A special assessment is the bill nobody mentions at the sales gallery. Here is how it works at a building like Ocean House Surfside, and what to check so it stays unlikely.
This page is a framework. Whether the building suits you is a separate conversation. Contact the desk at Miami Dossier for the current position on any building we cover.
A special assessment is a one-off charge to every owner, levied by the association board when the budget and the reserves cannot cover a cost: a roof, a facade, an insurance jump, a defect the warranty will not. The declaration sets who votes it and whether owners must approve above a threshold; the bylaws set the notice. Since 2022 Florida requires structural integrity reserve studies and funded reserves for buildings of three storeys or more, which is the law’s way of making the surprise less likely.
Ocean House Surfside: 25 residences of two to five bedrooms.. The number of homes is the denominator of every assessment; a building of forty shares a roof forty ways.
Read it against the Kempinski Residences Miami Design District dossier for the nearest comparison.
The first budget is the developer’s estimate. The lines to read: reserves (funded, and the reserve study scheduled), insurance (windstorm and flood, quoted or assumed), staffing against the amenity list, and any brand or management fee with its escalator.
Ocean House Surfside: Rooftop pool and spa pool with ocean views, indoor and outdoor rooftop lounges, summer kitchen, private fitness area, ensuite spa with steam and sauna, cinema, game room, staff quarters with service kitchen, private garage for six cars and private storage, mailroom with package receiving, 24 hour valet, EV charging, double height lobby, covered porte-cochère.. No brand or operator is recorded for this building.. Every one of those is a line, and the first year is when the estimate becomes an invoice.
Until turnover the developer controls the board and the budget. After turnover the owners elect the board that can levy an assessment. The turnover schedule is in the declaration and tied to sales; ask what the developer hands over and when.
The declaration (assessment and voting provisions). The estimated first budget with its reserve schedule. The developer’s disclosure of any known defects or pending litigation. The desk reads them with you; where the question is legal, it introduces counsel rather than answering.
An assessment is a budget that was wrong. Read the budget first.
Developer materials for Ocean House Surfside as carried on the live dossier, verified 28 Sep 2026. Compiled by the desk at Miami Dossier; figures are approximate and the developer’s.
Contact the desk at Miami Dossier for the documents behind this note, read one to one with you and your advisers.
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We hold no listings and we are not the developer. Contact the desk at Miami Dossier and we will tell you what applies to your situation, what does not, and where we would not proceed. On this topic that means the document before the opinion. Where a question is legal, tax or structuring, we introduce you to advisers who handle that properly rather than answering it ourselves.
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