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Article
Courtesy of Local Channel 10 Tampa Bay
By
Aaron Parseghian
Published January 21, 2023
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WATCH VIDEO |
TALLAHASSEE — As condominium owners across the state
voice their concerns over seeing rising monthly fees, new proposals in
Tallahassee are aiming to help.
“Our COA has actually doubled over the last five years,” Anne Marie Riedel,
a board president for a small condo association in south St. Petersburg,
said.
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“Unfortunately, we have three units that will be going on
the market because they feel that that the increase is just
too much,” Riedel added.
Riedel says rising property insurance rates and a lack of
options for insurers are causing the rise.
But insurance is not the only driving factor — a new state
law and safety regulations put in place following the 2021
Surfside Condo collapse are also playing a role. The law
requires condo associations to have fully funded reserves in
place to make any necessary repairs.
Associations have to have that money set aside by the end
of the year, and while trying to make up ground were forced
to raise HOA or COAs to make up the difference. Riedel says
her association was about 68% funded entering this year. |
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“Those were the two primary driving factors, not to mention PG&E, cable,
water, sewer, garbage, all also increasing,” Riedel explained.
A pair of bills proposed by lawmakers this session could offer some relief.
One (SB 802) would allow condo associations that insure with the
state-backed Citizens to pay premiums based on the value of their roof,
rather than the replacement cost, which would likely save some upfront
costs.
Another proposal, (HB 1029) aims to expand the My Safe Florida home
hardening grants to allow condo owners and associations to apply for
matching funds.
It’s not just the growing fees concerning condo owners in the Tampa Bay
area, but also how associations and boards are using their money. Because of
that, Lawmakers are moving to further increase and strengthen state
oversight of HOAs and COAs
Creating a state database of condo communities, a pilot program to further
investigate fraud (SB 426) and conduct audits, and making important
documents more accessible, are among a slew of proposals within more than a
dozen bills, including the bipartisan-sponsored SB 1178, being looked at
right now.
“It doesn’t matter who you talk to, no one thinks this process is set up to
help the unit owners,” State Sen. Jennifer Bradley (R-Fleming Island) said
during a recent committee hearing.
Travis Moore, a government affairs specialist, who works with lawmakers to
craft legislation, says there is an "appetite" on both sides of the aisle to
see reforms through.
“I think legislators and policymakers are beginning to see [the issue] and
know that we need to make some adjustments,” Moore added.
While he says fixing the insurance market as a whole isn’t a reality for the
legislative session, there could be some other reforms made to keep safety
paramount but also help condo owners from taking on so much extra cost at
once.
“There will be some tweaks, I think there's going to be some efforts to try
to provide for ways to finance without having to just do all cash, maybe
lines of credit, some of those types of things,” Moore explained.
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