Quick answer: You can sell a Florida condo when a special assessment is coming, but you cannot hide it. Under the Florida Realtors/Florida Bar Condominium Rider, as summarized for its 2025 revision, amounts that come due before closing are the seller’s, amounts that come due after closing are the buyer’s unless the parties clearly agree otherwise, and the seller must disclose approved assessments. Check the rider version attached to your contract. The association’s estoppel certificate lists what is owed and what is scheduled, so the title company will see it before closing.
The board just voted a special assessment, or one is on the agenda for next month. The number is large, the payment schedule runs for years, and you were already thinking about selling. Many Florida condo owners are in this spot as buildings handle repairs, inspections and reserves. The question is simple: if I sell now, am I still on the hook?
This guide explains how the standard Florida contract splits a special assessment between seller and buyer, what the estoppel certificate shows, and the ways owners sell with an assessment in the picture. It is general information, not legal advice. Your contract, your association’s documents and your attorney control what happens in your sale.
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How the Standard Contract Splits a Special Assessment
Many Florida condo sales use the Florida Realtors/Florida Bar contract with a Condominium Rider. Florida Realtors explained the special assessment section of the 2023 version of the rider this way (Florida Realtors, 2023):
| Situation | Who pays under the 2023 rider |
|---|---|
| Amounts due before closing | The seller, even if the association allows installments |
| Installments due after closing | The parties can choose by checking a box. If no box is checked, the buyer pays installments due after closing. |
| A pending assessment the seller did not disclose | The seller pays it in full at closing |
| An assessment imposed after the contract is signed that was not pending | Split: the seller pays what is due before closing and the buyer pays what is due after |
An assessment counted as pending, in the 2023 rider’s language, if it was on an association agenda or reported in the minutes within 12 months before the contract’s effective date (Florida Realtors).
The rider was revised in 2025. A summary of the new version by a Florida law firm says it still requires the seller to disclose approved special assessments, still defines pending assessments by agendas and minutes, and keeps the basic split: amounts due before closing are the seller’s and amounts due after closing are the buyer’s, unless the parties clearly agree otherwise (Barnes Walker). The 2025 rider also adds check boxes for structural safety reports such as milestone inspections and structural integrity reserve studies. Use the version your contract actually attaches, and read it with your attorney.
What the Estoppel Certificate Shows
Before closing, the title company asks the association for an estoppel certificate. Florida’s condominium statute requires the certificate to include an itemized list of all assessments, special assessments and other money owed to the association on the date it is issued, and an itemized list of amounts scheduled to become due during the certificate’s effective period (Florida Statute 718.116(8)). That window is short, so ask the association separately for the full schedule of any approved special assessment.
In practice, money already due on an approved assessment will show up before closing whether or not it was in the listing. Sellers who disclose early avoid a late surprise that can sink the deal or force a last-minute credit.
Steps Before You List
- Get the facts from the association. Ask for the board minutes and notices about the assessment: the total, your unit’s share, the due dates and whether installments are allowed.
- Find out if anything is pending. Look at agendas and minutes from the last 12 months. If an assessment was discussed, treat it as something to disclose.
- Know your timeline. List the installments that fall before your likely closing date and those that fall after.
- Decide how you want to handle it. Pay it, credit the buyer, adjust the price, or let the contract split it. Put the choice in writing.
- Disclose it. Use the rider’s special assessment section and give the buyer the documents.
- Ask about the reason for the assessment. Buyers and their lenders will ask what it pays for, especially for structural repairs or reserves.
What Buyers Usually Ask
Expect a serious buyer, or the buyer’s lender, to ask these questions. Having the answers in writing keeps the deal moving:
- What does the assessment pay for, and is the work already under contract?
- What is this unit’s share, and when is each installment due?
- Is another assessment being discussed by the board?
- Has the building completed any required inspections or reserve studies, and are copies available?
See cash as is, creative terms and a 1% listing side by side, in writing. It takes about a minute.
How Sellers Negotiate an Assessment
- Pay it off at closing. Some associations allow a lump sum. The buyer gets a unit without the assessment, and the price usually reflects that.
