Condominium unit owners and their associations will have more time to pay new assessments for maintenance and repairs now that Gov. Ron DeSantis has signed a bill designed to give them relief from ballooning fees.
The spike in assessments came after new laws were passed in 2022 and 2023 requiring inspections and for associations to carry enough reserves to pay for needed maintenance and repairs.
“People need to be able to afford to live in these units, especially if they’re getting assessments on things,” DeSantis said at a June 23 bill signing event in Clearwater.
“Maybe (repairs) do need to be done but it isn’t like the integrity of the structure is at risk here. They need to be able to work those out and you shouldn’t have this mandate apply in this way.”
The new requirements were passed in reaction to the 2021 collapse of the Champlain Towers building in Surfside that left 98 dead. Lawmakers have said they were trying to prevent another tragedy but needed to adjust the law to help condo owners balance affordability with safety.
“We all attempted to make sure there was never a collapse again. We overreacted probably and now it’s time to make the change,” said Sen. Ed Hooper, R-Clearwater. “People were losing their homes. Elderly people were losing their condos because they could not afford to make the increase in their monthly HOA fees. That’s just wrong.”
The bill (HB 913) extends the deadline for an inspection to Dec. 31, 2025, and allows condo associations to vote to finance any anticipated new reserve requirement, giving unit owners more time to pay off any new assessments.
DeSantis called for condo reform from lawmakers for months
The governor has been pressing lawmakers to address the condo issue since last fall. He hosted meetings with condo residents in South Florida, citing the pressing need for relief for elderly residents on fixed incomes who couldn’t keep up with the new assessments, forcing many to try to sell their units.
DeSantis called for the Legislature to hold a special session before the end of 2024 to extend the deadline, which was Dec. 31, 2024, but that call went unheeded.
Then he included condo reforms in a special session he called in January, which was mostly focused on passing stricter immigration enforcement laws.
But House and Senate leaders rejected that push. They later came to a compromise on immigration laws but the condo bills would have to wait until the regular session. A prolonged budget standoff extended the typical 60-day session to 105 days, leading DeSantis to sign the bill months after he intended.
The delay perturbed DeSantis, who has vented his frustration with House GOP leadership across a number of issues this year, and he did so again June 23.
“I thought if we could start the year off with the condo reform, … it’d give people peace of mind to know there’s relief there. It could also set different expectations and all these assessments could be done differently and these reforms could really make a difference,” DeSantis said.
“That was not taken up and I know a lot of people were very disappointed in the leadership particularly in the House of Representatives for not being willing to address it at that time.”
Other pieces of the bill allow for more transparency of condo association finances for unit owners, allow for electronic voting by unit owners and requires more reporting to the state’s Department of Business and Professional Regulation, the agency that oversees homeowner associations.
DeSantis signed another measure (HB 393) making changes to the My Safe Florida Condo Pilot Program, which offers grants to condo associations that make hurricane-resistant upgrades to their buildings. The bill allows 75% of owners to approve grant applications, instead of the current 100%.
While hopeful of the bill’s success, DeSantis acknowledged how tricky condo policy is and that it could require more changes in the future: “To the extent that there needs to be some cleanup next year when the Legislature reconvenes, we’ve got to be willing to do that.”
Gray Rohrer is a reporter with the USA TODAY Network-Florida Capital Bureau. He can be reached at grohrer@gannett.com. Follow him on X: @GrayRohrer.
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Gov. DeSantis signs measure into law to relieve state’s condo crisis
Reporting by Gray Rohrer, USA TODAY NETWORK – Florida / Tallahassee Democrat
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
