Implications for the next session
One of the issues the Florida Legislature will surely address in its upcoming 2025 session is the ongoing challenge to condominium living. As we’ve reported, many owners are finding themselves between a rock and a hard place – asked to pay tens of thousands of dollars toward needed repair costs or try to sell their unit in a softening condo market. Recently, two outspoken Florida lawmakers headlined a “condo summit” in Davie to address the issues in the condominium marketplace and placed most of the blame on insurance companies – not existing state law.
At issue is the December 31 deadline for 30-year-old or older high-rise condo buildings to undergo mandatory milestone structural safety inspections and to complete reserve studies so they’ll know how much money to begin saving toward necessary capital repairs and maintenance. The Florida Legislature passed these requirements in 2022 through Senate Bill 4-D and follow up Senate Bill 154 following the June 2021 Surfside Condo Collapse that killed 98 people.
Senator Jason Pizzo. Courtesy, Florida Senate
At the recent summit, state Senators Jason Pizzo (D-Sunny Isles Beach) and Jennifer Bradley (R-Fleming Island) spoke out against Citizens and other Florida insurance companies for the rapidly rising cost of commercial condo association policies. Bradley co-sponsored SB 154 and she and Pizzo co-sponsored a third bill in the 2024 session, SB 1178, which toughens the rules on condo associations operations.
Under the new laws, many older buildings across south Florida have come under new scrutiny, with insurance companies rating the buildings as high risk, driving up insurance premiums and the potential upgrade costs. Condo residents in the Brickell area of Miami were recently outraged after their assessment came back with $21 million in necessary repairs, which could mean individual unit assessments of up to $40,000 just to get back on track and bring premiums down. And with the ‘My Safe Florida Condo’ pilot program hitting capacity a week after its launch in November, associations have lost another resource to help with upgrade costs.
Senator Jennifer Bradley. Courtesy, Florida Senate
Focusing on the insurance side of things will come with the next legislative session in March, said Bradley and Pizzo, who is the Senate Minority Leader and was also recently assigned to serve on the Senate Banking and Insurance Committee. “Any comprehensive discussion about condos must include insurance,” they told the Miami Herald in a statement. “The condo laws we’ve passed regarding building safety and their financial health will ultimately make condos more insurable.”
Representatives from the insurance industry have a different story, instead saying that the structural improvements mandated by the legislature are the biggest financial burden facing condo owners. Regardless, condo affordability still evades lawmakers and Floridians at large. Under state law, condo associations and their unit owners need to fund savings plans for repairs. Monthly assessment fees have shot up nearly 60% over the last five years, which led to the many speculative headlines about Governor DeSantis calling a special session earlier this year to address the challenge.
LMA Newsletter of 12-16-24
