Regarding the design professional requirements, 3.b. added specific stipulations: ● Any design professional or any licensed contractor who bids to perform a structural integrity reserve study must disclose in writing to the association their intent to bid on any services related to any maintenance, repair, or replacement that may be recommended by the structural integrity reserve study. ○ Any design professional or licensed contractor who submits a bid to the association for performing any services recommended by the structural integrity reserve study may not have an interest, directly or indirectly, in the firm or entity providing the association’s structural integrity reserve study or be a relative of any person having a direct or indirect interest in such firm, unless such relationship is disclosed to the association in writing. ○ As used in this section, the term relative means a relative within the third degree by blood or marriage. ○ A contract for services is voidable and terminates upon the association filing a written notice terminating the contract if the design professional or licensed contractor failed to provide the written disclosure of the interests or relationships required under this paragraph. ○ A design professional or licensed contractor may be subject to discipline under the applicable practice act for their profession for failure to provide the written disclosure of the interests or relationships required under this paragraph. A structural integrity reserve study must now also provide a funding plan and include a recommendation for a reserve funding schedule based on a baseline funding plan that provides a reserve funding goal in which the reserve funding for each budget year is sufficient to maintain the reserve cash balance above zero. The study may recommend other types of reserve funding schedules, provided that each recommended schedule is sufficient to meet the association’s maintenance obligation. 4. b. added that If the structural integrity reserve study recommends reserves for any item for which reserves are not required under this paragraph, the amount of the recommended reserves for such item must be separately identified in the structural integrity reserve study as an item for which reserves are not required under this paragraph. 4.c. was added as follows: The structural integrity reserve study must take into consideration the funding method or methods used by the association to fund its maintenance and reserve funding obligations through regular assessments, special assessments, lines of credit, or loans. If the structural integrity reserve study is performed before the association has approved a special assessment or secured a line of credit or a loan, the structural integrity reserve study must be updated to reflect the funding method selected by the association and its effect on the reserve funding schedule, including any anticipated change in the amount of regular assessments. The structural integrity reserve study may be updated to reflect any changes to the useful life of the reserve items after such items are repaired or replaced, and the effect such repair or replacement will have on the reserve funding schedule. The association must obtain an updated structural integrity reserve study before adopting any budget in which the reserve funding from regular assessments, special assessments, lines of credit, or loans do not align with the funding plan from the most recent version of the structural integrity reserve study.
Paragraph 5 of this subsection was changed to include four-family dwellings with three or fewer habitable stories does not apply to the requirement of milestone inspections. This paragraph previously included only buildings less than three stories in height that were single-, two-, or three-family dwellings. Paragraph 7 was amended to revise the requirement of milestone inspection deadline of December 31, 2024, to December 31, 2025. An association that is required to complete a milestone inspection in accordance with s. 553.899 on or before December 31, 2026, may complete the structural integrity reserve study simultaneously with the milestone inspection. In no event may the structural integrity reserve study be completed after December 31, 2026. Paragraph 9 was added as follows: If the association completes a milestone inspection required by s. 553.899, or an inspection completed for a similar local requirement, the association may delay performance of a required structural integrity reserve study for no more than the 2 consecutive budget years immediately following the milestone inspection in order to allow the association to focus its financial resources on completing the repair and maintenance recommendations of the milestone inspection. Paragraph 10 was amended to require that an officer or a director of an association must sign an affidavit acknowledging receipt of the completed structural integrity reserve study. The division shall adopt by rule the form for the structural integrity reserve study in coordination with the Florida Building Commission. 718.113 related to hurricane protection for condominium associations, was amended to clarify under what circumstances a unit owner or the association is responsible for removal and reinstallation costs of hurricane protection before it becomes an issue during a repair or renovation project. It is advisable that an association confer with their legal counsel concerning the interpretation of their existing declaration or the amendment to such provision in their declaration. ● Unless otherwise provided in the declaration as originally recorded, or as amended, a unit owner is not responsible for the cost of any removal or reinstallation of hurricane protection, including exterior windows, doors, or other apertures, if its removal is necessary for the maintenance, repair, or replacement of other condominium property or association property for which the association is responsible. ● Further, the board must determine if the removal or reinstallation of hurricane protection must be completed by the unit owner or the Association if the declaration as originally recorded, or as amended, does not specify who is responsible for such costs. F.S. 718.1265 association emergency powers , as it relates to evacuation of condominium property for which a state of emergency is declared in the locale where the condominium is. This amendment removed the requirement of a mandatory evacuation leaving it as an evacuation and further adding that if a unit owner or other occupant fails or refuses to evacuate the condominium property that the board has required evacuation, the association is immune from liability or injury to those persons or property resulting from their failure or refusal to evacuate.
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