Miami-Dade Townhouses in 2026: Fee Simple vs Condo Form, and Why It Changes Everything

Last updated: August 2026

In Miami-Dade, "townhouse" describes a building type, not a form of ownership. Two attached homes that look identical from the street can be organized very differently. One can be fee simple: your deed covers the lot the unit sits on, and a homeowners' association governed by Chapter 720 of the Florida Statutes maintains the common areas. The other can be submitted to the condominium form under Chapter 718, so you own a described unit plus an undivided share of the common elements, even though you have your own front door and nobody living above you. The recorded declaration decides which one you have. The architecture does not.

That distinction drives most of what matters financially. It decides whether Florida's post-Surfside milestone inspection and reserve study rules reach your building, whether owners can vote to stop funding the roof, whether the association's policy insures your interior or you do, and how a lender reviews the project. Read the first page of the declaration before you write an offer.

How to tell which form you are buying

Check the legal description. A fee-simple townhouse is usually a lot and block in a recorded plat. A condominium-form townhouse is a unit in a declaration of condominium, with an Official Records book and page reference. A "Declaration of Condominium" means Chapter 718. A "Declaration of Covenants, Conditions and Restrictions" means Chapter 720.

Both forms carry their own Miami-Dade Property Appraiser folio, because Florida law requires each condominium parcel to be separately assessed as a single parcel [1]. The tell is the land: in the condominium form, the ground under your unit is usually a common element, not acreage on your parcel.

Where the segment prices, and why there is no townhouse number

There is no official Miami-Dade townhouse-only median. MIAMI REALTORS reports the category as "existing condominiums," and the Florida Realtors reports underneath it carry the literal label "Townhouses and Condos," with no separate townhouse line anywhere [2]. Every condo median quoted for Miami-Dade already contains townhouse sales.

The two headline categories bracket the segment. In July 2026 the Miami-Dade single-family median sale price was $685,000, up 3.79 percent year over year, on a 4.8-month supply, while the condominium category median was $400,000, down 1.48 percent, on a 12-month supply [3].

Hold that condo line loosely. It is blended, and it tracks high-rise dynamics, including assessment and insurance pressure a fee-simple townhouse community may not share. Use the county figures for direction, then price the community from closed sales matched by ownership form.

The safety and reserve regime is where the forms split

Condominium form

Milestone inspection. Section 553.899 requires one for a building three habitable stories or more in height that is subject, in whole or in part, to the condominium or cooperative form of ownership under chapter 718 or chapter 719, at 30 years of age and every 10 years after. A local enforcement agency may require the first at 25 years. The section does not apply to a single-family, two-family, three-family, or four-family dwelling with three or fewer habitable stories above ground [4].

Reserve study. Section 718.112(2)(g) requires a residential condominium association to complete a structural integrity reserve study at least every 10 years for each building three habitable stories or higher, covering the roof, load-bearing walls and primary structural systems, fireproofing, plumbing, electrical, waterproofing and exterior painting, windows and exterior doors, plus any item with a deferred maintenance or replacement cost above $25,000 adjusted for inflation. For budgets adopted on or after December 31, 2024, members of a unit-owner-controlled association subject to a study may not vote to waive or reduce reserves for those items [5].

Those thresholds cut both ways. A two-story condominium-form townhouse sits below the habitable-story threshold in both statutes and is not swept in. A three-story building holding more than four dwelling units does not fit the small-dwelling exemption. Whether a given row counts as one building, and how many dwellings it holds, is a question for the building official and an attorney.

Fee-simple form

Chapter 720 contains no milestone inspection requirement, no reserve study requirement, and no mandatory reserves. An association is deemed to have provided for reserve accounts only upon affirmative approval of a majority of the total voting interests, and once reserves exist the membership may vote to provide no reserves or less than the section requires, with any waiver applying to a single budget year [6].

That is the real exposure on the fee-simple side, the mirror image of what buyers assume. Members can vote the reserve line down year after year while roofs and private roads age. An absent mandate is not an absent liability, only an undocumented one.

The county backstop most buyers miss

Under Section 8-11(f) of the Code of Miami-Dade County, buildings become subject to recertification at 30 years of age and every 10 years after, and the only exempt structures are single-family homes, duplexes, and minor structures [7]. Ownership form is not part of that test. A townhouse row in an older community can sit entirely outside Chapter 718 and still draw a recertification notice requiring an engineer's or architect's report. Confirm status with the municipal building department.

