Fannie Mae Condo Questionnaire (Form 1076)
A mortgage lender has sent your association a condo questionnaire, and the buyer’s closing date depends on your answers. This guide is for the person filling it out-not the borrower waiting for 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. Lenders use this same review for condos and attached PUD or townhome projects that share ownership of common elements the way a condo does. A single-family HOA, where each owner holds title to a stand-alone lot, generally will not trigger one, since there is no shared building structure to evaluate. This process belongs to conventional financing. FHA and VA loans use a separate project-approval process, covered in our condo loan approval guide comparing FHA, VA, and conventional rules.
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 association can be sued for submitting false answers on a condo questionnaire if a lender or buyer relies on the certification. Understating delinquencies or omitting pending litigation creates misrepresentation exposure for both the community and the individual signer, which an HOA lawyer can evaluate under state law. Preparers should review what a board member’s duties and liability protections actually cover and verify whether the association’s D&O insurance responds to personal liability claims.
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. A flagged project does not close off financing entirely. Our non-warrantable condo financing guide covers the portfolio, non-QM, and cash routes buyers still have.
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.
- Current adopted budget, with the reserve contribution line visible.
- Most recent reserve study, including its completion date and its highest recommended funding level.
- 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.
- Aged delinquency report, so you can state how many owners are 60 or more days past due.
- Litigation status letter from association counsel, with contact details, for any active or pending case.
- Ownership and occupancy roster, showing owner-occupants, second homes, investors, and any entity holding multiple units.
- Latest building inspection or engineer’s report, with the repair schedule and funding plan for anything outstanding.
- 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.
Frequently asked questions
What is a condo questionnaire?
A condo questionnaire is a form a mortgage lender sends to a condominium association to collect project-level facts needed for underwriting. Fannie Mae's version is Form 1076, the Condominium Project Questionnaire, which Freddie Mac issues as Form 476. It covers project completion, ownership concentration, delinquent assessments, litigation, insurance, deferred maintenance, and reserves.
Does Fannie Mae require a condo questionnaire?
Fannie Mae requires the lender to verify the project meets its eligibility standards, and the questionnaire is how most lenders gather that information from the association. Use of Form 1076 itself is recommended rather than mandatory: lenders may use their own version. Either way, the association is the source of the answers.
Who signs the Fannie Mae condo questionnaire?
An authorized representative of the association signs it. In practice that is a board officer (usually the president or treasurer) or the management company acting under its management agreement. The form's addendum states directly that an authorized representative of the HOA or cooperative corporation must complete it.
Can an HOA refuse to fill out a condo questionnaire?
Yes, no federal rule compels an association to complete it. But the practical result is severe: without the answers, the lender cannot finish its project review, so no conventional mortgage can close in the building. Several states also require associations to provide resale or disclosure packages that cover much of the same ground.
What makes a condo project non-warrantable on the questionnaire?
The common triggers are high delinquency, heavy investor or single-entity ownership, developer still in control, active litigation over construction or safety, too much commercial square footage, hotel-style or rental-pooling operations, missing or inadequate insurance, unfunded deferred maintenance, and an underfunded reserve line.
What is the difference between a condo questionnaire and an estoppel certificate?
A condo questionnaire describes the whole project for the buyer's lender. An estoppel certificate describes one unit owner's account balance for the closing table. Different requesters, different scope, and a single sale often needs both.
How long does the association have to return a completed questionnaire?
Missing the lender's deadline risks the buyer's rate lock expiring and can delay the closing date or stall the sale. Form 1076 sets no federal deadline. Lenders typically need the completed form within 5 to 10 business days, though some state resale-disclosure statutes set separate deadlines for similar association documents. Check your management agreement for an internal turnaround target, and confirm any applicable state deadline with a local attorney.
Does an all-cash condo sale need a condo questionnaire?
No lender is involved in an all-cash sale, so there is typically no Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac questionnaire to complete. The form exists to help a lender underwrite a mortgage, and a cash buyer skips that process entirely. A title company or attorney may still ask the association for a resale certificate or estoppel letter covering the unit's own account. Check with whoever is closing the sale before assuming no paperwork is needed at all.
Can a buyer see the completed condo questionnaire before closing?
Whether a buyer can see the completed condo questionnaire before closing generally depends on the lender's own practice and any applicable state disclosure law, since no federal rule guarantees or blocks buyer access. The mortgage lender requests and receives the form to evaluate the project, even though the buyer typically pays the questionnaire fee. Because the lender holds the completed copy rather than the association, a buyer who wants to see the answers should ask their loan officer or real estate agent directly.
Do management companies use software to complete condo questionnaires?
It's increasingly common for management companies to receive and submit condo questionnaires through an online document-processing portal rather than by email or fax, especially for larger portfolios. A portal typically routes the request to the right preparer, stores prior answers for reuse, and time-stamps the turnaround for the lender. Ask your management company whether they already use one before you set up a manual process for handling these requests.
How long is a completed Fannie Mae condo questionnaire valid before a new one is needed?
Fannie Mae does not publish a standard expiration date or validity timeframe for a completed Form 1076 condo questionnaire. Individual lenders set their own cutoff for how old a form can be, because key figures like delinquency rates, reserve balances, and active litigation change over time. Ask the requesting lender directly whether they will accept a recent form on file or require a newly signed questionnaire.
This guide is general information, not legal or financial advice. Your association's governing documents and your state's statute control — confirm specifics with a licensed professional.