Condo Questionnaire (Fannie Mae Form 1076)

A mortgage lender has sent your association a condo questionnaire, and the buyer’s closing date depends on how you answer it. This guide is written for the person who has to fill it out, not the borrower waiting on it.

What a condo questionnaire is

A condo questionnaire is a form a mortgage lender sends to a condominium association to collect project-level facts for underwriting. The lender is not evaluating the buyer here. It is evaluating your building.

Fannie Mae publishes the standard version as Form 1076, the Condominium Project Questionnaire, which Freddie Mac issues as Form 476. The form itself says why it arrived: a lender needs the information to decide whether the project is eligible for financing.

The short companion form, Form 1077, was retired. There is now one full questionnaire, plus an addendum covering building safety and deferred maintenance that Fannie Mae added in December 2021.

Who fills it out, and who can sign it

An authorized representative of the association completes and signs the questionnaire. The form’s addendum states that requirement in plain terms. That means a board officer or the management company acting under its management agreement.

In most managed communities the manager prepares the form and the board reviews it. In a self-managed building it usually falls to the president or treasurer. Either way, the association owns the answers.

Treat that signature seriously. The preparer’s name, title, and company go on the form. A lender, a buyer, and a secondary-market investor all rely on what you certify.

An inaccurate answer is not a clerical problem. If the association understates delinquencies or omits pending litigation, it has given a false statement that a lender relied on to fund a loan. Boards that are unsure of an answer should say so on the form rather than guess. Preparers who sign take on real accountability for it, so it helps to understand what a board member’s duties and liability protections actually cover before certifying an answer you aren’t sure of.

What Form 1076 actually asks, section by section

The questionnaire moves from basic identity facts to the financial and physical condition of the project. Below is what each part covers and the answer that gets a project flagged. Do not treat any single flag as fatal — lenders weigh them together.

Basic project information

This section captures the legal project name, addresses, tax ID numbers, and any master or umbrella association. It then asks the board to check whether the project involves hotel or resort activity, rental pooling, restrictions on an owner’s ability to occupy a unit, deed or resale restrictions, manufactured homes, mandatory fee-based amenity memberships, non-incidental business income, or continuing-care services.

Bad answer: checking the hotel, resort, or rental-pooling box. That is the condotel question, and it is one of the fastest routes to a rejection.

Project completion and developer control

Here the lender asks whether the project is 100% complete, whether more phases or annexation are planned, and whether the developer has transferred control of the association to the unit owners. If turnover has not happened, the form asks for the estimated date.

Bad answer: unfinished phases with the developer still in control. See our HOA ownership turnover guide for what a clean transfer looks like.

Conversions and rehabilitated buildings

This section applies only if the building was converted from apartments, a hotel, retail, or industrial use within the past three years. It asks about the year built and converted, whether it was a full gut rehabilitation, whether an engineer found the structure sound, and whether reserves were allocated and are sufficient for the improvements.

Bad answer: a recent conversion with no engineer’s report and no replacement reserves allocated for capital improvements.

Delinquent assessments and litigation

The form asks how many unit owners are 60 or more days delinquent on common expense assessments. It also asks whether the association is involved in any active or pending litigation, and requires supporting documentation from the attorney or the association if the answer is yes.

Bad answer: a large share of owners past due, or open litigation involving construction defects, safety, or the common elements. Routine collection suits against delinquent owners are viewed differently, which is exactly why the attached explanation matters.

Ownership and occupancy concentration

This section is a unit census. It asks for total units, units sold and closed, units under contract, and the split among owner-occupants, second-home buyers, and investors. A second table asks the board to name any individual or entity that owns more than one unit, with the percentage of the project they control.

Bad answer: one investor or entity holding a large block of units, or an investor-owned share that dwarfs the owner-occupants. Concentrated ownership means one owner’s default can sink the budget; see our non-warrantable condo guide for how that ownership-concentration threshold gets evaluated.

