Reference, current as of August 2026
Limited Review and Full Review, and what replaced the choice
Until August 3, 2026 a lender reviewing a condominium project could often take a short path. That path is gone. Limited Review and Streamlined Review were retired for all mortgage applications dated on or after that date, so the comparison people are still searching for has only one side left. This sets out what each path was, what a lender does now, and what changes for the association on the receiving end.
Informational only
This page describes published requirements that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac apply to lenders. It is general information, it is not legal advice or statutory interpretation, and it is not a substitute for the current published agency text. It covers the two conventional agencies only.
The short answer
Limited Review no longer exists. Neither does Freddie Mac's Streamlined Review. Both were retired for mortgage applications dated on or after August 3, 2026, announced on March 18, 2026 in Fannie Mae Lender Letter LL-2026-03 and Freddie Mac Bulletin 2026-C. Unless a loan qualifies for a narrow waiver, every conventional condominium loan in a building of 11 or more units now goes through Full Review.
The date that decides which regime a file sits under is the loan application date, not the closing date and not the date the questionnaire is filled in. A file applied for on August 2 lives under the old rules all the way to closing.
What the two paths actually were
- Limited Review
- Fannie Mae's short path. It asked a small set of project questions rather than the full set, and it was available on established projects within loan-to-value limits that varied by occupancy. In practice it carried a large share of ordinary condominium purchases.
- Streamlined Review
- Freddie Mac's counterpart, different in its detail and the same in its purpose, a shorter review for projects that looked ordinary.
- Full Review
- The complete project assessment, answered from the association's own documents. It is the only conventional path left for a building of 11 or more units.
What changes for the association being asked
One thing, and it is the whole of it. The complete project questionnaire now arrives on essentially every conventional condominium file rather than on the minority that could not take the short path. The questions are not new and the thresholds behind them did not move on August 3. What moved is how often the long form lands on a manager's desk.
Two other dates sit either side of it and neither is part of this change, which is worth separating because they arrive as one pile of paperwork. From July 1, 2026 the per-unit deductible on the master policy is capped at $50,000. From January 4, 2027 the replacement reserve floor rises from 10% to 15% of assessment income, which is the one that reaches a board rather than a manager, because the budget adopted this autumn is the budget tested in January. The rules page sets out all three with their sources.
Does a smaller building still have a short path
Projects of fewer than 11 units are treated differently, and a narrow set of waivers survives. Which of them a particular file qualifies for is the lender's determination rather than the association's, and a questionnaire reports facts rather than arguing for a path. If a lender says a file is exempt, the association still answers what it is asked.
What a manager can do about the volume
The practical answer is unglamorous and it works. Keep the documents a full review asks for in one place and current, because the same eight or nine items answer nearly every question on the form. The budget with the reserve line named. A reserve study inside 3 years. The insurance certificates with the deductible stated per unit. The arrears figure counted in units at 60 or more days rather than in dollars. The ownership table. Litigation, if any, with its counsel.
A project that has those to hand answers a full review in one pass. A project that does not answers it three times, because each return asks for the piece that was missing. The free readiness check tests six of the thresholds on your own figures, in your browser, and keeps nothing.
Common questions
The ones that follow from the change itself.
Is Limited Review really gone, or just restricted?
Retired. For mortgage applications dated on or after August 3, 2026 it is not an available path for a conventional loan on a project of 11 or more units, whatever the loan-to-value.
Which date decides, the application or the closing?
The application date. A loan applied for before August 3, 2026 is reviewed under the old rules even if it closes long after.
Did the thresholds get stricter on August 3?
No. The project standards a Full Review measures against were not changed by that letter. What changed is that far more files go through Full Review at all. The reserve floor does move, separately, on January 4, 2027.
Does this apply to cooperatives?
No. Limited Review was a condominium path and cooperatives were never in it. The co-op question set is set out separately, on its own page.
Does it apply to a two-unit or six-unit building?
Projects under 11 units are handled differently and a narrow set of waivers survives. The lender decides which applies, and the association answers what it is asked either way.
If the long form is now arriving every week
This desk completes condominium and cooperative questionnaire packages from the association's own documents, in 24 to 48 business hours, under your own brand, with the arithmetic shown and every material answer carrying the source it came from. You review and sign, as you always would. The first package for any new client is free.