How do I check whether a West Palm Beach condo association has adequate reserves?

Start with the documents the statute gives you

You do not have to negotiate for the reserve picture. Section 718.503 requires that a resale buyer of an existing unit receive the declaration of condominium, the articles of incorporation, the bylaws and rules, an annual financial statement and annual budget, a copy of the inspector prepared summary of the milestone inspection report where one applies, the association's most recent structural integrity reserve study or a statement that none has been completed, the turnover inspection report for inspections performed after July 1, 2023, and the governance form.

Note what the statute allows in place of a study: a statement that none has been completed. That statement is itself a finding. For a building of 3 habitable stories or higher whose association existed on or before July 1, 2022, the first study was due by December 31, 2025, so an association that still cannot produce one is telling you something about how it is run.

• Request the study, the budget, the year end financials, and the milestone summary together, in writing.
• Ask for the 2 most recent annual budgets, not just the current one, so you can see the direction of travel.
• Ask directly whether any special assessment has been proposed, approved, or is being discussed.

Read the structural integrity reserve study first

Section 718.112(2)(g) requires a residential condominium association to have a structural integrity reserve study completed at least every 10 years for each building on the property that is 3 habitable stories or higher. The study must identify and price the roof, the load bearing walls and other primary structural members, fireproofing and fire protection systems, plumbing, electrical systems, waterproofing and exterior painting, and windows and exterior doors. It must also cover any other item with a deferred maintenance expense or replacement cost exceeding 25,000 dollars, or the inflation adjusted amount, whichever is greater.

For each of those components, the study should give a remaining useful life and an estimated replacement cost. Those 2 numbers are the whole analysis. A roof with 3 years of life left and a 6 figure replacement cost is a known, dated bill, and your share of it is your ownership percentage. If the study is silent, vague, or omits a required component, that is a gap to raise before the cancellation window closes, not after.

Percent funded is a convention, not a legal standard

Buyers hear that an association should be 70 percent funded. That figure comes from a reserve study firm's published rating scale, which calls a community strong at 70 to 130 percent funded, fair at 30 to 69 percent, and weak below 30 percent. It is an industry convention used to compare communities. Florida law does not set a percent funded threshold. What Florida law requires is that the study be done and that the covered components be funded at the level the study calls for.

The benchmark is still useful for context. The same firm's review of more than 100,000 reserve studies reported that 74 percent of associations were less than 70 percent funded. A building below that line is common rather than exceptional. What separates a manageable situation from an expensive one is whether the underfunding sits against components with short remaining life.

Cross-check the study against the budget

The study states the requirement. The budget states the response. Put them side by side and look for 3 things. First, whether reserve line items are itemized by component rather than lumped into a single figure. Second, whether the annual contribution is rising toward what the study calls for or holding flat. Third, whether the association is relying on a loan, a line of credit, or a special assessment to close the gap, which the 2025 legislation permits with majority approval of the voting interests.

That same 2025 legislation, approved June 23, 2025 as chapter 2025-175 and effective July 1, 2025, also lets an association that completed a milestone inspection within the previous 2 years pause or reduce reserve contributions for no more than 2 consecutive annual budgets, for budgets adopted on or before December 31, 2028. If the budget in front of you reflects such a pause, the contribution you are reading is temporary by design and will step back up.

Where an unresolved question goes

If an association will not produce the records, the Division of Florida Condominiums, Timeshares, and Mobile Homes within the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation accepts complaints about condominium associations and publishes a complaint form and filing instructions. Treat it as an enforcement route rather than a research tool. It is not a searchable public log of complaints by association name, so confirm directly with the division what it will and will not disclose before relying on an absence of complaints as evidence of anything.

What the records cannot show

• A reserve study estimates remaining useful life and replacement cost. It is not a guarantee that a component will last that long or cost that much.
• A budget shows what the board planned. It does not show what the board will approve at the next meeting.
• A percent funded figure compares money on hand to a projection. It does not tell you which component fails first.
• The state complaint process is a filing route, not a searchable history, so no complaint on file does not establish that no dispute exists.
• None of these documents price the interior condition of the unit you are buying.