Even the possibility of The Florida Legislature going into Special Session in order to solve this alleged condo crisis is insane. You know why? Because our legislators had the guts to fix it two years ago after 98 innocent victims perished in a condominium building that was in a terribly poor, dangerous and unsafe condition.
The residents of The State of Florida and The Florida Press was in absolute shock when it learned that other than in Dade and Broward Counties, condominium buildings never even had to be inspected, despite their age. Everyone was saddened and troubled by the fact that the residents of The Champlain Towers, many of whom now rest in peace, needed $15,000,000.00 in emergency repairs but only had $700,000.00 in the bank. Something had to be done. The then current laws were wrong by any measure.
Governor DeSantis and the legislators of the state did the right thing. The only thing that could have been done. Going forward there would be laws in place that require mandatory inspections and repairs of buildings that are 30 years old and every ten years thereafter. Going forward owners would be required to pay the true costs of what it is to live in a condominium each month by putting away money for no doubt upcoming repairs to the property so that the money is there when needed.
I’ve said this a million times….we can debate all day long about why The Champlain Towers fell. Was it the pool deck? Was the condo next door built too close? The tragedy at The Champlain Towers happened for one reason……. Lack of money in the bank. Had the money been there in 2018 when the association was originally told to make the necessary repairs, they would have been made and nobody would have died. Instead years went by and the cost of the repair skyrocketed. That’s a terrible shame.
Because the law allowed them to, older owners voted down the funding of reserve accounts decade after decade after decade. They deliberately kept their own assessments artificially low. Their poor excuse was they thought it didn’t make sense to put away money for a roof they might not live to ever see. Well………..they got unlucky I guess. They lived. Or, they simply did not care that somebody would be living in their unit when repairs are ultimately made one day. Now, the building needs repairs and they have to pay for them. Is sympathy now warranted? Seriously? There is no alternative to the new laws and The Florida Legislature should stop thinking there is.
The vote by our legislators was 110 – 0 in favor of mandatory inspections, mandatory repairs and mandatory reserves. You know why? Because it was a great piece of mandatory and courageous legislation. Along with the condominium and HOA laws passed this past legislative session, Florida has been nothing short of a model of community association laws for the rest of the country to follow.
So what is The Florida Legislature to do now? Should they say we were wrong about the mandatory inspections? Let’s go back to no more inspections at all for condominiums. Should they say we were wrong about forcing condominiums to make mandatory structural repairs if the building needs them? Let the building crumble for all we care. Should they go back to no mandatory reserves like it was at the time The Champlain Towers collapsed? Well if they do, they are not being sympathetic to the condominium owners in The State of Florida. They are again putting them in harm’s way. It would be a slap in the face to all of the 98 victims of The Champlain Towers and their families.
These huge special assessments that we see and hear about on the news being made by boards of condominiums are now made to seem by the press as being done by evil heartless board members who couldn’t care less about the condo owners they live with. First they screamed and yelled that Florida’s laws were dangerous and need to be changed. When they are rightfully changed but obviously result in the need for increased payments from the unit owners, the laws are suddenly cruel and need to be changed back.
I’m sorry. If the condominium was correctly managed over the years and repairs were made when necessary and reserves were properly funded, these new laws will have virtually no financial effect on that condominium. The only condominiums these new laws financially hurt are the ones where repairs were not made and unit owners voted against any form of reserves year after year after year after year. Well as I said in my 60 Minutes interview. The bill has now come due.
Florida legislators and our governor must now stand tall and affirm their prior decisions because they were right. They were bold and they were necessary. In fact, just before the vote on the bill one of our legislators said “Future condominiums never have to worry about another Surfside taking place.” Well do they now?
After the dust settles, Florida will be able to say we have the safest most properly funded condominiums in the entire country. That is something to be incredibly proud of.
A fantastic achievement. Is it going to be tough for some owners? Absolutely. That’s still no reason to sacrifice safety. It is always safety first.
ERIC M. GLAZER, ESQUIRE
Board Certified By The Florida Bar in Condominium and Planned Development Law
Licensed by The Florida Bar since 1992
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Watch our recent episode of Condo Craze and HOAs where we covered this topic
