Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday signed legislation asking condo owners to help them comply with safety laws enacted after the fatal home tower collapsed on the surfside, claiming the victory for cash-bound unit owners while using public events to promote feuds with Florida homes.
The bill was signed on Clearwater on the eve of the fourth anniversary of the collapse of Champlain Towers South, but does not include new money to fund expensive and mandatory repairs. But lawmakers believe it will help apartment owners pay for the necessary projects to make the building safer and avoid repeated surfside tragedy that killed 98 people.
This Act, HB 913, allows the association to take out a line of credit to fund reserves, invest HOA fees in a limited manner to help pay for future repairs without voting through membership, and suspend reservation contributions for up to two years if they already require immediate repairs after a mandatory building inspection.
The law will come into effect on July 1st.
The bill has been praised primarily by the House and Senate, but some lawmakers and condominium owners say there will be more work by the apartment association to reduce residents’ costs and reduce poor management.
Desantis has also signed HB 393, a related law extending the My Safe Florida Condominium Pilot program. It will be implemented soon.
The money for that program is not new, but it includes nearly $30 million that is largely unavailable last year while the state keeps the program running.
At a press conference, Roni Drimer, board president of the Condominium Association, 55 and above, in Clearwater, thanked the Republican governor for his advocacy for what is considered an affordable crisis for unit owners of buildings like her. But she said she has other issues that remain: insurance.
Her association removed insurance with the state-run Civil Property Insurance Company in 2025 for hurricane coverage.
“So we’re in a bit of a shaky situation right now,” Drimer said.
She said her association was “on the list to get something” from the condo cure program, hoping that the money would pass.
But she later told The Times/Herald she didn’t think the new apartment laws were far enough to ultimately provide financial relief to condominium owners. She said Congress should have addressed the issue in January, as the governor had hoped.
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“If they had gone early to fix the condo, it would have been better,” Drimer said. “We are still facing a significant increase in budgeting (In) for 2025.”
DeSantis on Monday denounced the House of Representatives for failing to complete the law earlier this year as condo owners and associations sought relief from the looming bills newly requested by state law. He again nurtured the way he wanted special sessions in January for both immigration enforcement and condo relief, but lawmakers only featured that month.
“I know that a lot of people were very disappointed back then, especially in the House of Representatives.
The Times/Herald reported in March that the laws that were enacted in the wake of the collapse of the Surfside Tower were passed. It reportedly caused a financial crisis for the owners of the unit, which gave openings to developers trying to replace the old building with gorgeous skyscrapers. The two important reforms that Desantis signed the law in 2022 are at the heart of dynamic. Essential building inspections that require immediate repairs and essential preparatory surveys that require associations to save future maintenance.
The fact that the building collapsed remains under investigation by the National Institute of Standards and Technology. The agency will issue preliminary findings on Monday and will release its final report next year.
House Speaker Daniel Perez, a Miami Republican who led condominium reform after the surfside tragedy, opposed the use of special sessions to address the costs associated with enacting safety measures imposed by law sponsored three years ago.
“The House and Senate both state that condo issues could be handled in regular sessions, and we were 100% sure,” Perez said in a statement responding to the governor.
Perez called this year’s law a “collaborative effort” by sponsors of both rooms.
However, Desantis was primarily credited to the Senate of the final product, despite the bills being passed that included priorities from both Chambers.
“I think Florida Senate had a good product and unfortunately, it was finally, in its final week, and it finally passed,” DeSantis said. “And we can get what’s on my desk now and we’ll sign here today.”
Rep. Vicki Lopez, a Miami Republican and a top aide at Perez who sponsored the law that DeSantis signed on Monday, said she was “excited” that she hadn’t signed the bill but would become the law.
“Since being elected to my Florida home, this issue has been my number one priority and I am extremely proud of what we have achieved together,” Lopez told The Times/Herald. “Working with Speaker Perez and the Florida home, we have provided meaningful solutions to condo owners in Florida.
Lopez called the final legislation “Thoughtful Balance: Provides much-needed financial relief to families facing significant costs of reserve requirements while ensuring the structural safety of our buildings.”
Sen. Jennifer Bradley, a Fleming Island Republican, said she was invited to sign Bill, but couldn’t make it because she was out of state with her family. She said DeSantis “conveyed his promise to provide relief to the Florida condo owners.”
“After much listening, my bill provides the necessary relief without sacrificing safety. Condominium owners want a safe building, transparency and accountability for the association, increased financial flexibility and an extended timeline,” Bradley said. “This bill does all this.”
Other lawmakers say there’s still more work to do.
Sen. Rosalind Osgood, a Democrat from Tamarack, said he wanted to see the condominium building under six stories that were carved out from new requirements for savings for future maintenance. She introduced the bill at the end of the year, but she couldn’t hear it. The bill that was finally passed requires a condominium building with three habitable stories to comply.
Sen. Ileana Garcia, a Miami Republican who worked with hundreds of Florida condominium owners on countless issues, including affordability and association accountability, said the law “takes an important step while prioritizing safety while protecting condominium owners from bad actors.”
But she hopes that the state’s Department of Business and Professional Regulation, which regulates apartment associations, will “dramatically improve its procedures and best practices.”
“Condominium owners are ready to move forward, but DBPR departments often can’t investigate cases thoroughly and keep them open,” Garcia said. “They have a fiduciary duty that they cannot continue to be on the sidelines.”
