On Thursday, June 24, 2021, at approximately 1:25 a.m., Surfside condominium collapsed and resulted in an astonishing 98 lives lost. Shortly after the collapse, Condominium Association Institute (“CAI”), an international membership organization solely dedicated to building better communities, organized a meeting with attorneys, builders, reserve analysts, and insurance professionals to tackle the lack of uniformity in emergency maintenance for condominium associations. Throughout this meeting, three task forces were appointed with the exclusive responsibility of identifying recommendations for public policy reform and best practices for local, state, and federal legislators to prevent a tragedy of this sort from reoccurring in the future. On October 2021, the CAI released the “Condominium Safety Public Policy Report.” This report contained suggestions for reserve studies and funding, maintenance, and structural integrity. This project was pivotal in addressing the concerns and public safety of this nation’s citizens.

Three months later and with the assistance of over 600 professionals from across the country, CAI was able to create this invaluable resource. This report consisted of gathering conversations, surveys, research, and interviews to ensure its contents were thoroughly informative. CAI highly recommended and encouraged these recommendations to be adopted into state law and existing statutory framework for management of community associations. For instance, building inspections are suggested to be conducted in higher frequency and regular scheduled inspections. These protocols may also be found under the American Society of Civil Engineer’s Guidelines for Structural Assessment of Existing Buildings to assist condominium associations in strategizing a personalized plan. Additionally, there are committee proposals on how to disclose this information to homeowners, residents, and other local governments, and how to obtain funding in emergency situations. Reserve funding is where portions of condo expenses are allocated to a reserve fund and is used to repair and maintain the condominium. In essence, a reserve study is a determination of how much of this money should be allocated towards capital repairs. Another recommendation is that states mandate emergent life-safety repairs and override the vote of membership who are in opposition of said repairs.

To place into perspective, in the State of Florida, Miami-Dade and Broward require that a building be inspected at the 40-year mark after its initial certification and inspected every 10 years after that. It is without a doubt, that the more prolonged repairs take, the higher the cost becomes, which in turn disincentives homeowners from being proactive in enforcing these repairs. Furthermore, in Florida a reserve study does not need to be held by a professional, which is problematic when homeowners are deciding whether a repair is deemed to be life threatening situation. These sorts of decisions are critical, and the CAI encourages state officials to not allow homeowners to hinder this process because of their unwillingness to invest in the property. With the efforts and suggestions of the CAI report, it is likely that change is coming soon. CAI continues to work with boards, managers, building inspectors, developers, accountants, reserve analyst and other stakeholders to continue their efforts at protecting the life, health, and safety of homeowners.