Last updated September 27, 2026

Selling an Inherited Condo in Florida: Assessments, Estoppel, Milestone Reports and the Association

Short answer: An inherited condominium unit follows the same Florida probate rules as a house, with an association attached. Assessments keep accruing from the day of death and follow the unit (section 718.116(1)(a), Florida Statutes); the title company closes on an estoppel certificate the association must issue within 10 business days (section 718.116(8)); the buyer is entitled to the declaration, budget, financials, milestone inspection summary and structural integrity reserve study and can cancel within 7 business days of receiving the core documents (section 718.503(2)); and the association may have an approval or right-of-first-refusal clause that sets the closing timeline. In Palm Beach and Broward the building's inspection and reserve position now decides the buyer pool as much as the unit does.

Informational purposes only. This is not legal advice and no attorney-client relationship is created by reading it. PBP Real Estate, LLC is a licensed Florida real estate brokerage (License CQ1064615), not a law firm. Statutory references are to chapters 553, 718, 732 and 733, Florida Statutes, as published by the Florida Legislature and read on the date shown above; the estate's attorney interprets them for your facts.

What is the same as a house, and what is different?

Who owes the assessments while the estate is open?

The association does not pause billing for a death. Under section 718.116(1)(a), a unit owner "is liable for all assessments which come due while he or she is the unit owner" and is "jointly and severally liable with the previous owner for all unpaid assessments that came due up to the time of transfer of title". In an estate that means the personal representative pays the monthly assessments from estate funds as an expense of preserving the asset, or the heirs advance them and are reimbursed at closing. Unpaid amounts, late fees, interest and the association's attorney's fees all end up on the estoppel certificate and come off the top of the sale proceeds.

The risk in a long probate is not the arrears themselves but the lien. Section 718.116(5) and (6) give the association a lien for unpaid assessments and the right to foreclose it, and associations in older Broward and Palm Beach buildings do foreclose on estate units when nobody is paying. A family that cannot fund the assessments should tell the estate's attorney immediately; it is a reason to move the sale forward, not a reason to wait.

What is the estoppel certificate and when should it be ordered?

The estoppel certificate is the association's statement, signed by a board member or its authorized agent, of everything owed on the unit as of its date: regular assessments and the period they cover, special assessments and their schedule, late charges, interest, fines and pending violations, plus the contact details for the association and its management. Under section 718.116(8) the association must deliver it within 10 business days of a written request from the owner or the owner's designee, and the statute sets the base fees: up to $250 when nothing is delinquent, an additional $100 for delivery within 3 business days, and up to $150 more when the unit is delinquent, all adjusted every five years by the Department of Business and Professional Regulation and published on its website.

The title company orders the certificate before closing. We ask the personal representative to authorize an earlier copy at the time the unit is listed, for two reasons: the family sees the real net figure before an offer arrives, and any dispute over fines or a mis-posted payment is resolved while there is still time, not in the last week before closing.

What must the buyer receive, and when can the buyer cancel?

Section 718.503(2)(a) entitles a buyer who has signed a contract, at the seller's expense, to a current copy of:

1. The declaration of condominium.
2. The articles of incorporation of the association.
3. The bylaws and rules.
4. The association's annual financial statement and annual budget.
5. The inspector-prepared summary of the milestone inspection report under section 553.899, if applicable.
6. The most recent structural integrity reserve study, or a statement that none has been completed.
7. Any turnover inspection report for a turnover performed on or after July 1, 2023.
8. The "Frequently Asked Questions and Answers" document required by section 718.504.

The buyer is also entitled to the Division's governance form (section 718.503(2)(b)). Section 718.503(2)(d) then requires every resale contract to carry, in conspicuous type, either an acknowledgment that the buyer received the core documents more than 7 days (excluding Saturdays, Sundays and legal holidays) before signing, or a clause making the contract voidable by the buyer within 7 days of signing and receiving them, with the buyer allowed to extend closing by up to 7 days after receipt. Since January 1, 2025, section 718.503(2)(e) adds a parallel statement about the milestone inspection, turnover report and reserve study: either that the association has completed them and the buyer received them, or that it was required to and has not, or that it is not required to. A contract missing the required clause is voidable by the buyer before closing.

