Key Findings

1. No structural or milestone mandate exists. The Alabama Uniform Condominium Act of 1991 imposes a general duty to maintain, repair, and replace common elements (Ala. Code § 35-8A-307) — not a fixed-schedule structural inspection. There are no statutory trigger ages, inspection intervals, inspector-credential requirements, or phased-inspection structures.¹
2. The framework splits by recording date. Condominiums created on or after January 1, 1991 fall under Ala. Code § 35-8A-101 et seq.; those created before that date fall under the older Alabama Condominium Ownership Act, Ala. Code § 35-8-1 et seq., which runs a different, more permissive maintenance and insurance scheme.²
3. Reserve studies aren't required. Alabama doesn't mandate reserve studies or a minimum reserve balance for condominiums; reserves are a budgeting option and a fiduciary best practice, distinct from structural inspections.³
4. Building-code enforcement for private high-rises runs substantially local. The state building code reaches only state-owned or state-funded projects, schools, hotels and motels, and movie theaters; jurisdiction over private condominium towers rests with local building departments.⁴
5. Fire and elevator obligations are system-specific, not building-wide. The State Fire Marshal — a division of the Department of Insurance — and local fire departments enforce fire codes; elevators require annual inspection and a certificate of operation under a separate labor-department program. Neither creates a whole-building structural inspection.^5,6
6. Insurers, not the state, drive structural inspections on the coast. Carriers frequently require structural, roof, and wind-mitigation inspections as a condition of coverage amid a hardening Gulf Coast market.⁷

Details

The statutory and regulatory framework

The condominium acts: maintenance, repair, and insurance. For condominiums created on or after January 1, 1991, the Alabama Uniform Condominium Act of 1991, based on the 1980 Uniform Condominium Act, controls.¹ The load-bearing provision for safety purposes is Ala. Code § 35-8A-307 (Upkeep of condominiums): except to the extent the declaration says otherwise, the association is responsible for maintaining, repairing, and replacing the common elements, and each unit owner is responsible for the owner's own unit.⁸ That's a general standard of responsibility. It's not a fixed-schedule or periodic statutory structural inspection mandate, and it names no trigger ages, intervals, or inspector credentials.

Insurance obligations sit at Ala. Code § 35-8A-313, which requires the association, starting no later than the first conveyance of a unit, to carry property insurance on the common elements against all risks of direct physical loss in an amount not less than 80 percent of actual cash value, plus liability insurance; the section was amended by Act 2018-403.⁹

Condominiums created before January 1, 1991 answer to the Alabama Condominium Ownership Act (Ala. Code § 35-8-1 et seq.).² Under Ala. Code § 35-8-9, the association's powers to maintain, repair, replace, and clean the common elements, and to carry insurance for the benefit of unit owners, are framed permissively — "the association may maintain, repair, replace..." — and exercised as the declaration and bylaws provide, rather than through the mandatory master-policy floor of § 35-8A-313.¹⁰ The two acts shouldn't be cross-applied; the declaration's recording date sets which one governs, subject to the limited list of § 35-8A provisions that § 35-8A-102 extends to pre-1991 condominiums for events occurring after January 1, 1991.¹¹

Neither act imposes a scheduled structural or milestone inspection. On reserves, the Uniform Condominium Act touches them only indirectly: its definition of common expenses includes allocations to reserves, and the association has the power to adopt budgets that may include reserves, but nothing requires a reserve study or a minimum reserve balance.³

Building codes, fire and life safety, elevators, and local authority. Building-code enforcement for private multifamily and high-rise condominiums runs substantially local. The state-adopted building code, enforced by the Division of Construction Management within the Department of Finance, applies only to state-owned or state-funded construction, public and certain private schools, hotels and motels, and movie theaters; the Division says outright that it "does not have jurisdiction over residential property or commercial property except for hotels/motels and movie theaters."⁴ Jurisdiction over a private high-rise condominium rests with the local building department, and where no local authority having jurisdiction exists, enforcement falls back to the State Fire Marshal.¹²

