There are
certain years that are more defining than others. Certain
years that stand out. Well, if you live in a Florida
condominium, 2025 will be that year. To understand why, we
have to pay respect to another year that stands out more
than any other ever will, and that is 2021, the year the
Champlain Towers collapsed in Surfside, Florida killing 98
innocent men, women and children.
As a
result of 2021, and The Florida Legislature’s promise to
Floridians that another Surfside will never happen again,
massive legislation was passed requiring mandatory
inspections, mandatory repairs, mandatory education for
Board members and perhaps the most important and
controversial new law, the requirement to fund reserves for
your condominium that is 3 stories or taller, based upon a
Structural Integrity Reserve Study that needed to be
prepared by an architect, engineer or someone with CAI
credentials and completed by December 31st,
2024.
If you
didn’t do it yet ----- you’re late and in violation of
Florida law.
Think
about this…….any condominium budget you will ever pass again
must include mandatory reserves based upon the results of
that structural integrity reserve study. Here’s the new
law:
For a budget adopted on or after
December 31, 2024, the members of a unit-owner-controlled
association that must obtain a structural integrity reserve
study may not determine to provide no reserves or less
reserves than required by Your Structural Integrity Reserve
Study.
Here’s what a structural integrity
reserve study is and how often it must be performed:
(g) Structural integrity reserve study.—
1. A residential condominium association
must have a structural integrity reserve study completed at
least every 10 years after the condominium’s creation for
each building on the condominium property that is three
stories or higher in height, as determined by the Florida
Building Code, which includes, at a minimum, a study of the
following items as related to the structural integrity and
safety of the building:
a. Roof.
b. Structure, including load-bearing
walls and other
primary
structural members and primary structural
systems as
those terms are defined in s. 627.706.
c. Fireproofing and fire protection
systems.
d. Plumbing.
e. Electrical systems.
f. Waterproofing and exterior painting.
g. Windows and exterior doors.
h. Any other item that has a
deferred maintenance
expense or
replacement cost that exceeds $10,000
and the failure
to replace or maintain such item
negatively
affects the above items as determined
by the visual
inspection portion of the structural
integrity
reserve study.
