The Questionnaire.

No inspector. No fine. Just owners who cannot sell.

Your association has a compliance obligation that no regulator will ever tell you about, that carries no penalty, and that determines whether your owners can sell their homes.

There is no notice of violation. The only enforcement is that one day a sale falls through, and then another, and then owners start asking why.

Nobody appointed anyone to own this. That is the whole problem.

In one industry survey of more than 700 board members and managers, 42 per cent did not know whether their own community was eligible for federally-backed financing. Forty per cent acknowledged characteristics that could trigger ineligibility. Among communities already found ineligible, 64 per cent reported damage to home sales or property values.

What changed in 2026

Fast-track lender reviews were retired on 3 August 2026, so nearly every project over ten units now faces Full Review on every transaction. The minimum reserve allocation rises from 10 per cent to 15 per cent on 4 January 2027. And baseline reserve funding is no longer accepted - an association relying on a study must fund at its highest recommended level.

Most associations were not meeting even the old 10 per cent. That is not five more points. For many boards it means roughly doubling the reserve contribution in one budget cycle.

What is inside

• What Full Review examines, and what actually trips it
• The four dates, and what each one does to your association
• Modelling the reserve increase properly before you put it to members
• The insurance trap that has caught genuinely well-run boards
• The questionnaire itself - who should complete it, and the answers that cause trouble
• Finding out where you stand, and getting an adverse designation reviewed and removed
• Getting the dues increase passed - the argument that actually works with owners
• A compliance calendar, the recurring mistakes, and working with your professionals
• Self-managed associations, three associations compared, and a handover pack

For the volunteers holding this together
This is education, not advice, and it is not a substitute for your association's attorney, manager, reserve professional or broker. What it will do is make every hour you buy from them cheaper and more useful.

This is federal lending policy, not state law, so it applies in every state - and it changes by lender letter, without consultation. Every figure carries a note telling you why it may have moved and exactly who to ask.

Book Three of The Condo Financing Handbook.