On the coast, local codes bear down hard at the construction and permitting stage: Baldwin County adopted the 2024 International Building Code, with amendments, by Commission Resolution No. 2025-067 on March 5, 2025; the City of Gulf Shores adopted the 2024 International Codes effective July 1, 2024 and enforces a minimum design wind speed of 160 mph; and the City of Orange Beach requires continuing construction inspection by a licensed architect or engineer for commercial and multifamily projects, plus a final certification.^13,14,15

These wind-design and inspection requirements govern construction and alterations. They don't add up to a recurring whole-building structural inspection of existing towers. (Separately, the state building code the Division of Construction Management administers was amended March 17, 2025 to fold in portions of the 2024 IBC atop the 2021 IBC adopted July 1, 2022 — but that state code still doesn't reach private condominiums.)⁴

Fire and life safety falls to the Alabama State Fire Marshal's Office, a division of the Alabama Department of Insurance whose authority derives from Ala. Code Title 36, Chapter 19.⁵ The office adopts and enforces fire and life-safety codes, including the 2021 International Fire Code, conducts plan review, and inspects buildings for safe occupancy, often on a complaint- or permit-driven basis, while routine fire inspection of residential buildings mostly falls to local fire departments.¹⁶ No statute directs the State Fire Marshal to conduct a recurring structural inspection of residential condominium buildings.

Elevators run on a separate track: Alabama's elevator safety program, created by Act 2003-349 and codified at Ala. Code § 25-13-1 et seq., is administered by the state labor department (recently the Alabama Department of Workforce) through its Elevator Safety Review Board, and requires that elevators accessible to the general public — which includes condominium elevators — be inspected annually and hold a current certificate of operation.⁶ Together these regimes impose obligations at construction and for specific systems — fire protection, elevators — but they don't create a comprehensive periodic structural inspection of the building envelope of the kind Florida mandates.

Insurance, the declaration, and the practical inspection drivers. The condominium acts require the association to carry property and liability insurance, most explicitly for post-1991 condominiums under § 35-8A-313.⁹ In practice, on aging Gulf Coast towers, the sharper inspection pressure comes from the insurance market. Carriers writing wind, roof, and property coverage frequently require structural, roof, and wind-mitigation inspections as a condition of binding or renewing coverage. That pressure keeps building: statewide Alabama homeowners premiums rose 9.4 percent in 2023, 10.7 percent in 2024, and 7.0 percent in 2025, reaching a statewide average of $3,254 a year — about 36 percent above the $2,395 national average — according to ValuePenguin's 2026 analysis of S&P Global RateWatch/NAIC data.⁷

In coastal Baldwin and Mobile counties, wind and hail coverage increasingly runs through the Alabama Insurance Underwriting Association (AIUA), the state's "Beach Pool" insurer of last resort.¹⁷ These carrier-imposed inspections are market-driven, not statutory. The recorded declaration is the other operative document: because § 35-8A-307 opens with "except to the extent provided by the declaration," a condominium's actual maintenance allocation and any inspection cadence are often set by the declaration and the board, not by statute.⁸

Title 10A, the Alabama Business and Nonprofit Entity Code, governs the association's corporate formalities only; it imposes no inspection duty and isn't an Alabama condo-safety law.¹⁸ The operational takeaway: an Alabama condominium's real inspection obligations come from building and fire codes (mostly local), insurer conditions, and the declaration, read together.

Compliance obligations

There's no single Alabama condo-safety-inspection statute; most obligations here are code-based, insurer-driven, or declaration-based.

