As Condo Owners Call For Help, DeSantis Holds Off On Special Session

Gov. Ron DeSantis wants the Florida Legislature to provide relief to condo owners about to be facing huge, legally mandated repair bills, but he’s not ready to force them to the table to find a solution.

The governor, meeting with a roundtable of Tampa condo owners Thursday, vowed that action would be taken to avoid financial turmoil for residents brought on by a condo safety reform law that is leaving some unit owners staring down the prospect of six-figure special assessments. 

While he promised event attendees that “something will be done” before the end of the year, he stopped short of calling for a special legislative session to address the issue, telling attendees that he didn’t want to end up with “half-baked” proposals, the Miami Herald reported. 

DeSantis’ meeting with condo owners came after Florida Senate President Kathleen Passidomo released a letter last month rejecting calls for the legislature to pass an emergency bill to aid unit owners. 

Condo associations across the state, especially in coastal communities like South Florida, are facing a looming Jan. 1 deadline to complete safety studies at their property and begin setting money aside for necessary repairs identified by an engineer. The new inspections regime was created as part of a raft of reforms passed by the legislature in the wake of the Champlain Towers South condo collapse in Surfside that killed 98 people. 

The law has created a reckoning for condo boards that have deferred maintenance or repairs for years but are now legally required to make the fixes or face a potential eviction. Homeowner association fees are up 60% in Florida over the last five years, the Miami Herald reported, and that figure excludes any special assessments for one-time fixes that could cost millions of dollars. 

South Florida localities, including Miami-Dade County, Fort Lauderdale and Lauderhill have been calling on state officials since last year to create some kind of relief program for condo owners facing repair bills that could be north of $100K. 

Fears are growing that thousands of Floridians on fixed incomes who retired to the state will be forced out of their homes because they can’t afford necessary repairs. But Passidomo, who represents Naples, has rejected calls for action. 

After DeSantis made his comments Thursday, Passidomo told the Herald she had nothing new to add on the issue. 

The legislature will convene in November and December for committee hearings ahead of the official session, which starts in March, and DeSantis suggested they could use that time to pass some type of relief. 

DeSantis said the legislature could look to “reconfigure” the inspection requirements or create a low-interest loan program to help condo associations and owners make repairs. 

Edgardo Defortuna, the head of Fortune International Group and one of the region's most prolific condo developers, said at a Bisnow event in April that owners at older properties are facing a “come to Jesus moment.” 

Some owners can pin their hopes to a buyout from a developer with plans to knock down their property and replace it with new luxury condos. But that opportunity exists only for well-located coastal properties and, even then, convincing dozens or hundreds of owners to agree to sell is no small feat, one that’s been likened to herding cats.

Owners of older properties where luxury condos would be unlikely to sell are left to either pay for repairs or try to find a buyer who will, a dynamic that’s starting to impact condo sales. 

Prices have dipped slightly year-over-year along with deal volume, but a wave of new listings have pushed available inventory to the highest level since February 2021, the Herald reported. 

Jaime Sturgis, the CEO of Native Realty who is actively working on several condo buyouts involving developers, told Bisnow last month that he knew of listing agents who won’t even take on a new condo listing at an old property because they don’t think there is any hope of finding a buyer.  

“For the first time in years, it’s a buyer’s market for condominiums in Miami-Dade County,” the paper declared Friday.