Commercial and non-residential space

The form asks whether any units or any part of the building are used for non-residential or commercial purposes. It wants the type of use, the tenant, the square footage, and that space as a percentage of total project square footage.

Bad answer: commercial square footage well beyond the residential core, or space the association cannot document. Guessing at square footage here is a common and avoidable error.

Insurance and financial controls

This section asks whether the project sits in a flood zone and, if so, at what level flood coverage is carried. It then asks the board to confirm financial controls, including separate operating and reserve accounts, dual board signatures on reserve checks, and limits on the management company’s access to reserve funds. Finally, it asks for the carrier, agent phone number, and policy number for hazard, liability, fidelity, and flood coverage.

Bad answer: no fidelity or crime coverage, a flood-zone building without adequate flood insurance, or writing “contact agent” instead of policy details. The form explicitly tells you not to do that last one. Our HOA master policy guide explains what these coverages are and where to find the declarations pages.

Deferred maintenance, reserves, and special assessments

The addendum is the section most likely to cause trouble. It asks when the building was last inspected by a licensed architect, engineer, or inspector, and whether that inspection found safety, soundness, structural-integrity, or habitability problems. It asks what repairs remain, when they will be done, whether a funding plan and schedule exist for deferred maintenance, and whether any jurisdictional violations are outstanding.

It then asks whether a reserve study was completed within the past three years, the total current reserve balance, any current or planned special assessments with amounts and purpose, and whether the association has borrowed to fund improvements or deferred maintenance.

Bad answer: known structural deficiencies with no repair schedule and no funding plan, or a special assessment the board has discussed but cannot describe.

The answers that make a project non-warrantable

A project is non-warrantable when its answers put it outside Fannie Mae’s or Freddie Mac’s eligibility standards. These are the recurring triggers:

• Hotel, resort, or rental-pooling operations — short-term rental programs run like a hospitality business.
• Developer still in control with phases incomplete or turnover pending.
• High delinquency on common expense assessments.
• Single-entity or investor concentration in the unit census.
• Active litigation touching construction, safety, or the common elements.
• Excessive commercial or non-residential square footage.
• Insurance gaps — no fidelity bond, thin flood coverage, or a master policy that does not meet requirements.
• Unaddressed deferred maintenance or an open structural finding.
• Reserves below the required allocation with no qualifying study.

Our non-warrantable condo guide covers what each trigger does to buyers, and our Fannie Mae condo approval guide walks through the review process the lender runs after your form comes back.

The reserve line is the one that changed

Reserves are now the answer most likely to fail a project. Fannie Mae’s Lender Letter LL-2026-03 raises the minimum reserve allocation from 10% to 15% of the association’s annual budgeted assessment income. Freddie Mac issued matching guidance. The higher floor applies to loan applications dated on or after January 4, 2027.

There is an exception, and it is worth planning around. An association is not held to the flat 15% if it funds at the highest recommended level of a reserve study completed or updated within the last three years. A baseline or bare-minimum funding model does not qualify.

The pressure is broader than the percentage. The streamlined Limited Review category was eliminated in favor of Full Review for applications dated on or after August 3, 2026. More projects now face the full questionnaire instead of a short screening.

Most associations are starting from behind. Association Reserves has prepared more than 100,000 reserve studies, and 34% of the associations in its client base are under 30% funded — the “weak” band. The firm notes that its numbers describe its own clients, not a statistically representative national sample, so use them as a directional benchmark rather than a census.

Boards make the same mistake on this form again and again: they answer the reserve question from the budget line without opening the reserve study. The budget shows what you contribute. The study shows what you should contribute, and that gap is what a lender is testing.

Get the study current before the next questionnaire arrives. See our HOA reserve study guide for scope and timing, and use the reserve fund calculator for a quick read on where you stand today.

Turnaround time and what to charge

A condo questionnaire sits inside the loan’s underwriting clock, so every day it waits is a day the buyer’s rate lock burns down. A form that takes weeks can cost the buyer that lock and stall the sale.