Insurance: who insures what

Under the condominium form, Section 718.111(11) requires the association's policy to cover all portions of the condominium property as originally installed, and to exclude personal property along with floor, wall, and ceiling coverings, electrical fixtures, appliances, water heaters, water filters, built-in cabinets and countertops, and window treatments inside the unit. That is the owner's responsibility, which an HO-6 policy covers. The same subsection makes association deductibles and damages above the association's coverage a common expense, subject to exceptions [8]. A large named-storm deductible reaches you as an assessment, not a claim.

Chapter 720 has no equivalent statutory mandate. The association insures whatever the declaration says, which in most Miami-Dade townhouse HOAs is common area rather than your building envelope, pushing the structure onto your own policy. Citizens Property Insurance writes its HO-3 for detached single-family homes and duplexes, and its HO-6 for condominium-unit owners, covering interior features rather than the exterior [9]. An attached fee-simple townhouse fits neither cleanly, so settle the policy form in writing during inspections.

How lenders see the two forms

Fannie Mae waives project review for units in new and established PUD projects, with a narrow exception for certain manufactured-home projects [10]. A condominium project gets no such pass. Under a Full Review, the lender must confirm the budget funds replacement reserves for capital expenditures and deferred maintenance of at least 10 percent of the budget, and that no more than 15 percent of units are 60 days or more delinquent on assessments [11].

A fee-simple townhouse in a PUD is underwritten much like a house. A condominium-form townhouse is underwritten like a condominium, where the association's finances can make a fully qualified borrower unfinanceable. Two identical units on one street can carry different financing risk because of what somebody recorded decades ago.

Check the rate environment yourself against Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Market Survey [12] rather than any figure in an article. Model both forms with dues and any known special assessment as fixed monthly cost alongside principal and interest, at an explicitly hypothetical rate such as an illustrative 6 percent, which is arithmetic only and not a quote or an offer of credit. To run it on a specific unit, start with a buyer consultation.

What to diligence before you buy

The condominium disclosure package is the stronger of the two. On a resale, Section 718.503(2) requires the seller to furnish the governing documents, the annual financial statement and budget, the inspector-prepared summary of the milestone inspection report where applicable, the association's most recent structural integrity reserve study or a statement that none exists, the frequently asked questions sheet, and the governance form. The buyer may cancel within 7 days, excluding Saturdays, Sundays, and legal holidays, after executing the agreement and receiving those documents [13].

For a fee-simple parcel in a mandatory homeowners' association, Section 720.401 requires only a disclosure summary: the buyer must be a member, must pay assessments, and nonpayment can create a lien. If it was not provided before signing, the contract is voidable on written notice within 3 days after receipt or before closing, whichever comes first [14].

Either way, ask for the same things:

Three years of budgets and financials, plus current reserve balances by component.
Board and membership minutes for the last 12 to 24 months, where special assessments surface first.
The master policy declarations page, including the named-storm deductible and its allocation.
Any recorded or pending special assessment. A condominium unit owner is jointly and severally liable with the previous owner for unpaid assessments due up to transfer of title [15], and a parcel owner in an HOA carries the same liability [16].
Condominium form: the milestone report and reserve study themselves. Fee simple: whether reserves exist and whether members have waived them.

Have a Florida real estate attorney review the declaration and estoppel letter, and a CPA review any assessment with tax consequences. Ownership form varies community by community, so an attached home in Coral Gables and one a few miles away can be different underwriting propositions at the same price. To see how the form shapes your buyer pool, start with a listing valuation.

Frequently asked questions

Is a townhouse a condo in Florida?

It can be. Florida law does not define "townhouse" as a category of ownership. Ownership comes from the recorded declaration, and one builder can deliver one community fee simple under Chapter 720 and the next as a condominium under Chapter 718.

Does the milestone inspection law apply to my Miami-Dade townhouse?

Under state law, only if the building is three habitable stories or more and is subject to the condominium or cooperative form under chapter 718 or chapter 719 [4]. A Chapter 720 fee-simple townhouse sits outside that statute regardless of age. Miami-Dade County's recertification program is separate, applies at 30 years, and exempts only single-family homes, duplexes, and minor structures [7].

Do fee-simple townhouse associations have to fund reserves?

No. Reserve accounts under Chapter 720 exist only if the membership approves them, and members can then vote to waive or reduce them for a given budget year [6]. Treat an unfunded reserve as a deferred liability you are buying, and price it.

Gabriel

Sources

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Gabriel A. Moyers, PA. eXp Realty. Florida License #3407280. Equal Housing Opportunity. This article is general information as of August 2026 and is not legal, tax, or financial advice. Verify current figures against authoritative sources before acting.