Revisited: Q & A - Condo Laws

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Yeah, Today's Q and A what Florida's new condo laws
will do? This is brought to you by listen ashes
check Mark collections. Each day I feature a listener question
that is sent by one of these methods. You may
email me Brian Mud at iHeartMedia dot com, hit me
up on social at Brian Mud Radio. You may also
use the iHeartRadio talk back feature We'd love it if

(00:22):
you'd love us, make us your number one preset in
the app, and then the Brian Mudshow podcast your number
two pre set. While you're in there, you'll also see
little microphone button. See it, tap it. You may lay
down a message right there, maybe for a future Q
and A and today's sad as this Brian, please explain
what the new condo laws do and how much you
could save us. We desperately need really from Rising Hoads,

(00:44):
thank you, You've got it. And Fox's Evan Brown bringing
the latest about a report preliminary report explaining the impetus
behind all of the condo laws in recent years.

Speaker 2 (01:01):
A preliminary report by the National Institute of Standards and
Technology points to design issues with slab and column joints
as to why the champlain Towers South in Surfside, Florida,
came crashing down in twenty twenty one, killing ninety eight people.
These conditions existed from the time construction was complete forty
years before the partial collapse. Investigator Glen Bell adds the

(01:24):
tower's construction failed to meet codes and standards and that
deterioration and stress went unchecked through the years.

Speaker 1 (01:31):
Pretty remarkable fatal flaw from the beginning, ticking time bomb
right along. So Yes Governe's Antis has signed two bills
in a law aimed at providing relief to condo owners
due to laws that were passed subsequent to the collapse
of Champlain Tower South aimed at preventing a future situation

(01:51):
like that. The Condominium and Cooperative Association's law extends the
reserve steady requirement for one year. It allows for a
time your pause and reserve fund contributions to prioritize funding
critical repairs that are identified in milestone inspections, among other changes.
That is going to be very important in terms of

(02:14):
saving money upfront. Then you have the my say, Florida
kind of minium pilot program. Law makes it easier for
condo associations to obtain grants for needed repairs and upgrades.
Now both laws immediately took effect, so relief is underway
right now. And addressing today's question what does a look like? Well, effectively,

(02:35):
every condo association that is thirty years old or older
stands to see relief right away from the passage of
these laws. And actually many of the new rules apply
to all condo associations regardless of a building's age, because
there are actually a lot of things in here that
are just for condo owners for transparency and for your

(02:56):
own benefit as well. So the extent of the benefit
is going to depend on factors like the condition of
the building, the existing reserve levels of associations, along with
mandated inspections where association stand and processes all of these
kinds of things. But here are the big reforms that

(03:18):
were under the main new law. So I mentioned that
it extends the reserve study requirement for a year, and
then the tier pause and reserve fund contributions. Again, that
is the biggest immediate piece of relief for many of
the most impacted associations. It increases the replacement costs of

(03:42):
repairs required to be reserved and considered from ten thousand
to twenty five thousand as identified in a structural integrity
reserve study. And the point of that is, you have
so many of the reserves for associations that were found
to be underfunded in part because of some of these

(04:04):
less expensive repairs. That's why there's a greater than doubling
of what would be considered for having to have higher
reserves kept. Provides additional funding options for associations to try
to aid inflexibility for paying for these things. It enables
boards and unit owners to terminate contracts if a property

(04:27):
manager fails to follow requirements of a state's condo laws,
and prohibits association managers whose license is either revoked by
the state from holding any role in a management firm
or being licensed for ten years. It requires full disclosure
a potential conflicts of interest, mandates competitive bidding for contracts

(04:49):
to make repairs on condominiums. Amen that is has long
been needed. Anybody who's ever been in near its situation
where you can tell that greed palms are being greased
and with some of these property management companies. Requires associations
to provide more information in records online, making it easier

(05:11):
for residents to access records and understand how their communities
are being managed and how money is spent. That's a
nice one. Provides associations with the ability to deliver documents electronically.
That's another nice convenience. And also, speaking of the convenience,
you're like, hey, you know, there are plenty of times

(05:32):
I would like to, you know, partake in a condo
association meeting, but I'm not there. Maybe you're even a
part time resident. Well. It allows for increased video conference
usage for meetings and also allows for electronic voting. Requires
condo associations to report information about their property to the

(05:54):
state and provide additional association details for regulatory oversight. Mandates
data sharing among local governments to assess compliance with building
safety requirements. Increase financial transparency, requiring that unit owners have
access to their association's financial records at all times. It's

(06:17):
another big one. Association allows associations more time to complete
detailed financial reports, and it also requires disclosure, Like if
you're looking to buy a condo, used to be that
you would have to receive all of the information about
a condo. Association inspections all that for a minimum of

(06:41):
three days from the time of request that has been
moved up to seven days so that there's additional time
prior to closing for a potential buyer to review that information.
So anyway, that's a lot, right, A lot that went
down there. So is the potential savings that was one
of the questions here. Without getting into all the nitty
gritty details for impact to condo associations, it looks like

(07:04):
the potential savings is realistically between seventeen hundred and fifty
dollars to forty nine hundred dollars per unit in year one,
with residual savings of seven hundred and fifty to thirty
seven hundred dollars per unit in subsequent years. So it
is pretty meaningful what we're talking about here. As for

(07:24):
the My Save Florida Condo Law, the rundown of what
it does. It limits grand funding to improvements that will
result in a mitigation, credit, discount or other discount. Lowers
approval requirements from all unit owners, agreeing to seventy five
percent of unit owners who reside in the building, allows

(07:44):
for roof replacements under the Grand program, prohibits a condo
from applying for an inspection or grant if the association
has not complied with inspection requirements. Previously restricts eligibility to
buildings that are three or more stories in height and
contain at least two single family dwellings. That's another big

(08:06):
addendum now for those that are able to take advantage
of the grant program, up to seventeen hundred and fifty
dollars per unit in grant savings and up to twenty
percent in insurance savings. Five to twenty percent for those
that can take advantage of the upgrades. So obviously it's
not going to be a panacea for addressing all the
affordability challenges, but it's a lot and it should be

(08:28):
pretty meaningful for many, especially older buildings.