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Article
Courtesy of WESH 2 NEWS
By
Justin Schecker
Published April 12, 2025
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WATCH VIDEO |
Gov. Ron DeSantis is again calling on the legislature to provide relief for
Florida’s condo owners, but during a news conference Thursday morning in
Miami, he was critical of the proposals from members of his own party in the
Florida House of Representatives.
For months, the governor has said the post-Surfside condo collapse
legislation caused unintended consequences of financial hardship.
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It’s left owners of
condominiums in Central Florida and across the state with
limited options as they try to stay in their homes.
"I'm scared,” Georgie Pratt said. “I'm just going to say it
outright. I'm scared."
Pratt has owned her one-bedroom condo at Winter Park Woods
in northern Orange County since 2006.
"My mortgage is a percentage of what these fees are,” Pratt
said. “My mortgage is about $300 a month, and my fees are
now $2,100.”
Legislation passed in response to the Surfside collapse
requires condo associations to adequately fund their
reserves for repairs. |
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"Many of these homeowners are retirees or working
families on fixed incomes, and they just simply can't afford that kind of
financial shock,” Orlando-based realtor Tony Galarza said.
The legislation has had a ripple effect on the condo market, Galarza said.
"Newer buildings are holding steady, but older ones,
especially coastal or built prior to 1990, they're tanking in value, but
buyer demand has also dropped sharply,” he said.
During his news conference, DeSantis praised proposals in the Florida Senate
to increase accountability of condo association managers and add
transparency around milestone inspection reports that determine how much
money is needed in reserves for long-term maintenance and repairs.
"And crucially,” DeSantis said, “provides more flexibility for associations
to phase reserve funding and use alternate funding methods, including
investing contributions to generate more money for required repairs, and so
that would provide relief from these crippling assessments."
The governor also criticized efforts by members of his own part in the
Florida House to address the condo crisis.
"The House's condo bill seems to favor developers and puts the interest of
developers over Florida residents,” DeSantis said. “That is unacceptable. "
Calling it a heartbreaking situation for her and her neighbors, Pratt said
the only option for some owners was to sell their condos to investors who
already own other units in the complex.
“A lot of these residents are 50 and up this they've been here for 20-plus
years,” she said. “They've lost spouses while they've been living here. They
lived here through COVID, and now they have to leave and spending all of
their retirement savings just to try to pay their fees."
Time is running out for the Florida legislature to pass any reforms that
could help condo owners. The regular session in Tallahassee ends in three
weeks on May 2.
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