SARASOTA – An estimated 2 million Florida
residents live in buildings that, under new regulations
adopted after last year’s Surfside tragedy, mandate detailed
building safety inspections under tight deadlines, with a
limited number of experts available to conduct them.
State figures show a minimum of 912,000 condo units meet the
criteria for a required inspection, compared with about
50,000 engineers and architects, the only professionals
authorized by the new law to do the reviews.
The deadline for condo associations to finish the
inspections is at the end of 2024, but the reports can take
two months to complete – and if issues are discovered, a
second more time-consuming and costly study will be
required. That one would have to start within a year.
Meanwhile, competition is tight for the professionals
available for the work, as engineers and architects are in
high demand from the construction industry; many of the
professionals don’t specialize in inspecting condo
properties. For example, several Sarasota engineering firms
contacted by the Herald-Tribune said they do not perform
condo inspections.
State Rep. Jason Pizzo, the South Florida Democrat who
represents the area where the Surfside high-rise condo
collapsed last year, has said the state doesn’t have enough
engineers to handle the workload.
“Tell your nieces and daughters and sons to go study
engineering,” Pizzo told the Associated Press after the bill
became law in May.
But not everyone believes the task is impossible.
Some say engineers will move to Florida after seeing a
business opportunity, while others point out that the more
than two-year window provides time for state legislators to
move the deadline back if it appears condo associations
can’t meet the requirements.
Safety requirement
Inside the Sarasota city limits alone, officials estimate
there are 190 condo properties that will need to complete a
“phase one milestone inspection” by Dec. 31, 2024, under the
new state law. In Venice, city officials estimate at least
100 properties and Sarasota County officials said they have
identified 260 condos that will need to be inspected by the
deadline.
The new law also allows county and municipal officials to
fine condo associations that do not meet the deadlines.
Before the Miami-area condominium collapsed last summer,
killing 98 people, only two counties in Florida required a
structural inspection for the thousands of aging condo
buildings in the Sunshine State. But after state legislators
passed sweeping legislation in May, every condo that is
three stories or taller will need to be evaluated for signs
of “substantial structural deterioration” once the building
reaches 30 years old – or 25 years if the building is within
three miles of a coastline.
Those buildings will then also be required to be inspected
again every 10 years.
Dan Lobeck, a Sarasota-area condo association lawyer who has
represented hundreds of associations, said state lawmakers
created an “impossible task with an impossible deadline.”
He compared it to fire sprinkler mandates passed in 2004.
The state law that requires high-rise condo buildings to
have the lifesaving equipment installed in older buildings
has been delayed twice since it passed, with the new
deadline to comply set for January 2024.
Lobeck said that after Surfside some appropriate requirement
for structural integrity review of aging buildings may have
been needed, “but they took that bill and ran with it and
created this monster of a law.”
But others say the safety inspections are manageable. Steven
J. Mainardi, a licensed professional engineer and principal
at Delta Engineering, said that, while he’s seen two spikes
in business – one after the Surfside condo collapse and
another after the condo law was signed by the governor in
May – he believes associations can meet the deadline if they
start soon.
A typical inspection that would meet the new requirements
takes between 30 to 60 days to complete and consists of a
visual survey of both the habitable and inhabitable spaces,
he said.
Each structure on the property that’s more than three
stories will need its own report, he said. An engineer or
architect will note any signs of deterioration like spalling
of concrete, walls that could be buckling or other signs of
significant distress, he said. If significant structural
deterioration is discovered, they will note it in the report
and the condo association will be required to complete a
more rigorous inspection.
He said that he has a backlog of work and emphasized it
would be important for condo associations to schedule the
inspections sooner rather than later.
“We are actively looking for engineers and have been before
the law was signed,” Mainardi said. “We have stepped up
efforts.”
In one sign of the potential urgency, in October, the
Downtown Sarasota Condominium Association plans to host a
workshop titled “Are fines coming to your condo?” to raise
awareness about some of the challenges that condo owners
face as the deadline approaches.
Money issues
In addition, there are requirements to fully fund some
building potential maintenance associated with the
structural components of condo buildings, including paying
for the replacement of big ticket items that could spell
drastically higher fees for unit owners, especially if condo
associations had been waiving reserve requirements.
Waiving reserve requirements had been allowed under the
previous condo regulations, but the new legislation mandates
keeping money on hand for potential repairs, and for
accounting reviews to ensure the money is available.
Previously, these reviews were mainly checked to see if all
of a condo association’s savings for various repairs was
considered adequate. But the new law mandates adequate
reserves be kept on hand to cover potential repairs in each
specific category of work, or component, by the end of 2024,
said Patricia Staebler, a Sarasota-area appraiser with more
than 20 years of experience in completing reserve fund
studies for condos.
Those funds also could not be used for any other purpose.
“We don’t do this in real life,” she said of approaches to
repairs. “Our household budgets are pooled and we pull out
what we need.”
She said the requirements could require much higher condo
association fees, perhaps four times as much, to get enough
money in reserve. “It will be devastating for condo owners
in the state of Florida,” Staebler said.
More fiscal reviews will be required to ensure the funds are
being handled properly. To improve assurances of condos’
integrity, the studies will cover components like the roof,
load-bearing walls and other primary structural aspects,
floors, foundation, fireproofing and fire protection
systems, plumbing, electrical systems, waterproofing and
exterior painting, windows and any other item that would
cost more than $10,000 to replace.
The requirement could be hard for lower income condo
associations that have waived reserve funding requirements
for years.
“If it’s not a well-funded association, it will be
dramatic,” she said.
Making the grade
John Mercer, president of the Francis Carlton Condominium
condo association, said his condo board anticipated new
legislation after Surfside and contacted an engineer in
2021.
“It was obvious there was going to be something,” he said of
the prospect of inspections.
The Francis Carlton Condominium has 21 units in
three-stories at 1221 N. Palm Ave. in Sarasota, built in
1924. It may be the first in the state to have met the
inspection requirement.
Mercer said the condominium benefitted from coincidental
timing and foresight.
The association began the search for an engineering firm in
August 2021, as the condo board worried it might be hard to
get an engineer. There was some concern that the smaller
complex might have trouble getting the work done if it had
to compete with larger condos for an engineer once new
legislation passed.
The condo board felt “there would be a scramble by all
affected condominiums to hire structural engineering firms –
and that we might well have difficulty in finding one to
work with us,” Mercer wrote in an email. “So we jumped the
gun, and started looking in August last year – and were very
fortunate to sign up a major, highly-regarded structural
engineering firm, Karins Engineering Group.”
The engineering report that’s dated June 3 says the “Frances
Carlton does not appear to have any substantial structural
deterioration,” and that the report met the state inspection
requirement.
While he and others in the Frances Carlton can breathe a
sigh of relief, other condo residents may just be coming to
grips with the challenges ahead.
“It’s a new world now in Florida for condominium maintenance
funding,” Mercer said.