TALLAHASSEE — Florida
legislators should overhaul the state’s condominium laws in
the wake of the Surfside building collapse that killed 98 to
address inspections, ensuring proper reserves are in place
to make major safety repairs and other issues, according to
a task force report prepared by a section of the Florida
Bar.
The Real Property, Probate and Trust Law Section of the bar
formed the task force bringing together lawyers specializing
in condominium and association laws. The goal was not to
investigate or find blame for the collapse of the 12-story
Champlain Towers South beachfront condominium but rather to
recommend ways to prevent future catastrophes.
“The lack of uniform maintenance standards or protocols, and
the unguided discretion given to boards of directors to
determine when, how, and if life safety inspections should
be performed, requires legislative intervention,” concluded
the 179-page report that was released earlier this week.
Champlain Towers was 40 years old and in need of major
repairs when it collapse on June 24. It’s led to officials
looking at the need to ensure other aging structures are
safe. The task force said 912,376 Florida condo units
housing more than 2 million people are at least 30 years
old, including more than 105,000 older than 50 years and
nearly 328,000 built between 40 and 50 years ago.
Overall, Florida has more than 1.5 million condo units
operated by 27,599 condo associations, the report said.
Among recommendations are giving association boards the
right to make special assessments for major repairs to
protect resident safety without a full association vote. It
also requires associations to build up reserves for such
projects as recommended by engineers in order to be able to
pay for repairs. Those would be in addition to accounts in
place for routine maintenance.
While the report said the vast majority of condominium
associations are operating in a reasonably safe manner,
there needs to be more consistency with inspections and the
information provided in them needs to be available to
residents.
“Unit owners and boards may also resist such maintenance
because of cost, lack of reserves, disruption and
inconvenience,” the report said.
The report also recommends allowing condominium boards to
borrow money to pay for life safety repairs so the cost
could be spread out over years.
Local governments should also have a higher level of
accountability for inspection reports, including stripping
them of sovereign immunity protections, which limit civil
claims against government agencies to $200,000.
“Condominium residents should be entitled to rely on the
inspections and reports performed by or on behalf of local
governments, and local governments should not be able to
avoid responsibility for the content and conclusion of
building inspection reports,” it said.
Current law has limitations on associations and unit owners
to take civil action against developers for design and
construction flaws. Those limitations should be lifted, the
report said.
The state division that oversees condominium education and
compliance is largely funded by a trust fund built on a $4
per unit fee. The task force recommends the Legislature not
be able to “sweep” the trust fund for other state budget
purposes.
It also recommends that 30% of the trust fund be used to
educate association boards and residents about obligations
to make repairs to ensure buildings are safe.