Under the contract form most Florida condo buyers now sign, a special assessment that a board has discussed but not yet approved is not a cost the seller automatically pays at closing. That is a change. A Highland Beach lawsuit filed in 2025 rests on the older version of the contract. It shows clearly what that older language used to do for a buyer, and how much of the burden has since moved to the buyer's own homework.
What the Toscana South Buyers Say Happened
In October 2025, BocaNewsNow reported on a suit filed in Palm Beach County Circuit Court by Eugene and Debbie Friedlander against Mark Kaplan, who sold them a Toscana South condominium for $3.65 million. The complaint sets out this sequence, and every step of it is an allegation the court has not ruled on:
- February 28, 2024. A planned elevator replacement is on the Toscana South Condominium Association's board agenda and appears in the meeting minutes.
- March 2024. The association's general manager notifies all unit owners, including the seller, about the planned assessment.
- May 4, 2024. The sales contract is signed. Its Condominium Rider says the seller is "not aware of any special or other assessment" discussed or minuted in the prior 12 months.
- June 5, 2024. The buyers close.
- October 2024. The buyers are formally told the assessment has been levied and their share is $91,595.
According to court filings, the elevators were more than 20 years old and the manufacturer had warned that parts were becoming obsolete. A board memo put the replacement at $5 million to $7 million and said a special assessment was needed so the reserves would not be drained. The buyers are suing for breach of contract and are asking for the full assessment plus attorney's fees. The most recent follow-up we found, a law firm post dated January 6, 2026, still describes the case as recently filed. We found no ruling or settlement.
The Contract Clause Behind That Claim Has Been Rewritten
The buyers' case relies on the rider they signed in 2024. That older form defined a "pending" assessment as one that had been on an association agenda or reported in the minutes within the 12 months before the contract date. It also said that if a levied or pending assessment existed and the seller had not disclosed it, the seller had to pay it in full at closing.
The Florida Realtors/Florida Bar Condominium Rider was revised with an effective date of July 1, 2025, after HB 913 was approved on June 23, 2025. In the redlined rider published by Florida Realtors, the word "pending" and the automatic seller-pays rule are struck out.
| Question | Pre-2025 rider | July 2025 rider |
|---|---|---|
| What triggers a payment obligation | Assessments levied or "pending," meaning on an agenda or in minutes within 12 months | Only assessments levied, meaning approved as required for enforcement under Florida law and the condo documents |
| Undisclosed assessment discussed before the contract | Seller pays in full at closing | No automatic payment rule; discussion is a disclosure item only |
| Assessment levied by the contract date | Covered by the seller's representation | Check box for buyer or seller; seller if left blank |
| Assessment levied between contract and closing | Seller pays amounts due before closing, buyer pays after | Check box for buyer or seller; seller if left blank |
| Installments due after closing | Single check box | Seller pays installments due by closing; separate check box for later installments, buyer if left blank |
Sellers still have to list any special assessments that have been levied, or discussed at a board meeting, in the 12 months before the contract date. The real estate law firm Berlin Patten summarized the change this way: payment now runs only to assessments that have been levied.
Apply that to a Toscana-style timeline today. An elevator plan that has been discussed but not yet approved shows up in the contract as a line of disclosure. If the board approves the assessment after closing, the bill goes to whoever owns the unit at that point. What protects the buyer is spotting the plan early enough to negotiate a price adjustment, a credit, or a decision to walk away.
Why This Matters in Highland Beach Right Now
Highland Beach is almost entirely condominium towers between the ocean and the Intracoastal, and it trades mostly in cash. Florida Realtors' municipal report for Q2 2026, released July 17, 2026, counts 69 townhouse and condo closings in the town. That is up 109.1 percent from a year earlier, and 59 of those sales were cash. A cash purchase has no lender reviewing the association's finances, so the buyer's own document review is the only check.
The same Q2 2026 report shows demand rising while prices softened. The median sale price was $1,010,000, down 10.2 percent from a year earlier. Active listings fell 15.3 percent to 116, and months of supply dropped 39.5 percent to 7.8. The median time to contract was 120 days, and sellers received 90.5 percent of original list price.
