Some Monmouth Beach condo sellers now have a document they must give the buyer before a purchase contract is signed. It is a notice from the association's board, required to be printed in 20-point bold type. It gives the year the board expects a special assessment or loan and how much that assessment or loan will be. Only some associations will have issued one, and the law that created it has two parts that apply to different buildings. In a town where nearly every condominium was built between the 1960s and the 1980s, the buyer has to work out which rules apply to a specific building, and to do it early.
New Jersey's post-Surfside law, P.L.2023, c.214, took effect January 8, 2024. On August 21, 2025, Governor Murphy signed an amendment, P.L.2025, c.132, that changed how associations may fund their reserves. Today is October 2026. For every Monmouth Beach complex with a published build date, the compliance deadlines that matter have passed, so the useful question for a buyer is what the association actually did.
The Town's Condo Stock Sits Almost Entirely Past the Threshold
The law's structural-inspection clock runs from a building's certificate of occupancy. For a covered building whose certificate came 15 or more years before the law took effect, the first inspection was due within two years of January 8, 2024. That made the deadline January 8, 2026 for any covered building whose certificate of occupancy was issued on or before January 8, 2009.
Every Monmouth Beach community with a published build date falls well inside that cutoff. Build dates come from association materials and a community directory:
| Community | Setting | Form | Built |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wharfside Manor | Shrewsbury River, north side | 192 upper/lower apartment homes | Mid-1960s |
| Breakwater Cove | Riverfront, north side | 82 townhouses and upper/lower units | 1972 |
| Sands Point South | Beside Manhassett Creek | 58 waterfront townhouses | 1975 |
| Sands Point North | 25 Meadow Avenue, on the Shrewsbury River | 100 townhouse condominiums | Mid-1970s |
| Channel Club Tower | Shrewsbury River | 17-story high-rise, 222 units | Mid-1970s |
| The Admiralty | 55 Ocean Avenue | 14-story high-rise, 162 units | 1984 |
| Monmouth Commons | One street back from Ocean Avenue | 15 townhouses in four buildings | 1986 |
| The Shores | Ocean Avenue | Two 11-story towers, 132 units | Not published |
Coastal towns often mix older and newer buildings, so a buyer can choose a newer building and put off some of these questions. Monmouth Beach offers far less of that choice. The Admiralty and The Shores are the borough's two beachfront high-rise condominium complexes. The Admiralty's association lists a 1984 build date. Most of the riverside townhouse communities date to the 1970s. The Shores is the one complex on the roster without a published build date, so its certificate-of-occupancy date is worth confirming directly with the association.
Two Parts, Two Different Sets of Buildings
The age threshold tells you a building is old enough. It doesn't tell you whether the building gets a structural inspection at all, and here the law splits.
The structural-inspection requirement applies only to a "covered building," which the statute defines as a condominium or cooperative building whose primary load-bearing system is concrete, masonry, steel, or a hybrid structure. The law excludes frame-built construction with combustible walls or roofs, unless that frame sits on a podium deck. The statute counts the foundation and any attached balconies as part of the load-bearing system that gets evaluated. The Department of Community Affairs says building height and number of floors are irrelevant to the test.
So you can't tell from the street whether a building is covered. A high-rise and a two-story townhouse row are judged by the same standard, which is what carries the building's weight down to its foundation. None of the association or directory pages reviewed for this article states the structural material of any Monmouth Beach complex. Coverage is a question to put to each association in writing, and the answer should come from the governing documents or building records.
The reserve-study part of the law works differently. DCA says reserve studies and reserve funding apply to associations even when their buildings are not covered for structural inspections. The only exception in the statute is for associations with less than $25,000 in total common-area capital assets. A frame-built townhouse community on the Shrewsbury River may have no inspection report to share, but it still owes its owners a reserve study and a funding plan.
What the Reserve Study Has to Contain, and Why the 2025 Amendment Matters
A compliant reserve study isn't a one-page summary. The amended statute requires it to follow the Community Associations Institute's National Reserve Study Standards or similar standards from another recognized national organization. It must be performed or overseen by a CAI-credentialed reserve specialist or a New Jersey-licensed engineer or architect. Among other items, it must include:
- The association's reserve fund balances and its anticipated income and expenses
- An analysis of the physical condition of common-area components
- Estimated costs of repairing or replacing components needed to keep the buildings structurally sound
- Estimated costs of future reserve studies and periodic structural inspections
- Estimated costs of any corrective work an inspection called for
- A proposed 30-year funding plan in which the reserve fund's lowest balance reaches zero
Associations that hadn't done a study in the five years before the law took effect had one year to do one, which put that deadline at January 8, 2025. Studies must be conducted and reviewed at least once every five years.
