You may recall that last year, The House and the Senate passed legislation that would have allowed condominiums in excess of 75 in height to opt out of a mandatory engineered life safety system. Legislation already existed that allowed these condominiums to opt out of sprinkler requirements.  Condos opted out of the sprinkler requirements, only to be told that they are still required to install a perhaps even more expensive engineered life safety system.

 

So HB 653 was passed last year to help alleviate the perceived financial burden of an engineered life safety system.  Then came the tragic fire in London, England where dozens of people died.  As a result, Governor Scott vetoed HB 653.

This year, another attempt was made in the Florida Legislature to waive the engineered life safety system requirement.   It failed.

So, the bottom line is that condos are still under the gun.  If your Fire Marshall says install that engineered  life safety system — you now have no choice.  And if you don’t have the money, you better find it.  Can’t afford the special assessment to install the engineered life safety system?  Too bad.  You may be foreclosed on.

So what do you think?  Was Governor Scott right?  Should Floridians be able to opt of the engineered life safety system and fire sprinklers?