To fix or not to fix. That is the question that too many Florida condominium residents and board members ask themselves. Like Shakespeare’s Hamlet, they are caught in an existential crisis.

On the one hand, they bemoan the financial pain, the dust, the noise and the massive inconvenience of a major renovation project. On the other hand, they know that the risks of not fixing what’s broken — or leaking, or rusting inside the concrete — could be far worse. The angst over repair costs can be unbearable for the estimated 3 million Floridians who live in condominium communities, where vocal factions form on all sides of the fix/don’t fix question. In the resulting brawl, unit owners sue board members, and board members sue unit owners. It’s local politics at its most fractious. And, as we now know, the results can be dire, which is why help may finally be on the way. The Florida Bar Association’s Condominium Law and Policy Life Safety Advisory Task Force has issued a comprehensive set of recommendations calling for new legislation to govern when major repair work must be done and how condominium communities will pay for it. The recommendations currently are working their way through the chambers of Tallahassee.

The collapse of a condominium building in Surfside in June has spurred a new focus on how condo associations propel or delay maintenance.

If adopted by the state Legislature, the new rules will remove much of an individual condominium association’s ability to “kick the can down the road” when it comes to maintaining a building’s structural integrity and life-safety features.

The task force’s proposals would require association board members to complete maintenance, repair and replacement of structural and life-safety systems in a “timely” manner, largely without the need for a unit-owner vote. Further, the amendments seek to give a condominium board the authority to adopt special assessments or borrow money on behalf of the association to fund necessary maintenance, also without a unit-owner vote.

The task force recommends more frequent inspections, carried out in a uniform, prescribed format by qualified engineers and architects. For transparency’s sake, those inspection reports must be made readily available to all unit owners via the association’s website.

Perhaps most important of all, the task force recommends that associations be obligated to perform future maintenance cost studies and hold financial reserves or establish borrowing capacity equal to at least 50% of the expected repair and replacement costs.

Recognizing that these financial requirements could put a significant burden on unit owners with fixed incomes or limited financial resources, the task force also recommends creating special, low-cost financing programs for those who qualify.

All of this makes good sense. Detractors, however, worry that the new regulations will drive up the cost of condominium living, putting a strain on Florida’s retirees and others on a fixed income.

But will it? Deferred maintenance usually ends up costing more in the long run, as minor fixes deteriorate into complete replacements. At a condominium, that means low monthly maintenance fees today turn into tomorrow’s special assessments, which can often run into the tens of thousands of dollars per unit, or even more.

Deferred maintenance also depresses a condominium resident’s property value. A group of real-estate agents recently told the Miami Herald that condominium buyers won’t even consider an older building that hasn’t passed — or is in the middle repairs related to — its 40-year recertification.

Therefore, proper maintenance is a fiscally sound choice. It saves money in the long run. It preserves property values. And it eliminates risk. Encourage the Florida Legislature to do the right thing by emailing your representative.

If we’re lucky, “to fix or not to fix” no longer will be the existential question tearing condominium communities apart.