In Juno Beach's Older Condos, the Scariest Number in the Reserve Study Is Often the Optional One

The Waterfront on the Ocean at Juno Beach, at 800 Ocean Drive, has posted two engineering documents on its association website. A resale buyer receives the inspector's summary of the first and the full text of the second. The first is a milestone inspection from December 2023. It found the building in good condition, rated it safe, and required no structural repairs. The engineer noted only minor stucco and concrete damage plus some fixes to keep water out. The second is a Structural Integrity Reserve Study for the 2026 budget year. It recommends raising annual reserve contributions by 240.75 percent.

Both documents are accurate, and they don't contradict each other. That 240 percent figure is made up entirely of reserves that Florida law lets owners waive by majority vote. The reserves the law locks in are already being funded at the recommended level. For a buyer looking at an older oceanfront condo in Juno Beach, that split is the most useful line in the whole disclosure package.

Where the 240 percent comes from

The Waterfront's reserve study was dated October 2, 2025, and covers 59 units. It lists 67 reserve components with a current replacement cost of $6,831,390. The association was contributing $162,000 a year to reserves. The analyst recommends $552,018, split into two lines:

• SIRS components: $162,000 recommended, the same amount the association was already contributing
• Non-SIRS components: $390,018 recommended, labeled in the report as "waivable with majority vote of membership"
• Special assessments, loans or settlements: $0

The increase is $390,018, which is the non-SIRS line exactly. A buyer who reads only the summary percentage might picture a dues spike driven by structural trouble. The structural reserve line shows no gap at all.

Reading it that way doesn't settle the question, though. The same report puts the building's reserves at 22 percent of fully funded: a beginning-year balance of $887,461 against an ideal balance of $4,007,646. The association's public document index lists the reserve study and the milestone report but no adopted 2026 budget or meeting minutes. From those public documents alone, a buyer can't tell whether owners waived the non-SIRS amount. That missing budget is what a buyer should request next.

Safe and thinly reserved can both be true

The two documents answer different questions, which is why they can read so differently. A milestone inspection asks whether the building is structurally sound today. A reserve study asks whether the association has the money set aside to replace things as they wear out over the coming years.

The Colony of Juno Beach, at 80 Celestial Way, shows how much a milestone report leaves out. Its two buildings were built in 1968. A July 2023 milestone report rated them overall "GOOD" and "SAFE," with only minor repairs and no structural work required. The repair table lists condition, recommended repairs and locations, with no dollar estimates. A milestone report is an engineering judgment. It is not a budget.

Statewide, the milestone process has turned up a wide range of results. According to The Real Deal's July 2026 coverage of a state OPPAGA report:

• 8,736 condo buildings completed phase-one inspections.
• Building officials granted nearly 1,600 deadline extensions, 94 percent of them to buildings in coastal municipalities.
• Estimated repair values ranged from under $1,000 to $30 million.

A clean milestone report puts a building at the good end of that range on structure. The reserve study tells a buyer how the building plans to stay there.

What Florida locked, and what it left to a vote

The split in The Waterfront's report comes straight from statute. Under section 718.112(2)(g)1, a SIRS must cover at least these items for buildings three habitable stories or taller:

• Roof
• Structure, including load-bearing walls and primary structural systems
• Fireproofing and fire protection systems
• Plumbing
• Electrical systems
• Waterproofing and exterior painting
• Windows and exterior doors

Other items can be added when their deferred maintenance or replacement cost tops $25,000 or the state's inflation-adjusted figure, and their neglect would harm one of the listed components. Everything else, such as pool equipment or interior finishes, belongs in the traditional, non-SIRS reserve.

For budgets adopted on or after December 31, 2024, owners in a unit-owner-controlled association required to have a SIRS can't vote to fund less than the required reserves for SIRS items. SIRS reserve money may only be spent on those components, with one exception: when the condominium is being terminated, owners can vote to waive the SIRS-recommended reserves. Non-SIRS reserves can still be waived or reduced by a majority of the total voting interests.

