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“A DAY THAT LIVES IN INFAMY!” |
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An Opinion By Jan Bergemann
Published June 1, 2024 Attorney Roberto Blanch, a shareholder at the Siegfried Rivera law firm in Miami, didn’t refer to December 7, 1941, when Japanese airplanes attacked Pearl Harbor without a prior declaration of war, when he made this statement at a condo town hall meeting last month. He referred to December 31, 2024, one of the key deadlines for condo associations to comply with new condo safety laws. Make no mistake: For many condo owners in older hi-rise buildings it will be the day when they finally realize that they can no longer afford their homes. But it’s really not the fault of the legislators, as often implied in media articles. Fault can be found many years ago when many of the so-called “specialized attorneys” and law firms vehemently opposed bills in 2006 – 2008, bills that were filed by then State Representative Julio Robaina, requiring fully funded reserves. Remember: In 2005 hurricane Wilma turned South Florida’s roofs into an ocean of blue tarps – and many condo associations didn’t even have enough reserves to cover the deductibles for the roof repairs, causing a flood of foreclosures. That should have been a serious warning for condominium associations to create fully funded reserves. At that time it was estimated that fully funded reserves would have added between $30-$50 (on average) to the monthly maintenance fees. Considering today's estimates of necessary increases that would have been peanuts – and wouldn’t cause the financial chaos it is causing today. When talking about the bills recently enacted by the Florida Legislature we are always talking about the collapse of the Champlain Towers South in Surfside that cost the lives of 98 people. We should never forget that the serious structural problems that finally caused the collapse were known more than two years before the actual collapse. The reason why the necessary repairs were not taken care of: LACK OF RESERVE FUNDS! The board and the owners of the association just didn’t know how to pay for all these structural repairs – and the disaster happened. I was in Tallahassee at the committee hearings when these bills mandating fully funded reserves were debated – and I listened to the folks opposing these bills: Attorneys and their lobbyists! Committee members listened to William Sklar, Peter Dunbar [Florida Bar], Donna Berger [Becker & Poliakoff] and Travis Moore (CAI + Continental (now FSR)] and many others, who painted these bill proposals as a total disaster, financially ruining condo owners. And the legislators listened to them. Instead of fully funded reserves the law enacted allowed unit-owners to vote down fully funded reserves. And in many associations they did! The result: The provisions of the newly enacted bills will cause financial havoc for many condo owners starting latest December 31, 2024, because many of these associations don’t have any reserves worth mentioning. When you listen to these attorneys nowadays, they will tell you that they feel sorry for these condo owners and wish that the legislators would have found different solutions for the safety of these older hi-rise buildings. In my opinion, these same attorneys caused the financial disaster when they vehemently opposed fully funded reserves in the years after Irma, and caused Julio Robaina’s bills to be “watered down”. Make no mistake: Many of these associations with no reserves to talk about would be much better off if fully funded reserves would have been enacted in 2008. In my opinion we should not blame the legislators for their failure to enact fully funded reserves. They just listened to the so-called “experts”, the folks who are making big bucks from disasters happening in Florida’s community associations. But we shouldn’t forget to blame the Florida Supreme Court for their ruling in the SUSAN COHN V. THE GRAND CONDOMINIUM ASSOCIATION case. Some more “former attorneys” creating legal chaos in community associations. Did these Supreme Court judges really figure out what chaos they would create with their ruling?
No matter what: I blame the attorneys (and judges) for the chaos we see in Florida’s community associations. They are actually happy with all these serious problems owners in Florida’s community associations are facing. Their bank accounts will make them smile while lots of owners are losing their homes! |