Surfside grand jury report out
Nearby residents of Crestview Towers were evacuated after questionable safety inspections following the collapse of Champlain Towers South, July 11, 2021. Courtesy North Miami Beach Police Department
A new report may add further impetus to the Florida Legislature to tackle re-inspection of high-rise buildings. A Miami-Dade County Grand Jury has recommended that such buildings be re-inspected every ten years for recertification of occupancy and that condo associations be required to annually certify building repairs and maintenance. The report, The Surfside Condo Collapse Tragedy: Recommendations to Make Buildings Safer, was prompted by the June collapse of the Champlain Towers South condominium in Surfside that killed 98 residents and the subsequent evacuations of several buildings in the county whose safety was in question.
The Surfside collapse was one of the legislative topics discussed on our recent Florida Insurance Roundup podcast. I sat down with state capitol reporters Mike Vasilinda of Capitol News Service and Jim Saunders of the News Service of Florida. Vasilinda said the grand jury report will create “real pressure” on the legislature to act.
“Now remember, hearken back I think to 2005 or 2006, the legislature passed a bill requiring inspections every 10 years. And then by 2010, the condo boards were so upset, flexed their muscles, gave a lot of money out, and ended up getting that legislation repealed,” said Vasilinda.
“Part of it is a financial pressure on these condo boards,” added Saunders. “There’s been an issue in the past about retrofitting buildings with fire sprinklers and it kept getting pushed. As far as I know, it’s still getting pushed off. And the reason it keeps getting pushed off is it costs a lot of money to go into these old buildings and retrofit them with fire sprinklers. That’s just one example of the types of issues that that these boards might be confronted with, if all of a sudden, they have to bring their buildings more up to modern standards or codes.”
No bills have been filed in the legislature pertaining to re-inspections beyond HB 771 by Rep. Alex Andrade (R-Pensacola) which would direct the Florida Building Commission to develop statewide standards for the maintenance and periodic inspection of existing building structures or facilities, as well as consider allowing local deviations. Another bill, HB 329 by Rep. Nicholas Duran (D-Miami-Dade) would require the Department of Business and Professional Regulation (DBPR) to establish a searchable database of condominium and homeowners’ associations’ information, including whether the association has reserve accounts for capital expenditures and deferred maintenance, and if they are fully funded. Another bill, SB 880 by Senator Jason Pizzo (D-Miami), would expand the jurisdiction of DBPR in investigating complaints about condo associations and revise criminal penalties for misdeeds.
“Condo boards themselves are very dysfunctional quite often. I think there’s a lot of competing factors there that do make it more complex than you might think,” said Saunders, noting that condo bills historically are “complex and convoluted.”
We also previewed other bills and topics in the upcoming session and which may get serious consideration and why. You can listen to the podcast here or on your favorite audio platform, as well as read the show notes and check out the various links and resources we mention in this episode.
LMA Newsletter of 1-3-22
