Condominiums join alliance to fight state regulations on reservations

Several 32,963 condominium associations (HOAs) have joined a new regional alliance to continue the fight to alleviate the crushing costs imposed on them by a state law passed after the 2021 collapse of a high-rise building in Surfside that killed 98 people.

The newly formed Treasure Coast Condominium Alliance (TCCA) already includes 14 HOAs along the entire Treasure Coast, starting with Robles del Mar in Indian River Shores, including the Racquet Club and The Gables in Vero Beach, as well as other properties on Hutchinson Island and down to Stuart.

The alliance is seeking to mitigate the financial impact of new Florida laws that require all buildings three stories or more within three miles of a shoreline to undergo a Structural Integrity Reserve Study (SIRS) to be completed by the end of this year and require HOAs to set aside full reserves for any major repair and maintenance projects those studies determine are necessary.

The new requirements are expected to require special levies of up to $50,000 per condominium in some buildings.

Harborage Condo Association in Stuart President Darlene Vanripper has taken the lead since April, reaching out to other HOAs through property management company Elliott Merrill and officially incorporating the alliance as an LLC.

Presidents of 14 HOAs now meet monthly via Zoom to compare notes, share ideas and plan strategies. Other area HOAs are expected to join in.

The special levies to finance reserves, which are causing concern among condominium owners' associations, come in addition to the huge increases in insurance premiums, in some cases over 100 percent, which are due to the unrelated insurance crisis, as a result of which many large insurance companies have left the state.

Rising insurance premiums have often led to a doubling of monthly maintenance costs.

“They're pushing us out of our homes,” said Mark Shea, the energetic new president of the Robles del Mar HOA, who took office earlier this year. He pointed out that many seniors on fixed incomes cannot afford the additional costs. Even for those who manage to keep their homes, the value of their property will be seriously affected, he said, since anyone considering buying a condo will have to pay a $50,000 levy on top of the purchase price.

So far, the alliance has made no progress with state representatives. A meeting in Stuart with Senator Jason Pizzo of Miami, the author of the bill, and two other regional representatives was unsuccessful. Pizzo listened to the concerns of the HOAs, but all of his suggestions for remedying the situation proved to be dead ends.

“He seemed to have no idea what we were talking about,” Shea said. “The county building departments are supposed to administer the program, but they haven't hired any staff and have no idea.”

The problem, Shea explained, is that any licensed engineer or architect who does the structural study can arbitrarily order a new roof, a new basement or whatever, without regard to the financial consequences. “This seems like a huge money-making scheme to me,” Shea said. “We feel like we're being held hostage here. And Mr. Pizzo said he was surprised to hear that – that's not what he intended with the law.”

Despite initial opposition, however, the alliance has not given up. The regional HOAs have now hired an experienced lobbyist, Travis Moore, who has scheduled meetings with senior state officials in Tallahassee later this month.

At a meeting in South Florida last week, Gov. Ron DeSantis said he was prepared to call a special session of the Florida Legislature in the fall to address the problem, but the legislature has not yet decided to do so. Some legislative leaders said the issue could wait until next year.

Shea disagrees, saying that homeowners need urgent help now. He believes the new law is a well-intentioned measure to prevent future tragedies, but it has led to “a huge overreach.” Most buildings in Florida are in good condition and are nowhere near as disaster-prone as the Champlain Towers in Surfside, where homeowners' association boards had “put off” urgently needed repairs for years.

Specifically, the alliance is calling for three changes to the SIRS Act to make the law's unintended consequences more manageable. First, they are calling for a process to appeal the outcome of a structural inspection so that HOAs are not left at the mercy of arbitrary demands for potentially unnecessary repairs.

Second, they are asking for a relaxation of the requirement that all structural reserves be fully funded immediately to pay for any repairs that might occur over the next 30 years. “That's just not reasonable,” Shea said. “Nobody does that for their own private home or business. We're asking if that can be spread out over a longer period of time, possibly 10 or 15 years.”

Finally, Shea said, if all else fails, the alliance is asking whether the state could at least provide interest-free loans to HOAs to help fund the reserves.

“We're asking for anything that can be done to relieve us of some of the financial burdens,” Shea said. “We desperately need to scale back some of those burdens.” Shea believes only political pressure can make a difference at this point, and “we want to make enough noise and remind legislators that our condos have a lot of constituents.”

Shea and the other TCCA member presidents have sent individual messages to their homeowners urging them to contact their state legislatures for help. He urged his own residents in Indian River Shores to contact State Senator Erin Grall and State Representative Robbie Brackett, both of whom are Republicans, like the governor and the majority of state legislatures.

“The SIRS legislation has hurt all of us more than any (other) single issue and could continue to do so for many years to come,” Shea said in his email to residents of his 72-condominium complex.

Photos by Joshua Kodis