My Safe Florida Home Program [Chapter 2023-176, HB 881, Effective July 1, 2023] Summary The bill revises provisions relating to the My Safe Florida Home Program by expanding the eligibility for the program and ensuring the participation of more Floridians. This bill amended F.S. 215.5586 as follows: (1) HURRICANE MITIGATION INSPECTIONS.— (a) Licensed Certified inspectors are to provide home home-retrofit inspections of site- built, single- family, residential properties for which a homestead exemption has been granted, property may be offered to determine what mitigation measures are needed, what insurance premium discounts may be available, and what improvements to existing residential properties are needed to reduce the property’s vulnerability to hurricane damage. An inspector may inspect a townhouse as defined in s. 481.203 to determine if opening protection mitigation as listed in paragraph (2)(e) would provide improvements to mitigate hurricane damage. (c) To qualify for selection by the department as a wind certification entity to provide hurricane mitigation inspections, the entity must shall, at a minimum, meet the following requirements: 1. Use hurricane mitigation inspectors who are licensed or certified as: a. Are certified as A building inspector under 468.607; b. Are licensed as A general, building, or residential contractor under s. 489.111; c. Are licensed as A professional engineer under 471.015 and who has passed the appropriate equivalency test of the building code training program as required by s. 553.841; d. Are licensed as A professional architect under 481.213; or e. A home inspector under 468.8314 and who have completed at least 3 hours of
(a) 2. The home must be a dwelling with an insured value of $700,000 $500,000 or less. Homeowners who are low-income persons, as defined in 420.0004(11), are exempt from this requirement. 4. The home must be located in the “wind-borne debris region” as that term is defined in the Florida Building Code. (e) When recommended by a hurricane mitigation inspection, grants for eligible homes may be used for the following improvements:
Now limiting these improvements to opening protection; exterior doors including garage doors; reinforcing roof-to-wall connections; improving the strength of roof-deck attachments; and secondary water barrier for roof. Removing the earlier provisions of brace gable ends and upgrading roof covering from code to code plus. This section also asserts that when recommended by a hurricane mitigation inspection, grants for townhouses, as defined in s. 481.203, may only be used for opening protection.
(h) This part was added to redefine low-income homeowners, for these purposes, who are eligible for a grant of up to $10,000 rather than the previous $5,000. (3) EDUCATION, AND CONSUMER AWARENESS, AND OUTREACH This bill added section (b) providing for development of brochures for distribution to Citizens Property Insurance Corporation, general contractors, roof contractors, and real estate brokers and sales associates who are licensed under Part I of Chapter 475 that provides information on the benefits to homeowners of residential hurricane damage mitigation. Citizens is encouraged to distribute the brochure to policyholders of the corporation; contractors are encouraged to distribute the brochures to homeowners at the first meeting with a homeowner who is considering contracting for home or roof repair or contracting for the construction of a new home; real estate brokers and sales associates are encouraged to distribute the brochure to clients before the purchase of a home. The brochures may be made available electronically. (7) PUBLIC OUTREACH FOR CONTRACTORS AND REAL ESTATE BROKERS AND SALES ASSOCIATES CONTRACT MANAGEMENT. (b) The department shall implement a quality assurance and reinspection program that determines whether initial inspections and home improvements are completed in a manner consistent with the intent of the must be commenced; revises the date that the statute of limitations period begins; provides for the calculation of the statute of limitations period for multi-dwelling buildings; amending F.S. 553.84; defines the term “material violation”; conforms provisions to changes made by the act; provides applicability; provides an effective date. This amendment shortens the time to bring hidden (latent) construction related defects claim from 10 years to seven years. When bringing an action (lawsuit) founded on the design, planning, or construction of an improvement to real property the claim begins from the time one knew, or should have known, of such defect as measured from the issuance of the certificate of occupancy and must be brought within four years. program. The department may use valid random sampling in order to perform the quality assurance portion of the program.
hurricane mitigation training approved by the Construction Industry Licensing Board, which training must include hurricane mitigation techniques, compliance with the uniform mitigation verification form, and completion of a proficiency exam.
(2) MITIGATION GRANTS - Financial grants shall be used to encourage single-family, site- built, owner-occupied, residential property owners to retrofit their properties to make them less vulnerable to hurricane.
Construction Defects [Chapter 2023-22, SB 360, Effective April 13, 2023] Summary This bill amends existing law with respect to causes of action based on improvements to real property. The bill shortens the timeframes that a property owner may bring a cause of action against a builder for alleged construction defects. It also narrows the scope of certain statutory civil actions against builders for Florida Building Code violations. The act relates to causes of action based on improvements to real property. It amends F.S. 95.11; revises the time that an action founded on the design, planning, or construction of an improvement to real property
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