CHAMPLAIN TOWERS SOUTH COLLAPSE -- 5th ANNIVERSARY!

An Opinion By Jan Bergemann

Published June 23, 2026

Five years ago, on June 24, 2021, the building of the Champlain Towers South in Surfside collapsed. Within 12 seconds 98 people were killed. But five years later we are still waiting for the official final report of the commission tasked with explaining the actual reasons for this catastrophe.

I know many people may not like my reasoning for the collapse, but I still think that there was a lot of blame pointing to the owners.

More than two years before the collapse the board received an engineer’s report warning them about serious constructional problems of the building. Repairing these problems would have cost millions of dollars, money the association didn’t have, since funding the necessary reserves had been voted down year for year. And the idea of leveling a special assessment to pay for these absolutely necessary repairs was quickly shot down. Shortly before the collapse the board, that had replaced the former board members, finally sent out letters to the owners explaining the necessity of levying a special assessment. But it was too late. The building collapsed and 98 people died.

The question: Could the catastrophe been prevented if the association would have had the money to pay for the repairs proposed by the engineer? We will never know, but there is a great possibility that the collapse would have been prevented if the repairs would have been done in a timely manner.

I think it’s time for all of us to take on responsibility for our actions again. I know, it’s always easy to blame everybody else, but as a fact we have to make the decisions how we want to live our lives. Condo living is definitely not “EASY LIVING” as developers and realtors always tell interested buyers. Owning a condo unit includes lots of costs, costs often hidden to potential buyers. Owners are responsible for the necessary, often very expensive, repairs to the building and the amenities and it should not be the obligation of our government, their neighbors or Florida’s taxpayers to finance these repairs, repairs often totally neglected for many years. And owners are as well responsible for the board they elect, the board that has the power to make these kinds of decisions.

That leaves us with the big question: Will the laws enacted by the Florida Legislature prevent such catastrophes in the future? The answer to this question is actually easy: Only if the agency tasked with the enforcement of these new laws is really doing the job!