To maintain building safety, don’t ignore the 40-year recertification
For building owners and property managers who may soon be facing the 40-year building recertification process in Miami-Dade and Broward counties, Abraham Lincoln’s quote about responsibility is quite apropos: “You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today.”
The 40-year Building Safety Inspection Program was created in 2005 and has become effective throughout Broward County since January 2006. It’s modeled after Miami-Dade County’s program, which is now more than 30 years old. Broward’s program calls for structural and electrical safety inspections for buildings 40 years old or older and every 10 years thereafter. One- and two-family dwellings, U.S Government, State of Florida buildings, schools under the jurisdiction of the Broward County School Board, and buildings built on Indian reservations are exempt. Under Section 8-11(f) of the Miami-Dade County Code, Miami-Dade exempts buildings under 2,000 square feet while the Broward County program excludes all buildings under 3,500 square feet. These inspections are designed to keep people safer from possible building failures.
Building owners and property managers should consult with structural engineers to have a proper inspection completed at 40 years. When it comes time for a 40-year property assessment, the property owner will receive a notice that an inspection is due. At that point, the property owner will have 90 days to find a structural engineer to complete an inspection of the building and submit a report to either the city or the county. The report will indicate what parts of the building (if any) need to be repaired or replaced. The property owner will have another 180 days to complete the necessary repair work. The structural engineer will then prepare another report following the completed repairs.
Buildings on or near the ocean are especially vulnerable because they are constantly exposed to the increased effects of oxidation and corrosion; minor cracks in the concrete and stucco left exposed to the elements can cause rebar to expand up to seven times its original size and expand up to force of 10,000 PSI. This condition, commonly referred to as spalling, can cause the need for extremely expensive concrete restoration. Hundreds of thousands of dollars can be saved in building repair costs alone following regularly scheduled maintenance, early detection and aggressive prevention techniques.
Failure to submit the required Recertification Report will result in the issuance of a Civil Violation Notice or ticket without further notice to you and referral of this matter to the Unsafe Structures Unit for the initiation of condemnation proceedings. You may be liable for payment of a maximum fine of $10,510; and, in addition, you must pay all enforcement costs incurred by the department once unsafe structures enforcement proceedings are commenced. Further, upon issuance of an unsafe structure Notice of Violation, the building must be vacated and you may ultimately have to demolish the building.
In the case of the 40-year Building Safety Inspection Program, no news does not necessarily mean good news. Even if you have not yet received a ‘Notice of Required Inspection’ by the code compliance section of your county or city, it is the property owner’s responsibility to acquire the initial 40/50-year (re)certification and to recertify their building every 10 years thereafter. To verify the age of your building, the city should have a folio number for your building that would provide this information. If your building is not 40 years old, you are not legally required to do anything.
The owners’ or associations’ approach to preventative maintenance, and forecasting capital improvement cost, is of paramount importance in prolonging the useful life of the infrastructure and critical building components.
Barney Weinkle is a managing director with AKAM On-Site, Inc., which is in South Florida’s residential property management industry. He may be reached at: bweinkle@akam.com
▪ This is an opinion piece written for Business Monday’s “My View” space in the Miami Herald. The views expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the newspaper.
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This story was originally published February 22, 2019 at 8:18 PM.