Article
Courtesy of The Miami Herald
By
Mary Ellen Klas
Published January 29, 2022
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TALLAHASSEE Florida legislators began work on updating
the state’s condominium regulations in response to the Champlain Towers
South collapse as a Senate committee advanced a bill Tuesday to impose
inspection requirements statewide, including stricter standards for
buildings near the coastline.
The measure, SB 1702, was unanimously approved by the
Senate Community Affairs Committee and is expected to serve as the vehicle
to attach other condo-related reforms, such as new regulations on disclosure
of condo conditions and new oversight related to condo boards.
The bill would establish a mandatory structural inspection program for
multi-family residential buildings that are greater than three stories and
larger than 3,500 square feet — a requirement that could affect as many as 2
million residents in Florida.
But there is at least one thorny issue that remains unresolved and no
legislation has emerged yet to address it: How to get condo owners to pay
for repairs when they are identified by inspectors.
The governance structure of condominium associations
allows them to elect boards of directors and often management companies, but
when it comes to funding repairs, many associations are reluctant to impose
the fees on the members who elected them. Under current laws, associations
may waive the assessment requirements, leaving price tags in place and
repairs neglected for years. |
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Two apartment buildings in Bay Harbor Islands were
evacuated within a day of each other after inspections found
structural issues, according to the town.
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The assessment facing condo owners at Champlain Towers South after its
40-year recertification exceeded $15 million. After postponing major repairs
amid bickering over costs, owners were hit with massive individual special
assessments. A portion of the 12-story tower collapsed, killing 98 people,
as repair work was under way. A Miami Herald analysis found design defects,
poor construction, water intrusion and deferred concrete and structural
repairs may have combined to contribute to the building’s abrupt failure.
The state estimates 2 million people reside in more than 912,000 condominium
units that are 30 years or older. Of the 1.5 million condominium units in
the state, another 141,773 are 20 to 30 years old, and more than 105,000
condominium units are more than 50 years old.
“There is no requirement that they be inspected," said Sen. Jennifer
Bradley, R-Fleming Island, the bill’s sponsor. “There are no requirements
that the unit owners are aware of the condition of their building, so while
we all wish we could turn back time, what we can do is take meaningful
action today to hopefully prevent thistragedy in other communities.”
The proposal builds on the 40-year inspection required on aging buildings in
Miami-Dade and Broward counties by imposing it statewide. Inspections would
be required once a building is 30 years old and every 10 years thereafter,
unless the building is within three miles of the coastline. Buildings that
are within three miles of coastline, and assumed to be more vulnerable to
the corrosive effects of sea salt, are required to be inspected after 20
years and every seven years thereafter.
Inspections must be done by a licensed architect or engineer and include a
two-phase process. The first is a visual inspection and, if it warrants, a
“structural distress inspection” must be done by licensed engineers or
architects. A copy of all inspection reports should be made to the building
owner or board of a condominium or cooperative, as well as the building
official in the city or county in which the building is located.
“We’re going to let the Florida Building Commission come up with their own
standards that can be adopted at their discretion by local governments, but
there needs to be a minimum standard through the state so this doesn’t
happen again,” Bradley said.
For buildings built prior to 1992, they must have their first inspection
completed by Dec. 31, 2024, under the measure.
The Department of Business and Professional Regulation estimates that the
cost of these types of inspections will vary based on the size of the
building. The recertification and building safety inspections currently
being conducted in Miami-Dade and Broward counties cost $20,000 to $40,000
for a 15- to 20-story condominium and $2,000 to $4,000 for a small
commercial building.
The bill also requires that condominium boards must distribute the report to
all unit owners and must be provided for any potential buyer in a resale.
Local governments will be allowed to impose timelines and penalties that
apply to compliance with the inspections.
Engineering group concurs
The proposal tracks the recommendations of the engineering working group by
the Florida Engineering Society, the American Council of Engineering
Companies in Florida, architects and other associations, which suggested the
30-year and 20-year framework.
“We understand there’s a whole bunch more to this puzzle, but we don’t want
to get into reserves and all that kind of stuff. That’s for other people to
figure out,’’ said Allen Douglas, executive director of the Florida
Engineering Society. “We just wanted to come up with something that we
thought was the bare minimum of what should be done.”
But once inspections are complete and repairs are identified, there is
nothing in state law now that requires condo associations to assess their
members to pay for it. Bradley said that Sen. Travis Hutson, R-St.
Augustine, is expected to propose legislation that will address the waiver
and require condominium associations to complete studies on their financial
reserves.
“Reserve studies and waivers are all important pieces to the puzzle and I
think they’ll be addressed," she said after the meeting. Sen. Ana Maria
Rodriguez, a Doral Republican who has proposed a series of bills addressing
condo reforms, said she hopes some legislator proposes ending the assessment
waiver and also provides financial options for homeowners to pay for
repairs, but she has no plans to propose it.
“It’s going to impact many, many of our of our families in Florida who are
on fixed incomes, who perhaps may be daunted by a sudden increase in their
reserves," she said. “But in order to avoid having this type of tragedy
occur again in the future, it needs to be seriously looked at, as well as
financing options...to help people figure out how to pay for these
structural repairs.” “I don’t know that it was a construction defect per se
... ,and the fact that they neglected doing all the necessary improvements
throughout the years,” she said. “And that, to me, seems to have more of an
impact than it’s not that it wasn’t built properly.”
However, implementing a new inspection regime across the state is not
expected to be easy. A task force convened by the Florida Bar concluded
there was a potential shortage of structural engineers to meet increased
demand for inspections, with only 650 current Florida experts who could
conduct the certification have passed a rigorous state exam. Miami-Dade
County already has a backlog of overdue 40-year recertifications that
stretches for years.
There are other proposed reforms Other condo reform proposals under
consideration are in SB 394 sponsored by Rodriguez, aimed at condominium
management which she said is “at the root of what happened at Champlain
Tower.” One proposal would require minimum education requirements for condo
board members: classes to learn about reserve studies, construction law and
other issues. “It’s not going to be a very complicated curriculum,"
Rodriguez said. “But at least just basic knowledge to give them a little
background before before engaging on this project of being a board member.”
Rodriguez also wants the state Department of Business and Professional
Regulation to create a database for condominiums that would include not just
the name of the condo but the names of the board members, the management
company if there is one, the approved annual budget and any certification
reports from various inspections. “This is all about creating more
transparency and letting people have access to information more easily," she
said. “Currently, people can obtain this information but it is sometimes
multi-step, very complicated, and it takes a lot of time, and I don’t think
that it should take time.” She has another bill, SB 274, that would create a
Condominium Fraud Investigation Pilot Program within the Office of the
Attorney General, using retired police officers, to investigate
condominium-related fraud.
The measure, inspired by the efforts of former state Rep. Julio Robaina, a
Hialeah Republican who spent years trying to strengthen the state’s
condominium laws only to have the Legislature repeal many of them a decade
ago.
“We do know that in South Florida there are a lot of incidents of cases
where board members commit fraud," Rodriguez said. “They embezzle funds ...
and they need to be prosecuted.”
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