A reckoning is coming for Florida's condo owners as buildings face millions in repairs
After five decades working as a teacher and school administrator, Janet Stone envisioned a relaxing retirement in her condo overlooking Florida’s Atlantic coast.
"Under legislation passed by the Florida state Legislature following the Champlain Towers collapse, condo buildings over three stories and older than 30 years must pass a structural inspection by the end of the year. That requirement applies to roughly 900,000 condo units across the state."
Is it possible to get an engineer to evaluate 900,000 units in just over four months? What time frame, if any, has been mandated to implement corrective measures outlined in engineer's inspection reports?
"Instead, she’s gone back to work teaching preschoolers with disabilities and living with her son in Las Vegas to pay off a $100,000 bill from her condo association — her portion of a multimillion-dollar project to replace the 53-year-old building’s deteriorating concrete."
Odds of a clean bill of condition are not in the owner's favor. It is likely that every engineer's evaluation report will contain fixes from one degree to another. The huge expense that some owners will face is going to further delay remediation. Beyond that is the effect this will have the Florida condominium market.