A reckoning is coming for Florida's condo owners as buildings face millions in repairs

[Ramsey Barner]

Across Florida, aging condo buildings are facing rising expenses and millions of dollars in structural repairs to comply with new regulations following the collapse of the Champlain Towers condominium, which killed 98 people in 2021. While new building requirements are intended to prevent a similar tragedy, the costs are pushing some condo owners to the brink financially and jeopardizing one of the last bastions of relatively affordable housing along Florida’s coastline.

“We’ve got to get these buildings back in shape, but for those that are renters and for those that are owners on fixed incomes it means they may have to find other housing,” said Florida House Rep. Vicki Lopez, who helped craft the legislation and whose Miami district includes more than 600 condo associations. “We already have an affordable housing crisis in Florida, so this perfect storm has arrived at a very difficult time.”

Under legislation passed by the Florida state Legislature following the Champlain Towers collapse, condo buildings over three stories and older than 30 years must pass a structural inspection by the end of the year. That requirement applies to roughly 900,000 condo units across the state. It also requires condo associations to keep a minimum amount in their reserves to fund future repairs, requiring many buildings to increase their monthly association dues.

In the worst cases, residents are being told they have to evacuate their buildings because of structural deficiencies found during inspections, said Greg Batista, a professional engineer who has worked in Florida for more than 20 years.

While some buildings will need little or no work, Florida building engineers, real estate lawyers and realtors say many are now having to pay the price for years of lax maintenance, subpar building standards before the 1990s, and the effects of Florida’s saltwater on the concrete and rebar that holds the structures together.

“I think that many people have yet to really face the music or understand that it is better to sell than to stay around and fund those really large improvements and reserves that you need to in order to comply with the law,” Defortuna said.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/economics/reckoning-coming-floridas-condo-owners-buildings-face-millions-repairs-rcna165764

[Attilatheblond]

1. How about we stop letting developers build close to the ocean?

They build, sell, the the foolish consumers (and taxpayers) end up with the financial burden of the bad idea. One more illustration of privatizing profits and public financial loss.

Growing up near the ocean, I could clearly see, as a nine year old, that building too near the beach was a really stupid idea. And even then, it galled me to know taxpayers inland had to share the financial loss for such stupidity.

Stop building close to the ocean. Let other people get a chance to see the sea. This foolishness does not have to keep happening.

[jimfields33]

4. I agree. But would add that building should also stop at Forestry and land prevalent to fires.

Tornado alley and earthquake area. We need to smarten up.

[Attilatheblond]

7. As a teen in Southern California, I watched amazingly productive coastal plains farmland get buried in homes/streets

Always wondered: what's wrong with building further inland where it is dry and not as productive? How about some sleek commuter trains like Disney built for the Monorail System in Disneyland? Why are we letting real estate speculators control the taxing and zoning so they can financially ruin the people who grow our food just because they want to put up 'ticky-tacky-houses' in areas better left for food production and public beach access?

Yeah, I was a constantly puzzled youngster. If I could see the stupidity of the system, how come the 'grown ups' couldn't. Still a mystery to me, but my mind played a song from the Flower Drum Song, The Other Generation.

The more I see of grown ups
the less I want to grow.
The more I see what they have learned
the less I want to know...

https://vimeo.com/119375504

[jimfields33]

10. I agree with every word.

I believe you were smart beyond your years. Unfortunately the adults were not.

[Ramsey Barner]

8. Orrin Pilkey, James B. Duke Emeritus Professor of Geology, has called for people to abandon beach structures:

“It’s time to leave the beach, at least in terms of having permanent structures and communities there. The seas are rising. Storms are intensifying. We need to begin an orderly retreat while we still have time,” he said.

This means being willing to sacrifice any structure that can’t be moved to higher ground on the mainland, and prohibiting any new beachfront development, he said. If a house is significantly damaged in a storm, we have to stop letting the owner rebuild it with federal subsidies or guarantees of low insurance rates. And we must re-nourish eroding beaches sparingly, if at all.

“No one likes to talk about retreat because they think it signals defeat,” Pilkey said. “But in this case, it’s the opposite. It means victory and survival.”

https://nicholas.duke.edu/news/falling-ocean-orrin-pilkeys-call-retreat-beach

[raccoon]

9. What a heretical idea. :sarcasm:

[bucolic_frolic]

2. "subpar building standards before the 1990s"

Florida was a bastion of lax regulation that led to the 1920s bull market in undeveloped land and subsequent collapse. Lax regulation extends to other areas of life. I recall reading a book decades ago about penny stocks which advised not to engage a broker in FL because there were little or no Blue Sky laws. You could bring any empty vessel to market in FL.

[jimfields33]

5. To bad we can't go back and arrest every governor from 1920 to 1989.

[NCDem47]

3. South Florida condo owners are BAILING!

?si=naqwLHexho69VZxI

[keithbvadu2]

6. Built deliberately short-changing long-term maintenance for quick profits.

Built deliberately short-changing long-term maintenance for quick profits.

https://democraticunderground.com/100215585760

How The Reagan Revolution Collapsed America & the Florida Condo

condo fees


https://hartmannreport.com/p/how-the-reagan-revolution-collapsed
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https://www.democraticunderground.com/100215598501

Built deliberately short-changing long-term maintenance for quick profits.
==============================================
https://www.democraticunderground.com/1017803647

Owners asked to pay $175,000 each toward Miami condo 40-year recertification

[Aristus]

11. They'll be able to deal with it.

The way I see it, if people moved to Florida because of the searing heat, stifling humidity, and billions of pestilential insects, the risk of building collapse ranks pretty low on their list of worries.