Legislative Momentum for Condo/HOA Relief
Representative Bogdanoff Explains Amendments in CS/CS/HB 561 at Becker & Poliakoff's Leadership Seminar. Representative Sachs announces she will "continue to fight for fairness in foreclosures".
.jpg)
Over 450 volunteer board members, professional community association managers and industry representatives listened intently to Representative Bogdanoff on Saturday at the Kravis Center during the Becker & Poliakoff Leadership Seminar. They were pleased to hear that CS/CS/HB 561 includes provisions that would:
- delay enforcement of code mandated elevator improvements (specifically ASME 17.1 and 17.3) in condominiums or cooperatives where the Certificate of Occupancy was issued on or prior to July 1, 2008, for five (5) years or until the elevator is replaced or requires major modification (whichever happens first);
- eliminate any requirement for condominiums or cooperatives that are less than four (4) stories and has exterior corridors to install a manual fire alarm as required by §9.6 of the Life Safety Code (as adopted by the Florida Fire Prevention Code);
- clarify that in a condominium association with more than 10 units, co-owners of a unit cannot serve on the board together unless they own more than one unit and are not co-occupants of a unit;
- require board members to certify (in writing) that they have read the laws and governing documents, will work to uphold the documents and policies and faithfully discharge their fiduciary responsibilities (or submit a certificate of satisfactory completion of approved educational curriculum), failing which they are automatically disqualified from service;
- allow high-rise condominium and cooperative associations to vote to completely avoid any obligation to retrofit the buildings with a fire sprinkler system or engineered life safety system and extend the deadline for others to 2019; and
- authorize bulk contracts for communication services, information services or internet services.
Stay tuned for more legislative updates direct from Tallahassee as these (and other) changes are likely to substantially impact community association operations.
