Florida senate bill 4-D part II
Last month we looked at the requirements for Mandatory Milestone Structural Inspections for condominium and cooperative buildings that are three (3) stories or more in height before 12/31/24 under Florida Senate Bill 4-D approved in a special session of the Florida Legislature this year in response to the Surfside hi-rise collapse in Miami last year.
Today, we will look at three other major requirements of Senate Bill 4-D. Requirements for Structural Integrity Reserve Studies, removal of membership’s ability to waiver reserves and the Division of Condominiums, Timeshares and Mobile Homes’ jurisdiction to hear complaints about these building inspections and reserve studies.
For condominium and cooperative buildings three (3) stories or more high, for associations existing on or before July 1, 2022 and before a developer can turnover an association to its members, a Structural Integrity Reserve Study must be completed before December 31, 2024.
The Structural Integrity Reserve Study shall include a study, at a minimum, of the roof, load-bearing walls, floor, foundation, fire protection systems, plumbing, electrical systems, waterproofing, exterior painting, windows and any other items that have a deferred maintenance expense or replacement cost exceed $10,000.
The Study must be performed by a qualified person and the visual inspection portion must be performed by a licensed architect or engineer. The Study must identify common areas inspected, the estimated remaining useful life, and the estimated replacement cost or deferred maintenance expense of the area inspected, and provide a recommended annual reserve amount that achieves the estimated replacement cost or deferred maintenance expense by the end of the estimated useful life of the area inspected.
If an association fails to complete a Structural Integrity, as required, such failure will be considered a breach of an officers’ or directors’ fiduciary duty to unit owners.
Effective 12/31/24, the members of a unit owner controlled association may not determine to provide no reserves or less reserves than required by the Structural Integrity Reserve Study.
In addition, an association may not vote to use reserve funds identified in the Structural Integrity Reserve Study, or any interest accruing thereon, for any other purposes other than for the reserves’ intended purposes as identified in the Study.
On or before 1/1/23, a condominium or cooperative must provide the Division of Condominiums, Timeshares and Mobile Homes (Division), on a form provided for on the Division’s website, the number of buildings on the property that are three (3) stories or higher, the total number of units in all such buildings, the addresses of all such buildings and the counties in which such buildings are located. The Division has jurisdiction to receive complaints related to the Mandatory Milestone Structural Inspections and the Structural Integrity Reserve Studies.
Many believe these new laws of Bill 4-D will be heavily tweaked in the 2023 regular legislative session to lessen the heavy burdens these laws place on Florida Condominium owners who cannot afford such large reserve requirements in order to prevent large numbers of foreclosures and condominium terminations that could result if these laws are left as is.
Rob Samouce is a principal attorney in the Naples law firm of Samouce & Gal, P.A. He is a Florida Bar Board Certified Specialist in Condominium and Planned Development and concentrates his practice representing condominium, cooperative and homeowners= associations in all their legal needs including the procedural governance of their associations, covenant enforcement, assessment collections, contract negotiations and contract litigation, real estate transactions, general business law, construction defect litigation and other general civil litigation matters. This column is not based on specific legal advice to anyone and is based on principles subject to change from time to time. If you have any questions about the column, Rob can be reached at www.SandGlawfirm.com.
