida condo explainers cover. Highland Beach's own ordinance is the part that explains why this particular town's listings carry so much more open paperwork than the county average. It is not just older buildings. It is older buildings on a faster local clock.

What the Documents Actually Tell You

None of this means avoid Highland Beach. It means read the file before you fall for the view. Before writing an offer, ask the seller's association for the same package a careful buyer should request in any Florida condo purchase, and confirm each one is current rather than pending:

• The condominium declaration, bylaws, and current rules
• Board meeting minutes from the past 12 months, specifically any discussion of assessments or deferred repairs
• The current budget and the most recent Structural Integrity Reserve Study
• The building's most recent milestone inspection report and its status with the town
• Confirmation of whether the town has issued a Notice of Required Inspection for the building

A listing that discloses one of these items openly is not automatically a worse buy than one that discloses nothing. It may simply be a building being honest about where it sits on the clock. What the Toscana dispute shows is what happens when that disclosure does not happen cleanly. The standard Florida Realtors and Florida Bar Condominium Rider now requires sellers to disclose assessments that are levied, pending, or on a board agenda within the past 12 months. Ask for that rider by name and read it before you sign.

The Grant Most Buyers Never Ask About

There is a piece of this story that cuts the other way. Highland Beach residents have access to the My Safe Florida Condominium Pilot Program, which offers approved associations matching funds of two dollars for every one dollar spent, up to $175,000, to harden buildings against storm damage. The town's own site credits District 91 State Representative Peggy Gossett-Seidman with spreading awareness of the program locally.

A building that has applied for and used this grant is doing exactly what the 2026 legal landscape rewards: funding structural work ahead of a mandate rather than after a surprise assessment. It is a fair question to ask any association before you buy. Has the building applied for My Safe Florida Condominium funding? Was it approved? What did the matching dollars go toward? An association that can answer clearly is usually the same association that keeps clean minutes and funds its reserves on schedule.

The Same Beach, a Sharper Question

None of this changes why Highland Beach draws buyers in the first place. It is still the barrier island between Boca Raton and Delray Beach where the skyline stays low and the ocean stays close. What has changed is how much of that appeal now comes with a paper trail worth reading before closing, not after. The town's own recertification schedule runs faster than the state's once a building passes 40, and the disclosure numbers on today's market reflect exactly that. A buyer who understands the seven-year clock is negotiating from a different position than one who only knows the statewide 10-year version.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does a disclosed special assessment mean I should walk away from a Highland Beach condo? Not automatically. It means you should get the SIRS, the milestone inspection status, and 12 months of board minutes before deciding whether the assessment is fully funded, being financed, or still pending a vote.

Is Highland Beach's local recertification ordinance the same as the state's milestone inspection law? No. The state law under Florida Statute 553.899 sets a flat 10-year re-inspection cycle after the initial trigger. Highland Beach's own ordinance shortens that to 7 years once a building passes 40 years old, on top of the state requirement.

How do I find out if a specific building has received a Notice of Required Inspection? Ask the association directly, or contact the Town of Highland Beach's Building Department. The town is required to issue that notice at least 180 days before a building's recertification deadline.

Reading a condo's structural file before you write an offer is the kind of diligence that protects both sides of a closing table. If you are weighing a purchase on this stretch of coastline and want a second set of eyes on what a building's paperwork is really saying, Tanya Ajay can walk through it with you. Schedule a Private Consultation to start.