Supply tightened and closings doubled, yet units still took about four months to go under contract and sold below their asking prices. That gap is where negotiating happens, and a known upcoming expense in a building is one of the few concrete facts a buyer can bring to that conversation. The data does not say why any given unit sold at a discount. It does show a market where buyers have room to ask questions before they sign. The Q3 2026 report is scheduled for October 16, 2026, and will replace these numbers.
Where a Planned Assessment Shows Up Before It Is Levied
Each document in a Florida resale captures a different stage of an assessment. A buyer who reads only one of them can miss the stage that matters.
Board minutes and agendas. This is where the Toscana South elevator plan first appeared, according to the complaint. Minutes are official records that associations must keep permanently. They are not part of the statutory resale package, though. The 2025 rider lets a buyer request 12 months of board and member minutes and agendas, and gives the buyer 7 days to cancel after receiving everything requested. Since January 1, 2026, associations with 25 or more units and no timeshare units must post approved minutes from the past 12 months on a protected website or app, so a seller can often send them quickly.
The resale document package. Under Section 718.503, the seller provides the declaration, bylaws, rules, budget, annual financial statement and FAQ sheet. The package also includes the milestone inspection summary where one applies, and the most recent structural integrity reserve study or a statement that none has been completed. The buyer has 7 days, not counting weekends and legal holidays, to review and cancel. That window used to be 3 days. For contracts signed after December 31, 2024, the contract must also say whether the association has completed the required milestone inspection and reserve study.
The estoppel certificate. Under Section 718.116, this lists what the unit owes when the certificate is issued, plus amounts scheduled to come due while the certificate is in effect. It is good for 30 days if delivered by hand or electronically, and 35 days if mailed. An assessment the board has only discussed does not have to appear on it. DBPR's adjusted cap on the preparation fee is $299.
The estoppel comes last and is the narrowest of the three. A clean estoppel only shows that nothing has been levied yet. The minutes are where an upcoming assessment first appears.
Reading the Building the Way an Inspector Reads a House
The Toscana South filings describe a familiar warning sign: elevators more than 20 years old, with the manufacturer saying parts were becoming obsolete. A reserve study and a milestone inspection summary are where systems like that show up as remaining useful life and estimated cost. When we read one, we line up three things. First, the systems approaching the end of their life, such as elevators, roofs and concrete. Second, how much is actually in reserves for them. Third, whether the minutes show the board talking about how to pay.
Highland Beach has seen how large these programs can get. In February 2024, The Coastal Star reported that the 336-unit Coronado was doing roof replacement, concrete restoration, rewiring and common-area work under a $12 million program. It was funded partly by a $40,000-per-unit assessment payable over eight years. That report predates the current rules and says nothing about where the project stands today. It is useful for showing the size of these costs and the way they can be spread over years. The installment check box in the 2025 rider, which defaults to the buyer for installments due after closing, exists for exactly that kind of payment plan.
What Sellers Should Take From the Same Case
The disclosure line in the revised rider still asks the seller to name any assessment discussed at a board meeting in the past 12 months, with its purpose and amount if known. A seller who has received a manager's notice or attended a meeting about a major project should write it down there. Buyers can now pull the same minutes themselves, and a complete disclosure at the start reduces the chance of a dispute after closing. For an assessment that is already levied, the check boxes decide who pays, and the seller pays if the boxes are left blank.
Frequently Asked Questions
If a board approves an assessment after I sign but before I close, who pays? Under the 2025 rider, a separate check box decides that, and the seller pays if it is left blank. If the assessment can be paid in installments, the seller pays what is due by closing, and a third box decides who pays later installments.
Is the old 3-day review period still in effect? No. Current law gives a resale buyer 7 days, not counting weekends and legal holidays, to review the required documents.
Can a buyer get the minutes directly from the association? The right to inspect records belongs to unit owners and the people they authorize. A buyer usually gets the minutes through the seller's authorization or the rider's records request.
If you are looking at a Highland Beach condo, Taylor Kane Group can review the minutes, the reserve study and the milestone summary with you during your review period, with Jared's 15-plus years of inspection experience behind the read, so any upcoming building cost is clear before you commit. Schedule a consultation before you sign the rider.