A. Structural and building-envelope obligations.

• The core obligation is a general duty to maintain, repair, and replace the common elements, plus building-code compliance. It's not a periodic statutory structural inspection. Source type: condominium act. Applies to POST-1991 (§ 35-8A-307) and, in permissive form, to PRE-1991 (§ 35-8-9).^8,10
• New construction, additions, and alterations to a coastal tower must meet local wind-design and permitting requirements — Gulf Shores' 160 mph design wind speed, for example. Source type: building code (local). Applies to BOTH, at the construction/alteration stage only.¹⁴
• Any recurring structural or envelope inspection in force at a given condominium generally comes from the declaration or an insurer, not from statute. Source type: declaration-driven or insurance-driven.⁷

B. Fire and life-safety obligations.

• Compliance with adopted fire and life-safety codes, enforced by the State Fire Marshal's Office and, primarily, by local fire departments. Source type: fire code. Applies to BOTH.¹⁶
• Fire-protection systems — alarms, sprinklers where required — must be maintained and are subject to inspection on a permit- or complaint-driven basis. Source type: fire code. Applies to BOTH.⁵

C. Elevator and mechanical-systems obligations.

• Condominium elevators accessible to the public must be inspected annually and carry a current certificate of operation under the state elevator program (Ala. Code § 25-13-1 et seq.). Source type: statutory (elevator safety code, separate from the condominium acts). Applies to BOTH.⁶

D. Reserve, insurance, and disclosure obligations.

• The association must carry property insurance on the common elements at not less than 80 percent of actual cash value, plus liability insurance. Source type: condominium act. Applies to POST-1991 (§ 35-8A-313); pre-1991 insurance runs permissively under § 35-8-9 and the declaration/bylaws.^9,10
• No reserve study is required and no minimum reserve balance is mandated; reserves are a budgeting option and a fiduciary best practice. Source type: condominium act (permissive) and board policy. Applies to BOTH.³
• Resale disclosure to purchasers, including a resale certificate, is required for post-1991 units under § 35-8A-409, which can surface known structural and insurance conditions. Source type: condominium act. Applies to POST-1991.¹⁹

Recent legislative and judicial activity

Because Alabama has no inspection mandate, activity directly on condominium structural safety stays limited. No structural-inspection or SIRS-style bill has been enacted in any recent session.

A. Recent bills. No Alabama bill in the 2022 through 2026 Regular Sessions created or would create a condominium structural or safety-inspection regime, a milestone inspection, or a SIRS-style mandate. The one condominium-specific bill in the recent window addressed governance procedure, not safety.

B. Recent appellate rulings. No Alabama appellate decision in the past 36 months squarely addresses condominium structural defects, water-intrusion failures, or the association's duty to maintain the building envelope. The most relevant recent condominium appellate decision concerns association procedure rather than structural safety.

For context, the Alabama Supreme Court also decided Englund v. Dauphin Island Property Owners Association, Nos. SC-2024-0414 and SC-2024-0437 (Ala. Aug. 29, 2025), applying the relative-hardship test to limit injunctive enforcement of a restrictive covenant.²² That case involves a property owners' association under recorded covenants, not a condominium under the condominium acts, so it speaks to association covenant enforcement generally rather than to condominium structural obligations.

C. Active legislative debates. There's no active Alabama proposal to create a milestone, structural, or reserve-study mandate for condominiums, including coastal high-rises; post-Surfside momentum toward inspection mandates remains a national trend that, as of this review, hasn't produced an Alabama bill.

National positioning

Alabama sits in the no-statutory-mandate category on condominium safety inspections. Statutory-mandate states, led by Florida, require both periodic structural inspections and reserve funding tied to structural components: Florida's regime, enacted by Senate Bill 4-D (signed May 26, 2022) and codified in part at Fla. Stat. § 553.899, requires milestone structural inspections of condominium and cooperative buildings three stories or higher, with the recurring inspection trigger tied to building age — SB 154 in 2023 made the 25-year coastal trigger a local option rather than a statewide mandate — plus a structural integrity reserve study.²³ California takes a narrower elevated-element approach under Civil Code § 5551, enacted by SB 326, signed August 30, 2019, effective January 1, 2020, requiring condominium associations to inspect exterior elevated elements such as balconies and walkways, with the first inspection due by January 1, 2025 and every nine years after that, performed by a licensed structural or civil engineer or architect.²⁴

