Broward commission rejects proposal to study need for financial assistance for condo owners

Broward County commissioners have rejected a proposed study weighing the need for financial assistance to help condo owners who need repairs to their aging buildings.

Florida law requires the inspection of older condo buildings every 10 years. That’s after the deadly Champlain Towers South collapse.

The often-hefty cost of inspections and repairs has many condo residents fearing they could be priced out of their homes.

County Commissioner Steve Geller said Broward County doesn’t have enough money to help every property that requires it.

"At the end of the day it is impossible for the county to do anything that will affect any significant number of people," he said. "The Legislature knows that this is a problem."

Geller said he is hopeful state lawmakers will again take up the issue when they reconvene in January.

The proposed study was modeled after a similar loan program in Miami-Dade County to help condo owners pay for repairs.

Broward commissioners expressed skepticism and worry they would have difficulty getting condo owners to comply.

This past session, lawmakers revised a condominium-safety law after the Surfside tragedy that killed 98 people. It changed requirements related to what are called “milestone” inspections for condominium buildings three stories or higher.

Under a law passed the year before, inspections are required for buildings that have been occupied for 30 years — or 25 years if the buildings are within three miles of a coastline. After initial inspections, the buildings have to go through the process every 10 years.

This year's measure eases that somewhat, allowing buildings within three miles of the coastline to be inspected after they have been occupied for 30 years.

It also allows local officials to require the inspections after 25 years of occupancy depending on “local circumstances, including environmental conditions such as proximity to salt water.”

And it allows local officials to extend inspection deadlines if building owners have entered into contracts with architects or engineers but the inspections cannot be finished in time.