Reforms to new condo safety law may be coming

In 2025, the Florida Legislature is poised to once again look at condominium safety regulations passed two years ago that have had the unintended consequence of putting thousands of owner’s units at risk and tanking the resale market.

The rules themselves, passed in the wake of the collapse of the 12-story Champlain Tower South in Surfside June 24, 2021, are not going to be overturned. But look for the rules to be tweaked in a way that makes it easier for owners and community associations now charged with upgrading buildings — often at a high cost.

What those proposed changes will look like will be hammered out in meetings and workshops in the weeks before the start of the legislative session in early March. 

Among the items that could be taken up is a clarification of the language used in the law to better explain the Structural Integrity Reserve Study requirements; clearer definitions to better meet the Legislature’s intent; creating incentives for no interest or low-interest private loans for unit owners and associations to meet repair needs; streamlining process to allow associations to access lines of credit; and cleaning up loopholes that currently seem to insinuate developers of mixed-use buildings don’t have to comply.

“They don't want to extend deadlines, they don’t want a glide path as such,” Travis Moore of Moore Relations, a St. Petersburg lobbying firm that represents community and condominium associations, and a former legislative staffer, says of the legislature.

“There’s not going to be a state bailout," Moore adds, in reference to scuttlebutt the state may consider that route. "But there are other things that we can come up with.”

Stuck in time 

The updates are a response to condo safety rules passed in 2022 and 2023.

The law requires milestone inspections for condominium buildings more than 30 years old and requires that condominium associations have enough money in reserves to pay for issues affecting the structural integrity of a building and for maintenance identified in a structural integrity reserve study.

A building will have to be inspected once it reaches its 30th birthday — based on when it received its certificate of occupancy. For buildings within three miles of the coast, the inspection needs to be done at the 25th birthday.

The deadline for the inspections is Dec. 31, 2024. From then on, inspections have to occur every 10 years.

The stated intent of the laws was to shore up older buildings and prevent condominium associations from continuing to defer much needed repairs, in essence kicking the bill down the road.

But the consequences of the new regulations have been brutal, particularly for older condominium owners who face harsh special assessments and rising fees as associations look to fix the work needed.

A lifeline at other times may have been selling the unit. But many of the people facing the assessments have to offer potential buyers huge discounts, cutting into whatever equity they may have. Not only that, but with Florida’s housing prices at or near all-time highs, where can they go?

One such owner spoke to the Business Observer on the issue, saying he’d been hit with a $3,700 assessment for 2024 alone.

“I’m squeezed by having to fork over an additional $407 each month to pay for the ‘sins of the past,’ present and future,” says Bill Schuetter, who lives in south Sarasota. “I can’t visit my grandkids because of this situation. I couldn’t move if I wanted to since I have a 2.99% mortgage rate.”

Relief redux

One positive is lawmakers — and industry insiders — are pretty much in agreement changes are needed to accomplish the goals set out by the Legislature and to make sure there isn’t a repeat of the Surfside disaster that killed 98 people.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis held two workshops with condo owners in September and touts signing of House Bill 1021 earlier this year, which, he says, "enhanced accountability for condo board members, improved transparency for residents and strengthened enforcement mechanisms for those found to be out of compliance with safety standards.”

But more changes are needed.

DeSantis’ office says in a statement that the governor is “working toward relief” for owners and “has supported legislation that improves condo safety and requires responsible management of association funds.”

“I am glad to continue discussions with condo residents about how to best achieve sensible policies regarding condo safety and transparency,” DeSantis says in the statement.

The governor also pushed for a special session on the issue, but incoming House and Senate leaders have said it isn’t needed, as did outgoing Senate President Kathleen Passidomo, R-Naples.