DeSantis urges Legislature to take action to help Florida condo residents

TALLAHASSEE — Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday said Florida lawmakers should take action this year to address a condominium crisis that could see owners priced out of their homes, striking a more urgent tone than just a month ago when he deferred to legislators about whether such action was needed.

“We do need to do something this year,” DeSantis said at a news conference in Miami Lakes. “This is not something that we can put off until next March or April. I think there are a lot of looming deadlines and we have to have a plan forward to keep people in their units if that is what they want to do.”

Condominium associations across the state are facing a Jan. 1, 2025, deadline to have an engineer inspect their buildings for safety and figure out how much they need to set aside for repairs. The deadline is part of a condo safety law passed in the aftermath of the Champlain Towers collapse that killed 98 people.

Associations could face millions of dollars in repairs. Increasingly, condo owners are anxious about shouldering hefty special assessments and higher monthly feed that could force them out of their homes.

In August, Senate President Kathleen Passidomo, R-Naples, rejected calls to reconvene the Legislature before March to make changes to the state’s condo laws. Incoming House Speaker Daniel Perez, R-Miami, and incoming Senate President Ben Albritton, R-Bartow, have said they do not want to rush any changes to the state’s condo safety laws without a thorough vetting of ideas.

DeSantis could call the Legislature into a special session but has not done so. Instead, he is publicly pressuring lawmakers to come up with ideas to help people pay for reserves. The governor floated the possibility of delaying the Jan. 1 deadline for some buildings or allowing for interest-free or low-interest loans that can help residents pay for special assessments and repairs.

“The bottom line is we want residents in Florida to have a safe but affordable place to live,” DeSantis said. “We have an instance here where we are going to have to provide some relief.”

At the news conference, DeSantis urged legislators to talk with their constituents and to start coming up with ideas that can be implemented “in time to prevent people from being forced out of their homes.”

“I think there are some things that need to be done,” he said. “I don’t know that every single repair will prevent a Surfside, that’s just the reality. So why would we want to be forcing people to have to make a choice to leave based on repairs that may need to be done but may not need to be done in this instant or may be able to be done over a period of time where you can absorb the cost better.”

“Let’s be nimble with this,” he said.

This is a developing story and may be updated.