Florida retirees swamped with condo repair costs

( NewsNation ) — The new Florida Condo Safety Law aims to prevent another tragedy like the deadly 2021 Champlain Towers South collapse ; however, it’s pricing many condo owners out of their homes and forcing some retirees to return to the workforce.

Genie Anderson and Cristian Murray, two condominium owners at the Palm Bay Yacht Club in Miami, told “NewsNation Live” they’re both facing a $100,000 bill to bring their building up to code .

“When I first moved into this apartment, my first thoughts were, this is an amazing place; this is where I want to spend the rest of my days,” Murry said. “Little did I know, two years later, I was going to be hit with an assessment of $140,000 to fix the maintenance that the previous boards of directors neglected to fix throughout the building.”

“Cristian and I both have corner units. So, the corner units are the more, let’s say, desirable units … and those have been struck with the highest special assessments to do the repairs. So, it’s about the same ballpark, $140,000,” said Anderson, who purchased her condo in 2014 and moved in in 2015 after some minor renovations.

Murry said he learned about the additional $145,000 fee about 12 months ago, which must be paid on top of his mortgage and Homeowners Association (HOA) fees. He added that when combined with the doubling or tripling of insurance premiums, it becomes overwhelming.

“This new law, even though, yes, it was well intended, is creating a significant amount of headaches and chaos throughout anyone that owns a condo in Florida; this is really bad.”

Both owners agreed condo owners have limited options. Anderson suggests owners can “wait it out” if they have the money to do so or sell and lose a significant amount of money.

“We’re hoping that Gov. DeSantis hears our pleas and does something significant. He can make some changes to the law that will ease our situation here, especially in South Florida,” she said.

Murry said residents were “pretty surprised” when notified that they’d need to pay $140,000 per unit to fix maintenance problems that previous boards neglected.

“So, is all the money going into fixing the building? That is one thing that we are still looking into,” he said. “We are very concerned about how the money is being spent.”

Under SB 4-D, which was signed into law in May 2022 , condo buildings over 30 years old must pass a structural integrity inspection by the end of this year. Units near bodies of saltwater, like Champlain Towers, will have to do so if they’re more than 25 years old.

Condominium associations are required to keep funds in their reserves for maintenance and repairs needed to bring them up to code, meaning many are upping monthly association dues, according to NBC News .

NewsNation’s Xavier Walton contributed to this report.

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