- Credit the buyer. A credit at closing for some or all of the remaining installments. A buyer’s lender may limit how credits can be used, so check with the buyer’s loan officer.
- Adjust the price. A lower price, with the buyer taking over future installments under the contract’s default.
- Let the contract split it. For an assessment imposed after the contract is signed, the rider’s split may already be fair.
Whatever you choose, the written contract decides. Verbal promises about an assessment are a common source of disputes at closing.
Three Ways to Sell a Condo With an Assessment Coming
Every homeowner deserves options. Here are three, in this order. For a side by side view, see cash offer vs listing vs selling on terms.
1. Cash, as is
We make one written offer to buy the property as is, and it names who signs and how the purchase is paid for, so a buyer’s lender does not need to approve the building before closing. We review the assessment, the association documents and the unit, and the offer in writing shows how the assessment is handled.
Subject to qualification, property inspection, and transaction terms.
2. Creative terms: subject-to or seller financing
In a subject-to sale, the buyer takes the deed and makes the payments on your existing mortgage. The loan stays in your name. The lender can call the loan due under the due-on-sale clause. Both sides should use a real estate attorney. With a condo, the paperwork must also follow the association’s rules on transfers and say who pays each assessment installment. With seller financing, you act as the bank and the buyer pays you over time, so your attorney should require the buyer to keep the association current.
Subject to qualification, property inspection, and transaction terms.
3. A 1% full-service listing
If the unit will appeal to buyers on the open market, a listing on the MLS through our licensed brokerage partner may bring the highest price. Our partner is a separate licensed Florida brokerage. The listing fee is 1%. Buyer agent compensation is separate and negotiable. Have the assessment documents ready, because buyers and their lenders will ask.
Subject to qualification, property inspection, and transaction terms.
If you own in Lee County, our Fort Myers selling page covers local options. For closing costs a seller usually pays, see our guide to Florida home seller closing costs.
How HOMKEYS Can Help
HOMKEYS LLC buys homes and condos across Florida from our office in Brickell, Miami. We show you cash, terms and a 1% listing side by side, in writing, and every closing goes through a licensed Florida title company. We cannot quote a price before we see the unit and the association documents. Subject to qualification, property inspection, and transaction terms.
Frequently Asked Questions
If I sell my condo before a special assessment is due, do I still have to pay it?
Under the Florida Realtors/Florida Bar Condominium Rider, as summarized for its 2025 revision, amounts that come due before closing are the seller’s, and amounts that come due after closing are generally the buyer’s unless the contract says otherwise. Disclose any assessment that is approved or pending. Your own contract controls, so have a Florida real estate attorney read it.
What is a pending special assessment?
Florida Realtors explained that, under the 2023 version of the condominium rider, an assessment is pending if it was on an association agenda or reported in the minutes within 12 months before the contract’s effective date. The 2025 revision still defines pending assessments by agendas and minutes; check the exact wording in the version your contract uses.
What happens if I do not disclose a pending special assessment?
Under the 2023 rider, as Florida Realtors explained it, a seller who does not disclose a pending assessment pays it in full at closing. Check the current version of the form your contract uses, since the rider was revised in 2025.
What does the estoppel certificate show?
Florida’s condominium statute requires the association’s estoppel certificate to include an itemized list of assessments, special assessments and other money owed on the date it is issued, and an itemized list of amounts scheduled to become due during the certificate’s effective period. Ask the association for the full schedule of any approved special assessment. The title company orders the certificate before closing.
Can I sell a condo with a big assessment as is?
Yes. Some buyers, including cash buyers, buy condos with assessments pending or due, and price the assessment into the offer. HOMKEYS offers are subject to qualification, property inspection, and transaction terms.
Not legal advice. This guide is general information about Florida condo sales. Contract forms, statutes and association documents change, and every association is different. Talk with a Florida real estate attorney about your own case before you sign anything.
Tell us about the unit and the assessment. We will show you cash, terms and listing side by side, in writing. Subject to qualification, property inspection, and transaction terms.
Sources
Last checked October 4, 2026.
⌂ Equal Housing Opportunity. HOMKEYS LLC does not give legal or tax advice. Talk with a Florida real estate attorney about your situation.