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THE NEW CONDO RESERVE LAWS – PART
ONE - GET READY
By
Eric Glazer, Esq.
Published June 20, 2022
Over the last
few weeks, I blogged about every condominium in every county now
needing a “milestone inspection.” To recap, these “milestone
inspections” will start after the 30 year mark and every ten
years thereafter (25 years and every 10 years thereafter if your
property is within three miles of the coast). We wrote about
there being the need for a PHASE ONE inspection and the
likelihood of a PHASE TWO inspection if the Phase One inspector
believes there are potential signs of structural issues. We
also addressed the fact that your local building official will
get copies of these inspection reports and has the power to
demand that you make the recommended repairs contained therein.
Moving
on…….Completely independent of the “Milestone Inspections” that
every building of 3 stories or more must go through, every
association must also have a mandatory “Structural Integrity
Reserve Study” of any building 3 stories or higher by December
31st, 2024.
Remember, as
of today, the statute only requires condos to reserve for the
roof, pavement, painting and anything expected to cost more than
$10,000.00 to repair or replace. In addition, under current
law, the Board members themselves get to perform the reserve
study. In other words, the statute only mandated reserving for
a few items and it allowed persons who are not qualified to make
determinations about the remaining useful life of the roof,
structure and other components of the property. WELL THAT IS
ABOUT TO CHANGE!
WHEN
MUST THE CONDOMINIUM COMPLETE THE NEW RESERVE STUDY?
BY DECEMBER
31ST, 2024 every condo 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 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.
Load-bearing walls or other primary structural members.
c. Floor.
d. Foundation.
e.
Fireproofing and fire protection systems.
f. Plumbing.
g. Electrical
systems.
h.
Waterproofing and exterior painting.
i. Windows.
j. Any other
item that has a deferred maintenance expense or replacement cost
that exceeds $10,000.
OBVIOUSLY,
IT’S NOT JUST ABOUT THE ROOF, PAVEMENT AND PAINTING ANY MORE.
At a minimum, a structural integrity reserve study must identify
the common areas being visually inspected, state the estimated
remaining useful life and the estimated replacement cost or
deferred maintenance expense of the common areas being visually
inspected, and provide a recommended annual reserve amount that
achieves the estimated replacement cost or deferred maintenance
expense of each common area being visually inspected by the end
of the estimated remaining useful life of each common area.
WHO CAN
PERFORM THIS RESERVE STUDY?
A structural
integrity reserve study may be performed by any person qualified
to perform such study. However, the visual inspection portion
of the structural integrity reserve study must be performed
by an engineer or an architect licensed in Florida. In
simple English this means that only an architect or engineer can
perform the reserve study for those specific portions of the
property listed above. Other reserve study companies that don’t
have an architect or engineer, can do the reserve study for
anything other than the specific items listed above like the
pool and the elevators.
DOES
THIS NEW LAW APPLY TO DEVELOPER CONTROLLED CONOMINIUMS?
Yes. Before a
developer turns over control of an association to unit owners
other than the developer, the developer must have a structural
integrity reserve study completed for each building on the
condominium property that is three stories or higher in height.
In addition, prior to turnover, the developer cannot vote to not
fund reserves.
Next week,
we’ll talk about the fire safety requirements that are required
in addition to mandatory inspections and mandatory reserves.
We’ll also provide a time line as to when all of this comes
due. Stay tuned.
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About
HOA & Condo Blog
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Eric Glazer graduated
from the University of Miami School of Law in 1992 after
receiving a B.A. from NYU. He has practiced community
association law for three decades and is the owner of
Glazer and Sachs, P.A. a five attorney law firm with
offices in Fort Lauderdale and Orlando.
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Eric is Board Certified by The Florida Bar in
Condominium and Planned Development Law.
Since 2009, Eric has been the host of Condo Craze
and HOAs, a weekly one hour radio show that airs at 11:00 a.m.
each Sunday on 850 WFTL.
See:
www.condocrazeandhoas.com.
Eric is the first attorney in the State of
Florida that designed a course that certifies condominium and
HOA residents as eligible to serve on a Board of Directors and
has now certified more than 20,000 Floridians all across the
state. He is certified as a Circuit Court Mediator by The
Florida Supreme Court and has mediated dozens of disputes
between associations and unit owners. Eric also devotes
significant time to advancing legislation in the best interest
of Florida community association members.
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