Two more provisions affect the timeline:

1. A temporary pause for repairs. After a majority vote of all voting interests, an eligible association may pause or reduce reserve contributions to pay for repairs recommended in a milestone inspection completed within the previous two calendar years. The pause can last no more than two consecutive annual budgets, the last of which must be adopted by December 31, 2028. A SIRS must be completed before contributions resume.
2. A final deadline. Covered existing associations had a December 31, 2025 deadline to complete a SIRS. The absolute outside date is December 31, 2026, less than three months from now.

The 2026 legislative session made no substantive changes to these funding, resale or website rules.

Seven days to do the reading

Under section 718.503, a resale buyer is entitled to a package at the seller's expense. It includes the governing documents, the annual financial statement and budget, the inspector-prepared milestone summary where one applies, and the most recent SIRS or a statement that none has been done. The contract must either confirm that the buyer received the core documents more than seven days before signing, or give the buyer seven days to cancel after receiving them. Saturdays, Sundays and legal holidays don't count. The right ends at closing, and any waiver of it is ineffective. A separate seven-day right applies to the milestone summary and the SIRS. The buyer can also ask in writing to extend closing by up to seven days after receiving them.

Associations managing a condominium with 25 or more units and no timeshare units must post their most recent SIRS and inspection reports on a website or app within 30 days of receiving them. The posting deadline for existing documents was January 1, 2026. Many Juno Beach buildings clear the 25-unit threshold, so the reports often exist before an offer is written. Some sites keep budgets behind a password, though, so a buyer may only see them once the contract package arrives.

Here is a reading order that fits inside the seven days:

1. Open the reserve study's summary page and find the recommended SIRS contribution. Compare it with the current contribution.
2. Find the non-SIRS figure, which reports label as waivable.
3. Check the fully funded percentage and the number of components scheduled for replacement in year one. The Waterfront's report lists eight year-one components costing $670,997.
4. Read the adopted budget and recent minutes to see whether owners waived the non-SIRS reserves or voted to pause contributions.
5. Read the milestone summary for repair items and compare them with any special assessment line in the SIRS.

Why the reading window carries more weight this fall

There is no non-portal data source for Juno Beach condos on their own, so the county figures are the best available measure. In August 2026, the Palm Beach County townhouse and condo market looked like this:

• Median sale price: $300,000, up 5.3 percent from a year earlier
• Active listings: 5,770, down 17.1 percent
• Months of supply: 6.7, down from 9.0
• Median time to contract: 69 days
• Sellers received a median 92.6 percent of their original list price
• Closed sales: down 6.7 percent

These figures come from the MIAMI REALTORS summary released September 16, 2026.

With supply shrinking, a buyer has fewer comparable listings to fall back on. Cancelling within the seven days and starting over now means choosing from a smaller pool than a year ago. Reading the reserve study closely before signing costs less than discovering the gap afterward. For sellers, a reserve study whose SIRS line is already fully funded is a document worth putting in front of buyers early.

Quick answers

Does a big recommended increase mean dues will rise by that much?

Not necessarily. The non-SIRS portion can be waived or reduced by a majority of voting interests. The adopted budget shows what owners actually pay.

Can owners vote to skip structural reserves?

For budgets adopted on or after December 31, 2024, unit-owner-controlled associations required to have a SIRS can't vote to underfund SIRS items. The exceptions are the voted repair pause, which runs through budgets adopted by December 31, 2028, and the termination exception.

If the milestone report says "safe," do I still need the SIRS?

Yes. The milestone report covers the building's structural condition, while the SIRS covers how future replacements will be paid for. A building can pass the first and still show a low funded percentage on the second. Nothing here is legal or financial advice, so take specific contract questions to a Florida real estate attorney.

If you're weighing a Juno Beach condo and the reserve study is already in your inbox, The Ahee Group can help you read the SIRS split, request the adopted budget and minutes, and do it all before your seven days run out. Request a Concierge Consultation to get started.