How can we avoid another collapse like Surfside? Florida can start with these reforms | Editorial
How can we avoid another building collapse like the one in Surfside? That’s the critical question that Miamians and other communities across the state, and perhaps beyond, are asking themselves.
How can we make sure this kind of catastrophe doesn’t happen to anyone else, ever?
No family, no community, should go through another disaster like this one that might have been avoided. This unimaginable loss of life in the Champlain Towers South must trigger a reckoning on our condominium operation and inspection rules just like Hurricane Andrew did for our building codes.
Groups are organizing to analyze what needs to happen to do that. The Florida Bar is convening a panel to make recommendations to Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Legislature. A Miami-Dade Grand Jury will explore building safety issues. Members of four engineering associations are also coming up with their recommendations. The county is doing its own review. All of those things are needed.
Some elected officials, like DeSantis, caution we shouldn’t rush to pass laws until we know exactly what triggered the collapse. But an investigation could take years. The groups above are wise to start their inquiries early. And while they should zero in on what actually led to the collapse, that shouldn’t restrain their mission.
This is the time to take a broader look at laws and regulations that have been on the books for years, sometimes decades, and that haven’t kept up with our changing environment, climate and society.
The Herald Editorial Board compiled the following list of where stakeholders should start:
Inspections
This is the low-hanging fruit.
Miami-Dade and Broward are the only counties in Florida that require building inspections — and they do so 40 years after construction, then every 10 years subsequently.
A statewide inspection requirement is one of the solutions the Florida Bar will look at, task force chair William Sklar told the Editorial Board. The group will also consider what should be included in that inspection. Should it include things like concrete, rebar, water intrusion and roofing?
These are good questions. Miami-Dade and Broward currently require an inspection of structural and electrical systems. Not only should that be broadened to include things like seawalls and to take climate change into account, but waiting four decades before a building is inspected is too long.
Perhaps 40 years is adequate for a building inland, but for beachfront construction with the impacts of hurricanes, sea level rise and saltwater intrusion, the county should consider getting involved sooner. State Sen. Jason Pizzo, a Democrat who represents Surfside, previously told the Board he wants to propose statewide inspections based on a “scoring system” that considers these factors. That’s a good start.
Who looks at these inspections?
Inspections are a must. But once they are done, who should be responsible for acting, especially if engineers find significant damage, as they did at the Champlain South in 2018?
Under current state law, condo associations are not required to send a notice to owners with the results of these reports, Sklar said. That might leave owners who aren’t involved with the building’s administration in the dark. If the owners don’t know about a significant problem, chances are that buyers won’t know, either, if the unit is sold — unless they are very diligent, as we advise them to be. We can’t forget renters, who receive little information from associations.
When an engineering firm reports significant issues — and policy makers can define what “significant” is, with the help of engineers — that should trigger a disclosure requirement to owners, renters and prospective buyers.
The county and lawmakers must also look into whether engineers should include timelines for repairs and how they should be enforced.
Miami-Dade could require that private inspectors notify the county of any structural dangers. The process now seems spotty at best: Inspectors must notify the local government in charge of recertification and, the Herald reported, about half of county properties fall under the jurisdiction of cities, which usually have fewer resources than counties.
Financial reserves
The tragedy at Surfside has highlighted a common problem for Florida condos: Many don’t maintain reserves for maintenance repairs because Florida law allows them to waive them. Reserves are not a guarantee that unit owners won’t get hit with hefty special assessments when major fixes are needed, but mean the association has money when aging roofs, for example, start failing.
Requiring reserves won’t be popular with condo owners and associations because of the cost, but that must be overcome in the face of this tragedy. Florida has 1.5 million residents living in condos that are more than 30 years old, Sklar said.
Is it wise to allow these buildings not to have any reserves?
Help homeowners pay
Once an engineering review is done, some condo associations can sit on this information for years while they debate whether, and how much, to pay for the needed repairs. There will be people who won’t — or can’t — fork over the money, which can delay the process, as was the case at the Champlain.
Many of Florida’s condo dwellers are older people on fixed incomes, and special assessments, on top of their condo fees and mortgage payments, can wreak financial havoc.
The state and federal governments should consider low-cost, government-backed loans to help these homeowners so that life-saving maintenance isn’t deferred. Or governments could create a fund where associations could borrow money to complete structural repairs in a timely manner, as County Commissioner Danielle Cohen Higgins has proposed, the Herald reported.
Reserve studies
The Florida Legislature passed a law in 2008 that required condo associations to pay for a “reserve study” every five years to look at how much longer the condo’s components — from pools to elevators — could continue to operate safely and how much it would cost to repair them when needed. Boards were allowed to waive that report with a majority vote of owners at the meeting.
Former state Rep. Julio Robaina, R-Miami, sponsored the bill that created the law after hearing concerns from community associations, he told the Editorial Board. But he said real estate lawyers and property management companies didn’t like the requirement and the Legislature repealed the law in 2010.
Robaina believes the Surfside collapse could’ve been avoided if his law were still in place. NBC News reported the Champlain had not done a professional reserve study since at least 2016.
Until an investigation is done, it’s impossible to know whether Robaina is right, but requiring condo boards to stay on top of maintenance seems like a sensible thing that should have never been repealed.
Unsafe structure boards
When a building fails Miami-Dade’s 40-year recertification process, its representatives go before an obscure county review panel called the Safe Structures Board, and sometimes city boards as well.
County Commissioner Raquel Regalado told the Editorial Board these reviews seldom mean owners must evacuate buildings that are out of compliance. She wants to take a closer look at who sits on the county’s structure board, how many cases they hear, how many extensions they give to building administrators and how often they require evacuations.
These little-known government boards often operate quietly and without much scrutiny until a tragedy like this happens. While they are a small piece of the puzzle, the county should give this issue serious scrutiny.
Give buyers more time
This is a simple fix.
A condo buyer is entitled to some information from a seller, such as the declaration and rules of the condominium and a “Frequently Asked Questions and Answers” sheet. Once they get those documents, they have 15 business days to cancel a purchase if they’re buying directly from a developer. But they only have three days if they’re buying from another owner.
Given how overwhelming this information can be, and how buyers will likely want to examine it in much greater detail after Surfside, the 15-day window should apply across the board.
This story was originally published July 9, 2021 at 5:32 PM.