Most management companies bill a flat document fee in the same general range as the resale and estoppel fees below, often in the low hundreds of dollars, plus a separate rush surcharge for faster turnaround, though the exact amount is set by the management agreement, not the board. Self-managed associations sometimes charge nothing at all.

Two states put hard numbers on comparable association document charges, and they are the best available anchor for what “reasonable” looks like:

• Virginia caps resale certificate charges by regulation. The Common Interest Community Board’s maximum allowable fee schedule, effective January 12, 2023, allows $211.96 for preparing and delivering a resale certificate on paper, $176.64 in electronic form, and $70.66 to expedite it within five business days. Va. Code § 55.1-2316 requires a CPI adjustment at least every five years.
• Florida caps estoppel certificates under Fla. Stat. § 718.116(8). The statute set the base at $250, but the Department of Business and Professional Regulation adjusts the caps for inflation. The amounts in force are $299 to prepare the certificate, $119 more for delivery within three business days, and $179 more when the owner is delinquent — an aggregate ceiling of $597. The next adjustment is due in 2027. Our HOA estoppel certificate guide covers those caps and the 10-business-day delivery deadline in full.

Neither statute governs a lender’s condo questionnaire directly — both cover resale and estoppel documents. Use them as a sanity check on your own schedule, then confirm your state’s rules and your management contract, which may already fix the amount and who collects it.

Put your answer in writing as a board policy: a standard fee, a rush fee, a stated turnaround, and a named person responsible. That single page prevents most of the friction these requests create.

Can the association refuse to complete it?

Yes, but the consequence lands on your own owners. No federal rule forces an association to answer a lender’s questionnaire.

Refusing means the lender cannot complete its project review. In practice that blocks conventional financing for every unit in the building. Sellers lose buyers, and values follow.

State law may narrow the choice further. Many states require associations to deliver resale or disclosure packages that cover much of the same ground, and directors still owe a fiduciary duty to the membership. A board that stalls on paperwork while sales collapse has a hard record to defend.

A better response to a form you cannot fully answer is to answer what you can, attach documentation, and note what is unknown. Silence helps nobody.

Condo questionnaire vs. estoppel certificate

These are two different documents, requested by two different parties, and associations confuse them constantly.

	Condo questionnaire	Estoppel certificate
Who requests it	The buyer’s mortgage lender	The title company or closing attorney
What it covers	The project’s finances, insurance, condition, and ownership mix	One owner’s account balance, fines, liens, and pending violations
Scope	Project-level	Unit-level
Who pays	Usually the buyer, through the lender’s fees	Usually the seller, per contract and state law
Typical timing	During loan underwriting, before the appraisal clears	Shortly before closing

Our HOA estoppel certificate guide covers the estoppel side in full, including fee caps and statutory delivery deadlines. One sale often requires both documents from the same association.

A pre-completion checklist for boards

Gather these documents before you open the form. Most delays come from hunting for paperwork mid-answer.

1. Current adopted budget, with the reserve contribution line visible.
2. Most recent reserve study, including its completion date and its highest recommended funding level.
3. Master policy and fidelity/crime declarations pages, plus flood if the building is in a flood zone. You need carrier, agent phone, and policy numbers.
4. Aged delinquency report, so you can state how many owners are 60 or more days past due.
5. Litigation status letter from association counsel, with contact details, for any active or pending case.
6. Ownership and occupancy roster, showing owner-occupants, second homes, investors, and any entity holding multiple units.
7. Latest building inspection or engineer’s report, with the repair schedule and funding plan for anything outstanding.
8. Special assessment and loan records — amounts, terms, and purpose for anything current or planned.

Keep that packet assembled and refreshed each year. The same file answers the next questionnaire, the next insurance renewal, and the next FHA or VA project review.

Bottom line

The condo questionnaire is the association’s financial reputation on one form. Boards that keep the underlying records current answer it in an afternoon, and their owners keep a functioning market for their units.

Answer honestly, attach documentation for anything complicated, and fix the reserve line before it fails you. That last one is the answer most likely to decide whether the next buyer in your building can get a loan.