Check the seawall before you commit

Search both generations of county records

For county properties, use MCeSearch for the historic permit period through September 2022, then review the separate active, completed and expired permit sources. Search the seawall and dock work as well as the house.

Keep a document list with permit number, work description, plan revision and completion evidence. If the search is incomplete, ask for the missing file. An empty result is a question to resolve, not proof that the shoreline structure lacks authorization.

Monroe County permit record search

Ask for an assessment you can act on

Tell the assessor your transaction deadline and which parts of the waterfront concern you. Ask the report to distinguish observations from assumptions and identify concealed components that were not evaluated.

• What investigation is needed before choosing repair or replacement?
• Does the survey identify the wall, property limits and cap elevations?
• Which recommendations affect immediate use of the yard or dock?
• Can the report be relied on by you as the prospective buyer?

Test the feasibility of the change you want

If your purchase depends on replacing a wall, adding a lift or changing access, investigate that proposed work before treating it as an available option. Sanctuary review may require a benthic assessment for seawall or dock work.

Ask for a written scope covering survey, design, habitat review, permits, construction access and restoration. Use the budget worksheet to organize actual proposals; an unsourced price per foot cannot establish the cost of your planned waterfront.

NOAA nearshore submission and benthic assessment

Keep condition, disclosure and coverage separate

Florida’s residential flood-disclosure statute addresses known damaging flooding, claims and assistance. Have your transaction professional check the prescribed form and timing; the form does not replace a seawall assessment.

Discuss insurance terms with your agent and unresolved condition questions with the relevant professional. Record what remains unknown before the due-diligence deadline. For the permit route across the Upper Keys, start with the county and Village permit guide.

Florida Statutes §689.302: residential flood disclosure

What should be resolved before your decision deadline?

Ask your transaction adviser to help keep the waterfront questions on one decision sheet. A folder full of reports is not the same as a resolved due-diligence item.

For example, a seller’s cap-repair invoice may answer who performed that repair. It does not by itself answer whether the panels and supports were assessed. Send that distinction to your assessor rather than assuming the invoice settles the condition question.

Keep any negotiation or contract decision with your transaction professional. Use the technical findings to define the remaining uncertainty and the information needed to resolve it.