Article
Courtesy of The Commercial Observer
By
Jeff Ostrowski
Published May 30, 2022
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Nearly a year after a building collapse in Surfside
claimed 98 lives, Florida lawmakers unanimously passed legislation
addressing condominium regulations.
The bill passed in a special session Wednesday after state lawmakers failed
to reach an agreement during the regular legislative session that ended in
March. The bill would impose more stringent requirements on condominium
associations’ cash reserves and require more frequent inspections of condo
buildings.
Florida law always required condo associations to hold reserves earmarked
for major repairs. But many associations skirted the requirement by
exempting themselves from costly and contentious assessments on unit owners.
The bill passed this week compels condos to save for structural repairs,
said Rep. Daniel Perez, R-Miami, and the bill’s sponsor.
“Currently the associations have the duty to collect reserves. The problem
is that they are allowed to waive that duty – and most of them are doing
that,” Perez said Wednesday on the House floor. “They’re doing it because
they’re kicking the can down the road.”
The bill calls for condos to stop exempting themselves from reserve
requirements starting Dec. 31, 2024.
Jan Bergemann, founder of Cyber Citizens For Justice, an advocacy group for
condo unit owners, said he has pushed for more robust reserve requirements
for nearly two decades. “For many years, condo owners were allowed not to
fund their reserves. Now that is coming back to haunt them,” Bergemann told
Commercial Observer. “Now what you are facing is a lot of high-rise
buildings in desperate need of repairs, and no money to pay for it.”
Still, Bergemann said he worries that some condo owners could be priced out
of their units by sudden assessments.
The bill, which now awaits the governor’s signature, also would create a new
mandatory statewide inspection schedule.
Condo buildings taller than three stories would be inspected 10 years after
their certificate of occupancy reaches 30 years of age. If the building is
within three miles of the coast, the required inspections would begin 25
years after construction was completed.
The partial collapse of the Champlain Towers South condominium building in
Surfside ranks as one of the deadliest building disasters in U.S. history.
The oceanfront tower failed in the middle of the night in June 2021.
While no cause has been established, the condo’s board and unit owners had
bickered over repair bills. Renovation costs had ballooned to $15 million,
or more than $100,000 per condo owner, before the tragedy struck, and were
becoming increasingly more expensive as time passed. When it collapsed, the
condo was in the midst of preparing for a 40-year recertification that is
required for buildings in Miami-Dade County, but the tower would have been
unlikely to meet the requirements given its state of disrepair.
Lawmakers had debated condo safety during the regular legislative session
this spring but failed to pass a bill. Pilloried for their inaction,
legislators passed this reform package during a special session focused on
property insurance.
“We can all go home knowing that when we vote for this bill, we have
actually made a positive change knowing that condominiums will be safer
moving forward,” Perez said.
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