Florida condominium owners will see some relief after Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a sweeping condominium reform bill on Wednesday.

HB 913 is aimed at helping condo owners battling skyrocketing HOA fees. With the governor's signature, it now becomes law and will take effect on July 1.

Following the 2021 collapse of the Champlain Towers South condo in Surfside, which killed 98 people, condos over 30 years of age (and three stories tall) got hit with new safety laws requiring "milestone" inspections and beefing up reserve funds for repairs and maintenance. HB 913 is meant to help owners with costs without sacrificing safety. "This bill comes from a lot of listening to owners talk about how they know their building needs to be safe but pleading that the process be fair and workable," state Sen. Jennifer Bradley (R-Fleming Island), who led the effort to address condo owners' concerns, said during bill debate. "With each milestone inspection, our condos are becoming safer, but financial impacts are reverberating." In April, both chambers of the Florida Legislature voted unanimously to pass House Bill 913, addressing endless complaints over the rising fees for condominium owners, despite pushback from DeSantis.

 

Essentially, the bill would aid condominium associations in setting up credit lines and investing funds that would contribute to necessary building repairs instead of immediately looking to owners for the money.

 

"You had people that were going to be forced out of their condos potentially because of legislation that had come down the pipe," DeSantis said during a May 20 appearance in Tampa, referencing recent safety laws, as reported by NBC Miami.

What is HB 913?

The bill will help some condominium associations in certain situations use special assessments, lines of credit, or loans to fund their reserves, and to pool reserve accounts—hopefully, taking the pressure off of condo owners who were suddenly faced with exorbitant fees.

The 191-page bill had additional provisions:

• Prohibits a person whose community association manager license is revoked from having an indirect or direct ownership interest in, or being an employee, a partner, an officer, a director, or a trustee of, a community association management firm for a specified time frame.

• Requires a licensee to create and maintain an online licensure account with the Department of Business and Professional Regulation.

• Requires a community association manager to identify on his or her online licensure account certain information.

• Requires a licensee to provide specific information on his or her online licensure account.

• Requires that such information be updated within a specified time frame.

• Requires a community association management firm to identify on its online licensure account the community association managers it employs to provide community association management services.

The bill is aimed at providing transparency and accountability to avoid another Surfside condo collapse.

Owners hope to see relief fast. The sharp rise in condo fees has had an effect on older condos for sale. Homeowners are finding themselves saddled with rising HOAs, in addition to being unable to sell their condo.

"Prospective buyers are more cautious now, often demanding structural inspection reports before making a purchase," Miltiadis Kastanis, director of new development sales at Compass Development Marketing Group, told Realtor.com. "This caution has led buyers to shift their interest into newer buildings since older buildings' costs are higher. Newer condo products are selling at higher prices."