Live in a Florida Condo? New Law may impact Condo Reserves....Significantly

[Trying941]

Originally Posted by beach43ofus

I've been an HOA President in a condo complex (in GA), but they were all 2 story w/ frame construction over crawl space, so very few concrete issues to deal with. We did have settling I had to hire an engineering firm to assess, then had to hire a contractor to add supporting piers under the buildings in the crawl space to remedy. I've been through it before...not w/ concrete...other than footers.

I'd have to go back to read more on this story, & the FLA, Dade, & Miami existing codes/laws to dig deeper. I no longer own a condo, so I won't bother.

I do know that the laws in place when the Miami building collapsed only required inspections once every 10 years. That interval, & the perscribed follow-up, turned out to be inadequate. A simple change to do inspections more frequently is the path I'd have taken. More inspectors would need to be hired, & a special property tax fee could be added to high rise condo's to pay for them.

If inspectors found a safety issue, & the HOA Board failed to act, the city/county/state could condemn the building for safety's sake.

I still see the remedy they chose, to be an over reaction to an isolated incidence, & unintended consequences could arise that winds up costing property owners more instead of less for the same level of safety. Let's see how this new law impacts condo values, & days on market in the future.

If you and I were in the State Legislature, or on a County Commission, I think we could find a reasonable compromise with bi-annual inspections, requiring major issues be addressed immediately, and assessments or immediate repairs otherwise where not remedied if other safety issues found in two consecutive inspections.

[CecilyCorbin]

Running for any political office would drive a man/woman to drink. Re-think that one! lol

[beach43ofus]

I nailed it! Some Miami special assessments reaching upto $100k! Others well into tens of thousands.

Read the C-D posts in the link below, & you'll ditch any thoughts you might have had of buying a high-rise condo...that market's crashing...not just in Miami...here in SRQ too. Unless you're a top 1%'er, get out now!

https://www.city-data.com/forum/miam...l#post63832240

Originally Posted by beach43ofus

I too considered a gulf front condo (3-5 stories) when I 1st retired to Florida 5yrs ago, but choked on the high HOA fees.

I too thought, "how can the HOA be that high?"

I guess its insurance, elevators, rusting balconies, painting every 3 years due to salt air.

I wonder if we'll see a lot more 2 story condo's now, to avoid this new law. That would be fine by me, the high rises are ugly, & block out too much view.

I see insurance rates & HOA fees rising so much, that these high rise condo's on the water will become unaffordable for the 99%.