The tragedy was a huge wake up call for the condo community statewide — from legislators and code enforcement to homeowners, engineers, property managers and condo board members.

Laws passed in 2022 and 2023 aim to ensure another collapse of that magnitude never happens again. The legislation requires milestone inspections for condo and co-op buildings, structural integrity reserve studies (SIRS) every decade, and the full funding of financial reserves, among other things. As a result, it makes condo living much more expensive.

Those deadlines are quickly approaching, starting at the end of this year. Some associations are working to meet those deadlines. Many have not.

Unit owners at Mediterranean Village, a condo community in Aventura’s Williams Island, are on the hook for special assessments as high as $400,000 per owner, Channel 10 reported. Homeowner Howard Konetz told the TV station that he and his wife can’t afford the roughly $224,000 assessment for his two-bedroom condo, on top of monthly maintenance fees that have doubled to $3,000 a month. They’ve been trying to sell the unit and have dropped the price repeatedly. The special assessment can’t be passed onto the buyer.

“At this point in time, maybe I can give it away for pennies on the dollar,” he said.

I spoke with Greg Batista, an engineer who was hired by Champlain Towers South to handle a waterproofing issue about four years before the collapse. Batista said his company is working on 30 to 50 recertifications a month, fewer than 30 SIRS studies, and between 25 and 30 milestone inspections.

Even though some associations are still putting off complying with the new condo safety laws, demand for engineers and SIRS specialists has skyrocketed.

Some property managers aren’t even aware of the legislation. Coupled with the property insurance crisis, Batista likened the situation to a tsunami. More unit owners are trying to sell their condos; that’s expected to snowball next year. The vast majority of resale units on the market as of the end of the first quarter of this year are 30 years or older.

“I deal a lot with people who live in condos that are in the same or worse shape,” as Champlain Towers South, Batista said. “But these people live on fixed incomes. When I get involved, we’re talking about millions of dollars.”