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Article
Courtesy of Spectrum News 13
By
Asher Wildman
Published March 23, 2025
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ORLANDO — State lawmakers are looking at a number of
bills aimed at providing relief for condo owners and associations across the
state.
It would most notably ease a mandate for reserve funds that caused many to
raise fees to make up the cash.
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Condo owners the past
two years say they are shocked by the fees they now pay
monthly or quarterly. Whether it’s money going in to the
operating budget or reserves budget, the two can add up to a
mortgage payment.
That cost just on fees to a condo association alone has
condo owners across the state asking for help.
When the Champlain Towers in Surfside collapsed in 2021,
condos in Florida were put on notice: Do a better job to
properly ensure buildings are structurally sound, and be
properly funded to fix what is found in a structural
integrity report.
“It was in fact a good idea,” Marbella Condominiums condo
board member Tom Baker said. “The problem was it was poorly
executed.” |
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Following hurricane Ian and Nicole in 2022, Tom Baker’s
Marbella Condo in Daytona Beach Shores was hit hard.
It wasn’t covered by property insurance. Property insurance didn’t pay out a
dime to the association or owners according to Baker.
Because of that Baker and his 23 other owners in his building were each hit
with an $80,000 assessment.
Following the storms, his monthly dues went from $850 a month to $1,350 a
month. The increase was primarily generated by the rise in insurance, but
the reality was money had to continue to fund reserves. Not just for fixes
today, but fixes for later.
“People generally do not want the dues to go up," Baker says. “They want the
cheap way out, which is a mistake. The idea is you should be fully funded,
always.”
Currently at the legislative session in Tallahassee, there are eight condo
bills taking aim to ease the burden on condo owners.
Part of SB 1742 would allow boards like Tom’s to invest reserve funds by
buying CDs, a way to help earn interest while asking less of owners to put
into reserves.
“If we are requiring you to collect this money and you don’t need it for 10
years, five years, seven years, 15 years, you should be able to get some
earnings,” Travis Moore, an HOA Lobbyist with Moore Relations, said from
Tallahassee. “This sets up the guardrails that you would need to have to
make that happen.”
The bill would also help owners secure a line of credit to help maintain all
or part of the mandated reserve fund.
Next on Baker's to-do list for his building is improving the elevators. They
work now, but like everything with a building, it all has a life span. He
estimates the project will cost $200,000.
“We are going to wait until one of them breaks, and then we will fix it, and
we do,” Baker states.
The can do that with funded reserves. Otherwise that would be a $200,000
bill assessed to 24 owners.
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