Alabama has none of these mechanisms. For multi-state operators the implication cuts two ways: a firm managing Florida condominiums must not assume Florida's milestone or SIRS obligations exist in Alabama, and, just as much, the absence of an Alabama mandate doesn't eliminate liability, because the duty to maintain, building and fire codes, insurer conditions, and significant coastal exposure all still apply. As of this review, Alabama shows no legislative momentum toward adopting a structural-inspection or reserve-study mandate. There's also a federal dimension worth flagging: HOA Weekly's federal FHA and VA condo-approval coverage notes that HUD's FHA project-approval review consumes exactly the kind of reserve-funding and physical-condition documentation an inspection or reserve-study law would produce, so even absent an Alabama mandate, a project's reserve shortfall or unresolved maintenance finding can still jeopardize its FHA approval under the federal framework.²⁵

Recommendations

1. Treat the general duty to maintain as the anchor, and document it. Because § 35-8A-307 (post-1991) and § 35-8-9 (pre-1991) impose maintenance responsibility without prescribing an inspection schedule, boards should adopt a written inspection and capital-planning cadence by board policy or declaration amendment. Benchmark that would change this: if Alabama enacts any milestone/SIRS statute, the discretionary cadence gives way to the statutory one.
2. Confirm which act applies before advising a client. Pull the declaration's recording date first. Don't apply § 35-8A-313's 80-percent insurance floor to a pre-1991 condominium, and don't apply § 35-8-9's permissive scheme to a post-1991 condominium.
3. Localize the building-code analysis. For any coastal tower, verify the current adopting jurisdiction — Baldwin County, Gulf Shores, and Orange Beach each differ — rather than assuming a statewide standard. Build compliance around the local building department, not the Division of Construction Management.
4. Keep elevator certificates current and treat them as the one hard recurring state inspection. Confirm annual inspection and a valid certificate of operation for every public-access condominium elevator; this is the clearest statutory inspection obligation on the list.
5. Manage the insurer relationship as the de facto inspection regulator. On aging coastal towers, expect structural, roof, and wind-mitigation inspections as coverage conditions, and budget for them. Track AIUA placement and named-storm deductibles, since deductible exposure converts directly into special-assessment risk. Benchmark: a coverage nonrenewal or a required engineering report is the practical trigger to commission a structural assessment even though no statute requires one.
6. For multi-state portfolios, wall off Florida and California playbooks. Don't run Alabama condominiums on Florida milestone/SIRS timelines or California § 5551 elevated-element cycles; and don't treat "no mandate" as "no liability." Re-verify the statutory picture quarterly given active national post-Surfside momentum.

Caveats

• Negative facts carry full weight here. The central finding is an absence: no milestone/structural inspection statute and no SIRS requirement. This was verified against the condominium acts and confirmed across the 2022–2026 legislative sessions; it should be re-checked each session because national momentum is active.
• Bill statuses are point-in-time. HB 260 (2026) and its companion SB 121 did not pass; SB 246 (2026) is an unrelated consumer-protection bill, not a condominium measure. Statuses were verified as of July 19, 2026.
• Case relevance is limited. Ross v. West Wind concerns foreclosure notice and procedure, and Englund v. Dauphin Island concerns covenant enforcement by a property owners' association, not a condominium. Neither is a structural-safety precedent. There's a minor date discrepancy in third-party indexing of Englund — an August 29, 2025 substantive opinion versus a later December 19, 2025 docket entry — and the August 29, 2025 decision is the substantive ruling.
• Local codes change frequently. Coastal adopting jurisdictions update code editions and wind-speed requirements on their own cycles; confirm the current edition with the specific building department before relying on any figure here.
• Some corroborating detail comes from secondary sources. Insurance-market figures and the AIUA "Beach Pool" characterization are drawn from industry and analyst sources rather than statute; statutory and code claims are sourced to primary Alabama authorities.

