Let’s start discussing the
new condominium laws that go into effect on July 1st.
We won’t cover them all in one week, so look forward to next
week’s blog as well.
IF YOU HAVE A MANAGEMENT COMPANY
the statute says:
If a community association manager or a community
association management firm has a contract with a community
association that has a building on the association's
property that is subject to s. 553.899, (the Mandatory
Inspections statute) the community association manager or
the community association management firm must comply with
that section as directed by the board.
This is a weird provision
to me. Clearly, it’s warning managers and management
companies to comply with the new mandatory inspection
statute. But it also says “as directed by the board.” What
does that mean? Suppose the board tells the manager that
they are deliberately not complying with the new mandatory
inspection statute? Does that get the management company off
the hook? Can the management company now sit back and do
nothing? I certainly don’t think that’s the intent of the
statute, but it should definitely be clearer. In any event,
at least to me, the management company must not hinder the
association’s efforts to comply with the new mandatory
inspection statute. If I were a manager or management
company, I would document my efforts thru e-mails to all of
the Board members urging them to comply and reminding them
of their responsibility to comply with the new mandatory
inspection requirements.
Remember, prior to this new law becoming effective, only
Dade and Broward had mandatory / structural inspection
requirements.
Well, we now have in every Florida county something
called milestone inspections --- and there is
part one and part two.
In every county in
Florida, your first milestone/structural inspection is
after 30 years and every ten years thereafter. But, if your
condo is ON THE COAST or within three miles of the
coast, your first milestone/structural inspection is
AFTER TWENTY FIVE YEARS AND EVERY TEN YEARS THEREAFTER.
And this applies to every condo or co-op that is three
stories or more in height by December 31 of the year in
which the building reaches 30 years of age
The structural
inspection of a building, including an inspection of
load-bearing walls and the primary structural members and
primary structural systems, must be done by by a licensed
architect or engineer authorized to practice in this
state for the purposes of attesting to the life safety and
adequacy of the structural components of the building and,
to the extent reasonably possible, determining the general
structural condition of the building as it affects the
safety of such building, including a determination of any
necessary maintenance, repair, or replacement of any
structural component of the building.
If the building's
certificate of occupancy was issued on or before July 1,
1992, meaning that you are already 30 years old, the
building's initial milestone inspection must be performed
before December 31, 2024.
Here is what’s required in
a Phase One Inspection:
PHASE ONE
---
(a) For phase one of the milestone inspection, a licensed
architect or engineer authorized to practice in this state
shall perform a visual examination of habitable and
nonhabitable areas of a building, including the major
structural components of a building, and provide a
qualitative assessment of the structural conditions of the
building. If the architect or engineer finds no signs of
substantial structural deterioration to any building
components under visual examination, phase two of the
inspection, as provided in paragraph (b), is not required.
In all candor, in a
post Champlain Towers world, if I’m the phase one guy
--- I don’t want to be sued for saying this building is in
perfect shape and doesn’t even need a phase two inspection.
I think the Phase One Inspection will Always result in the
First architect or engineer calling for a Phase Two study.
What does he or she have to lose?
Next week, we’ll talk
about the Phase Two Inspection. Let’s just say it’s not
going to be cheap.