The 2025 amendment created the flexibility that leads to the seller's notice. An association that existed on January 8, 2024 may fund its reserves at the full level of a plan in its latest study. It may also fund at 85 percent of a plan, for no more than five fiscal years after the amendment took effect. A board that chooses the 85 percent route must notify all owners before adopting the budget. The notice must say when a special assessment or loan is expected because of the reduced funding and how large it will be. A seller in that association must give the buyer a copy of the most recent notice before the purchase contract is executed. The amendment also removed the earlier catch-up provisions that were tied to whether a required budget increase exceeded 10 percent.
For a buyer, this means an association's current monthly fee may reflect a deliberately lower reserve contribution, and the 85 percent window has a fixed end date. If the board took that route, the notice puts the projected assessment in writing. If the board funds at the full level, no notice exists, and the funding plan inside the reserve study is the document that shows where fees are likely to go.
The State Isn't Checking, So Your Request Is the Check
DCA states that it does not oversee owner-controlled associations' compliance with the reserve law or their budget and spending decisions. It notes that disputes over a board's compliance may require civil litigation.
That's why the document request carries so much weight in a Monmouth Beach purchase. No state agency is reviewing whether a given association commissioned its study on time, picked a reasonable funding plan, or acted on its engineer's findings. A buyer who asks for these documents before going firm on a contract is often the first outside reader of them.
On the inspection side, the statute requires inspection reports to identify needed maintenance or repairs and to be filed with municipal authorities. Later reports must note deterioration and required maintenance. Residents may request copies.
A practical request list for any Monmouth Beach condominium:
- A written statement of whether the building is a "covered building" under P.L.2023, c.214, and the basis for that answer.
- If it is covered, the initial structural inspection report and any filings with the borough.
- The most recent capital reserve study, with the name and credential of the person who prepared or oversaw it.
- The 30-year funding plan the board adopted, and whether the board is funding at the full level or at 85 percent.
- Any 85 percent notice issued to owners.
- The current budget and a history of recent special assessments.
What Disclosure Looks Like in Practice
Sands Point North, the 100-unit townhouse community at 25 Meadow Avenue, publishes more on its website than most associations do. It lists 2026 monthly fees of $599, $634, or $669, depending on unit, balcony, and deck configuration. It shows $250 assessments in 2023 and in 2024, and none in 2025. Its projects page, last updated in August 2025, listed roof replacement as planned for fall 2025, railing painting for summer and fall 2025, electrical-panel replacement in progress, and ongoing masonry repairs. The association says its maintenance fee covers exterior building maintenance and flood, property, and fire insurance.
Even that level of openness leaves the statutory questions unanswered. The pages don't report reserve-study findings, a funding-plan choice, a structural-inspection result, or project costs, and they don't say whether the fall 2025 roof work was finished. The fee schedule shows what owners pay now. The reserve study shows what that payment is meant to cover over the next 30 years, and that comes only through a direct request.
Questions Buyers Raise
My building is a two-story townhouse. Does any of this apply? The reserve-study and funding rules apply to associations whatever the building type, unless common-area capital assets total less than $25,000. Whether a structural inspection is required depends on the load-bearing material, not the height.
The seller didn't give me an 85 percent notice. Is that a problem? Not necessarily. A notice exists only if the board chose to fund at 85 percent. Ask the association directly which funding option it adopted, so the absence of a notice means something definite.
Who resolves it if an association hasn't complied? DCA says it doesn't oversee owner-controlled associations on this point and that disputes may require civil litigation. Association counsel and the buyer's own attorney are the right people for any compliance question. This article explains what the statute says and is not legal advice.
At Bruce Germinsky, we read reserve studies and inspection reports the way an engineer would, looking at the components, the costs, and the funding plan, before a client commits to a Monmouth Beach condominium. If you're considering a unit in one of these buildings and want help reviewing the association's documents before you sign, let's connect.
