ORLANDO -- Looking to rent in northern Orange County? Online listings for Winter Park Woods are less than $1,800 a month.

“And I love this location, which is why I stayed here all this time, through the ups and downs,” Winter Park Woods condo owner Lorraine Roy said.

“This is way too high,” she said. The Winter Park Woods Condominiums Association provided owners with three reasons for the HOA fee hike. Orange County is owed millions of dollars for code violations Insurance compliance Senate Bill 4-D, the legislation passed in response to the Surfside condo collapse in South Florida that killed 98 people in June 2021 “We underfunded the reserves,” Roy said. “That has been happening.”

A January Florida Policy Project report found 1.1 million condo units are 30 years or older.

“The simple truth is condo owners have some choices,” Florida Policy Project Founder & President Jeff Brandes told WESH 2 Investigates.

Under Senate Bill 4-D, all three-story condo buildings that old had to undergo mandatory inspections by the end of 2024.

Condo associations are required to increase their reserves to pay for maintenance and repairs.

“Unfortunately, in some cases, the simple truth is developers are going to come in and redevelop these properties,” Brandes said. “They're going to buy out the existing condo owners."

After his monthly HOA fee jumped from $634 to more than $2,100 a month, Winter Park Woods condo owner Shane Costa received what he considers a low offer of $70,000 for his one-bedroom.

The offer came from an investor who appears to have purchased other condos in the complex.

“I'm in a little bit better circumstance than most people right now, but there's people losing their homes,” Costa said.

WESH 2 Investigates also spoke with Steve Fieldman, an owner of several condos at the Stone Creek at Wekiva complex in Altamonte Springs.

“There are people who live here no more, and they just they just couldn't withstand the pressure and had to sell out for a much lower price than they feel was fair,” Fieldman said.

A lawsuit filed by Fieldman’s attorneys accuses the Stone Creek at Wekiva Condominium Association of wanting to “terminate the condominium form of ownership and convert the Association into an apartment complex."

The lawsuit said the association’s board members are affiliated with or employed by a real estate investment company based in Boca Raton. The association has denied the allegations in the lawsuit.

"We should have, stronger laws to protect the people who they have their entire livelihood, all their future is in their condominium,” Fieldman said.

Brandes, a former state senator, said lawmakers are struggling to come up with a solution to provide relief for condo owners.

“I don't think that people living in single-family homes think that their tax dollars should go to condo owners who deferred maintenance for 30 years,” Brandes said.

Roy still has not entertained an offer for her condo.

“Not yet,” she said. “I mean, I don't answer the phone."

She is offering advice for other condo owners facing higher HOA fees.

“Know who is on your board, pay a lot of attention and go to the meetings if you can,” Roy said. “Watch what they're doing with your money and pay attention to who owns.”