Posted on 05/16/2024 2:48:21 PM PDT by dynachrome
Have a Florida condo? Can you afford a $100,000 or higher special assessment for new safety standards?
After the collapse of a Surfside Building on June 24, 2021that killed 98 people, the state passed a structural safety law that is now biting owners.
Not only are insurance rates soaring, but owners are hit with huge special assessments topping $100,000.
(Excerpt) Read more at mishtalk.com ...
Free until you receive a notice your share of the needed repairs is $100,000 ...
One of the joys of living in Florida. I’m familiar with the risk. I’m 10 feet above sea level and my back yard ends at a saltwater stream that connects two bays. I hate hurricane season.
And I’ve been blaming Ron DeSantis for this the whole time. Florida Legislature went into special section to make this happen, and he signed it into law. Our lives have been miserable ever since.
When Surfside felt down, Ron went to the insurance company and said pay the $1 billion now. The reason it fell down was because the people didn’t do their maintenance. Now we’re all pain. I’ve had special assessments for in my condo HOA but they been like $500 $300 like that. I’ve heard of others that have been huge because they deferred their maintenance.
Also, it depends on if it’s a high-rise or under three stories, I happen to live in a two-story condo.
But none of my neighbors are able to sell. I live here full-time and I bought it for cash so my only real expenses are the HOA and the insurance. I’m on a fixed income so I can’t really afford the assessments as they come along and that’s a problem I may be in the streets before I know it.
That’s what directors and officers liability is for. Our condominium boards have directors and officers liability insurance. Otherwise you’re right no one would serve on the board.
Who, in your post, was “obliged” to do anything?
This isn’t difficult.
Condo Boards are supposed to maintain an ongoing repair and replacement reserve supported by facilities audits of fixed assets. Going to be some lawsuits coming out of this.
Smart you. Some of the worst people I have ever dealt with were when I financed condominium associations. Petty dictators every one.
You have multiple “obligations” here. Condo boards have a fiduciary duty to the corporation they represent. They are also obligated to follow the law. They answer to the owners of those condo associations. And condo associations — their collective owners — have legal responsibilities that many owners have no interest in following.
“...whereby the waterproofing layer was not sloped.”
I’m always on the look out for what seems to be a minor mistake that has huge ramifications. Mostly to pass onto my kids, but also myself.
Even if the job is mundane - it needs to be done right.
Getting a loan and spreading out increased assessments over time is the best option. Better not to demand so much at one time. I agree.
Florida sucks. Its hot,flat, and way overcrowded. There are some nice places, but still way overcrowded.
Right. And getting the loan serves the same purpose as a fully funded reserve: it spreads the cost of major infrequent expenses out over a long time so that everyone pays an incremental part of it. Otherwise, the owner who buys a condo the day after the parking lot was paved gets 25+ years of use out of an asset that he didn’t pay for — and vice versa.
The best thing a condo HOA could do is require 100% owner occupancy. Remove all investor owned units.
I think those premiums are going to get very high.
For a major project at my complex the Association got a loan. Monthly dues were increased. The loan was paid off early due to belt tightening and the monthly dues were lowered a tiny bit.
To my mind if you’re stuck in a money pit assessment of over $100K there’s GOT to be more coming, because the truth never comes out on the first go round. Enough to warrant just a complete walk-away — Bankruptcy if need be.
Good point. If only my wife was willing to retire there instead of New Hampshire.
I am what could be classified as “old” & glad to be in my own house rather than a condo. I have no desire to live in some of the “most desirable” areas so condos are not common here. I suppose there are some HOAs, but I can live without them as well. I have little choice (on S.S.) but to live as inexpensively as possible & I sure can’t see that happening living in a condo or HOA. I have generally heard of very few advantages living in those places & the areas in which they are commonly found.
100% residency is a terrible idea and infringes on the property rights of the owner. Suppose the owner is a New Hampshirite lives in Fl in winter and NH in summer? Just one example, but if you pay for a property you are entitled to use it for whatever lawful purpose you want ie. no meth labs.
Yeah, I get that. But I just don’t see it as “owning real estate”. Even when I lived in the Seattle area and had a dumpy 3 bedroom rambler on 8,000 sq ft, it was MY 8,000 sq ft lot. I could pretty much do what I wanted on it, outside the laws governing everyone in the area.
BTW, those laws are one of the reasons I left the area for rural Kentucky. Much more freedom with your property here. In fact, I LEGALLY built a 30x60 shop/mancave with no building permit. It’s heated with a wood stove, BTW.
I consider living in a condo, or in a neighborhood governed by an HOA to be too much like living in the old USSR. And since, unlike the citizens of that place, I have the right to not do it or move away...I did.
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