For the estate, the practical rule is to assemble the entire document set before the unit goes live. A cancellation window that starts only when the last document is delivered means an incomplete file keeps the buyer's exit open for weeks.

What do the milestone inspection and the reserve study mean for the price?

The consequence for an inherited unit is that the building, not the unit, is priced first. A well-run building with a clean milestone report, a completed reserve study and reserves funded will draw the full buyer pool including financed buyers. A building with an open phase-two inspection, a reserve study that recommends a large catch-up, or a pending special assessment will draw mainly cash buyers pricing in the risk. Both can sell; they do not sell at the same number, and the estate's expectations need to be set from the building's file. Our milestone inspection guide explains what the reports say, and the condo assessment stress index and condo prices, assessments and insurance pages cover how the market has responded.

Can the association approve or block the buyer?

Only to the extent its own documents say so. Chapter 718 does not itself require buyer approval, but many Palm Beach and Broward declarations written from the 1960s to the 1990s require the board to approve any purchaser, and some reserve a right of first refusal for the association. Where approval is required and the documents provide for a fee, section 718.112(2)(k) caps the transfer or approval fee at $150 per applicant (spouses, or parents with dependent children, count as one), adjusted by DBPR for inflation. Applications, interviews and background checks add days or weeks to the closing timeline, and minimum-lease periods, occupancy restrictions and pet rules narrow who will apply. We read those clauses before we set the price or the closing date, because a buyer who is told "closing in 30 days" and then waits 45 for a board meeting is a buyer who renegotiates.

Who pays a special assessment that is already on the books?

A special assessment levied before the contract is a matter of contract allocation, not statute. Florida's standard condominium rider lets the parties choose whether the seller pays it in full at closing or the buyer assumes future installments; the estoppel certificate sets out exactly what is levied and what remains due. A special assessment that the board has discussed but not yet voted is a pending assessment: it has to be disclosed to the buyer, and the family should decide with the attorney how the contract will treat it before an offer arrives. In buildings working through milestone repairs this is now the single most negotiated term after price.

What should the estate do in the first two weeks?

• Confirm assessments are current and put the association on notice of the death and of who is authorized to speak for the estate.
• Keep the unit's own insurance policy in force and confirm the association's master policy and wind coverage; an uninsured vacant unit is the family's risk.
• Request the document set under section 718.503(2), the last two years of budgets and financials, board minutes for the last twelve months, the milestone inspection summary and the reserve study.
• Order an early estoppel certificate.
• Read the approval, right-of-first-refusal, leasing and occupancy clauses in the declaration.
• Confirm from the deed how title was held, so the right person signs; then read the matching page above.
• Obtain the date-of-death and current opinions of value from unit sales in the same building and comparable buildings; a condo cannot be priced from single-family comparables.

Where we fit

We are not lawyers and we do not interpret the declaration for the family; the estate's attorney does that. What we do is the unit and the building: assembling the section 718.503 document set, ordering the early estoppel, reading the milestone and reserve reports so that the written opinion of value reflects the building's position, managing the approval process against the closing date, and running the sale so that the estate closes on schedule. Where a building is in trouble we say so in writing, because a family that lists an estate unit at a price the building cannot support loses months, and months in a condominium are assessments.

Related

• Probate real estate in South Florida — the full guide for executors and personal representatives
• Can the personal representative sell without a court order?
• Homestead property in a Florida probate — a condominium can be homestead too
• Selling property held in a living trust
• Stepped-up basis on inherited property
• Florida milestone inspections explained
• How to sell a condo in Palm Beach County
• Probate and inherited property in Broward County

Written and reviewed by Gia Freer, Broker of Record, PBP Real Estate, LLC · Florida broker license BK689801 · brokerage license CQ1064615. Last reviewed September 27, 2026.