Yes. Florida law lets you sell a condo with a pending or active special assessment, as long as you disclose it. The real questions are who pays the balance at closing — you or the buyer — and how the assessment affects your asking price and the buyer's financing. In today's balanced Bonita Springs and Estero market, getting ahead of the assessment with honest disclosure and a smart pricing strategy is what keeps a deal together instead of watching it fall apart.
Why special assessments are hitting Southwest Florida condos right now
This isn't bad luck — it's the law catching up to decades of deferred maintenance. After the Surfside collapse, Florida required every association in a building three stories or taller to complete a Structural Integrity Reserve Study and fully fund reserves based on the findings. The grace period ended January 1, 2026. Associations that hadn't completed their SIRS and built a baseline funding plan into their budget are now out of compliance, and boards can no longer vote to waive or underfund reserves the way they used to.
The result: a wave of assessments across Bonita Springs, Estero, Naples, and Fort Myers as associations catch up all at once on roofs, concrete, seawalls, elevators, and waterproofing. Some owners face five-figure assessments with little warning — a number decide to sell rather than write the check. The good news: the unit is still sellable, you just need a plan.
Yes, you can sell — but you have to disclose it
Under Florida's Seller's Property Disclosure obligations, you must tell buyers about a pending or levied special assessment — not optional, and not something worth burying, for two reasons: buyers will find out anyway (the title company orders an HOA estoppel letter before closing, which spells out exactly what's owed), and non-disclosure creates real liability, since quietly passing an assessment to an unsuspecting buyer is how sellers end up in post-closing disputes.
Get the assessment details in hand before you list — total amount, payment schedule, and what it's actually paying for. A clear, documented answer turns the assessment into a known cost to negotiate instead of a scary surprise that kills momentum.
Who pays — you or the buyer?
This is the question that actually decides your bottom line, and it's negotiable. An assessment already levied (voted in and due) before closing is usually the seller's responsibility — if a lien has been recorded, it generally gets paid out of your proceeds at closing, the same way your mortgage payoff and doc stamps do. An assessment only discussed or proposed but not yet voted in is murkier, and where a lot of deals get renegotiated.
In a balanced-to-buyer's market, sellers have less leverage than a few years ago — with more inventory and homes taking longer to sell, buyers who spot a special assessment will typically ask you to pay it before closing or push for a price cut. You generally have three paths: pay it off at closing (cleanest for the buyer, comes out of your proceeds), credit the buyer at closing (you reduce your net so the buyer takes it on with eyes open), or price the unit to reflect it and sell as-is (avoid the upfront cash hit, trade it for a lower sale price and possibly more time on market). The right choice depends on the assessment size, your equity, your timeline, and what comparable units are actually closing for.
Watch the financing trap
Many lenders won't approve a mortgage on a condo with an unresolved special assessment. If your buyer is financing — most are — their lender may flag a pending assessment during underwriting and refuse to close until it's resolved, meaning it may have to be paid off at closing regardless of what your contract says, or the buyer's loan falls through entirely. This is why a cash buyer can sometimes be worth more to you than a slightly higher financed offer when an assessment is in play — fewer hoops, faster close, no lender objecting at the eleventh hour.
The bottom line
A special assessment doesn't make your condo unsellable — it makes it a condo that needs to be priced, disclosed, and structured with intention. Get the assessment documented before you list, decide your strategy on who pays, and price against what's really selling, not the Zestimate or what your neighbor got two years ago.