Nineteen Aventura buildings appear on a new state report listing structures as "unsafe or uninhabitable." The city's top building official says the label is misleading and that every inspected building in the city remains safe to occupy.

The first milestone inspection report required under Florida's post-Surfside building safety laws, reported by WPLG Local 10 News on Thursday, lists 24 buildings statewide under the "unsafe or uninhabitable" classification. Twenty-three of those are in Miami-Dade County, and a footnote attributes 19 to Aventura.

City Official Pushes Back on Report's Wording

Aventura Building Official Keven Klopp told Local 10 that buildings flagged in the report have already submitted repair plans and timelines to the city, and that the report's wording strips away that context.

"In Aventura, we do not have the number of concerning issues as the report seems to imply there are," Klopp said.

He added that only one building in the past three years has approached an unsafe-structure determination, and that its owners submitted a repair plan the city considers adequate. When asked directly whether residents remain safe, Klopp answered with a single word: "Absolutely."

Gaps in the Data

The state report itself raises questions about its own completeness. According to Local 10's reporting, about one in five city building departments statewide did not submit inspection data. The report does not specify what consequences those jurisdictions face, and it cites a lack of clear reporting instructions from the state to local agencies.

Aventura's high count could partly reflect the city's diligence in reporting rather than its building conditions, a point Klopp emphasized. Jurisdictions that skipped reporting would not appear in the data at all.

What the Law Requires

The report stems from Senate Bill 4D, or SB 4D, signed into law in May 2022 after the Champlain Towers South collapse in Surfside killed 98 people on June 24, 2021. SB 4D requires milestone structural inspections for condo and co-op buildings three or more stories tall. Coastal buildings must be inspected at 25 years of age; others at 30 years. Inspections repeat every 10 years.

The first deadline hit Dec. 31, 2024, covering buildings with a certificate of occupancy issued on or before July 1, 1992. If an association fails to prove that repairs for substantial structural deterioration have been scheduled or started, the local enforcement agency must determine whether the building is unsafe for occupancy.

What's Next

The 19 Aventura buildings have not been publicly named, and no follow-up report has been scheduled. Aventura condo owners with questions about their building's inspection status can contact the city's Building Department.