South Florida condo owners facing crushing assessments

South Florida condo owners face escalating costs due to rising assessments and fees, pushing some to move away; legislators aim to address these challenges, focusing on safety and insurance reforms.

[JudeyCat]

The lack of oversight of condo associations for decades led to this. Condos were not making the improvements all along the way and now this is happening all at once. Sad.

[gdcapra]

No matter what government does, the condo market has been poisoned and the word is out that these places are in poor shape. They will have a lot of problems selling the units….even if they change the laws.

[bobblacka]

I was going to buy a condo in Florida about 15 years ago. When I toured the building, I noticed places where the concrete was chipped away and you could see that the metal rebar was all rusty underneath. I decided no thanks. I knew that would eventually be an expensive repair.

[MichaelBrown-nyet]

Too late. It’s going to be ugly. You won’t be able to give a condo away soon.

[utrinqueparatusman]

Why should taxpayers help. Nobody is helping me with my new roof Citizens insurance say I need when I know it has many years left on it!

[Aguas]

Pay me now or pay me later. Now it’s time to pay.

[AllAndNoOne]

This is not a government matter… the owners of these condos and their associations did not want to do the basic maintenance over time or not funding a decent reserve needed to tackle future issues.

The original condo owners did what the senior politicians have done with Social Security. The issues were kicked down to other generations and now the new generation has to pay.

[CO-OPNEWS-wnus]

They didn't pay when they should of now it's time

[RemboUSMC]

The reality of the situation is that older condos kept kicking the can down the road and just did caulking and painting. It would not cost them a lot of money if they did not have structural defects that were required to be fixed. Now they can't ignore them anymore.

[MM-widn]

Florida was too cheap for too long. It was false on many fronts. Now the piper is calling.

[xtreyx]

Yes homes you buy need maintenance. Who would have thought?

[zulu]

The greatest real estate robbery is taken place in Florida 😂 they didn't write a law about the old apartment complexes that are just as old as condos they get a pass because corporations already own them 😅

[Kaaaaammmm]

I do not see how allowing HOA associations to not have to keep funds on hand is going to help. The maintenance costs are not going to decrease.

[TommyTomTompkins]

I know ppl in Florida feel bamboozled if they own a condo....

[HairHoFla]

When the salesman says "stucco" make sure its not you they're talking about

[JudeyCat]

Condos have been a bad investment long before surfside bc lack of government oversight here in Florida. If the condos were doing what they needed to in the first place maybe they wouldn’t need to overhaul now.

[sagapoetic]

Our property manager is a major corporation and they dominate our condo board, resulting in approvals for services we actual condo owners did not want nor see as priority. Investing in roofs was deemed lesser priority than renovating the corporate office, for example. Installing Amazon lockers -- also deemed a higher priority than rodent infestation abatement, with the company ignoring us owners. It's also problematic the company outvotes us and dominates our condo board --- for years the prior company hid that board members were actually company employees pulled from neighboring states where the company had offices until we condo owners outed them. Don't rush to judge to blame condo owners -- instead, look at who dominates the condo boards.

[hejiranyc]

This is why I will only buy a co-op unit instead of a condo. Co-ops are self-managed and it is in the best interest of all shareholders to ensure the financial and physical health of the building. Luckily, my building, which is directly on the ocean, just passed its 60-year inspection and we just need a little extra to fund the reserves for elevator maintenance/replacement. My share is just $2K per year for the next 4 years, which is totally reasonable.

[karmasutra]

Do not but anything over 2-3 stories in FL

[donleavell]

And this issue does not apply to every condo in Florida. Some of the buildings are old and rusted out and falling apart. That does not apply to all of the buildings, obviously, anymore than the other buildings in Florida.