1. Ala. Code § 35-8A-101 et seq., Alabama Uniform Condominium Act of 1991 (Chapter 8A index) ↩
2. Ala. Code Title 35, Chapter 8, Condominium Ownership Act (§ 35-8-1 et seq.) ↩
3. Analysis of Alabama reserve-study law (Alabama does not mandate reserve studies; UCA references reserves only in budget/common-expense definitions) ↩
4. Alabama Division of Construction Management, State Building Code (scope; "does not have jurisdiction over residential property or commercial property except for hotels/motels and movie theaters"; 2021 IBC adopted July 1, 2022, amended March 17, 2025) ↩
5. Alabama State Fire Marshal's Office, About Us (division of the Department of Insurance; authority under Ala. Code Title 36, Ch. 19) ↩
6. Alabama Department of Labor, Elevator Safety Division (Act 2003-349; annual inspection of public-access elevators; certificate of operation) ↩
7. Alabama condo/HOA document-risk analysis, Gulf Coast insurance conditions (carrier-imposed inspections; premium/deductible pressure; AIUA "Beach Pool") ↩
8. Ala. Code § 35-8A-307, Upkeep of condominiums (association responsible for maintenance/repair/replacement of common elements "except to the extent provided by the declaration") ↩
9. Ala. Code § 35-8A-313, Insurance (property insurance at not less than 80% of actual cash value; liability insurance; amended by Act 2018-403) ↩
10. Ala. Code § 35-8-9, Duties and responsibilities of association (permissive maintenance and insurance powers for pre-1991 condominiums) ↩
11. Ala. Code § 35-8A-102, Applicability (post-1991 coverage; limited § 35-8A provisions applied to pre-1991 condominiums; § 35-8-1 through 35-8-22 do not apply to condominiums created after Jan. 1, 1991) ↩
12. Alabama building-code adoption and enforcement overview (default code enforcement by the State Fire Marshal where no local authority having jurisdiction exists; Department of Labor Elevator Safety Review Board) ↩
13. Baldwin County Building Department, Building Codes (2024 IBC/IRC adopted by Commission Resolution No. 2025-067, March 5, 2025; non-residential plans require Alabama-licensed architect and engineer) ↩
14. City of Gulf Shores, Current Building Codes (2024 International Codes effective July 1, 2024; minimum design wind speed 160 mph) ↩
15. City of Orange Beach Building Regulations (continuing construction inspection by licensed architect/engineer for commercial and multifamily projects; final certification) ↩
16. Alabama Department of Insurance State Fire Marshal Regulation FM-101 (adoption of 2021 International Fire Code, effective January 1, 2023) ↩
17. Alabama Insurance Underwriting Association (AIUA / "Beach Pool"), coastal wind and hail insurer of last resort for Baldwin and Mobile counties ↩
18. Alabama association-law overview (Title 10A nonprofit corporate law governs corporate formalities; no dedicated CAM licensing; Secretary of State HOA filings) ↩
19. Alabama resale-disclosure practice under Ala. Code § 35-8A-409 (resale certificate for post-1991 units; five-day voidable window) ↩
20. Alabama Legislature, HB260 (2026 Regular Session), condominiums; consents, waivers, arbitration and mediation (introduced version; did not pass) ↩
21. Ross v. West Wind Condominium Association, No. CL-2025-0064 (Ala. Civ. App. July 25, 2025) ↩
22. Englund v. Dauphin Island Property Owners Association, Nos. SC-2024-0414 & SC-2024-0437 (Ala. Aug. 29, 2025) ↩
23. Florida SB 4-D (2022), milestone inspection and structural integrity reserve study requirements (codified in part at Fla. Stat. § 553.899) ↩
24. California SB 326 (2019), adding Civil Code § 5551, inspection of exterior elevated elements (nine-year cycle; licensed engineer or architect) ↩
25. HUD, FHA Condominiums (project-approval review of insurance coverage, financial condition, pending legal action, and physical property condition) ↩