● Permit persons who have been certified as a reserve specialist, or professional reserve analyst by the Community Associations Institute or the Association of Professional Reserve Analysts to perform or verify the visual inspection portion of the SIRS. ● Exempt from the SIRS requirement: ○ Single-family, two-family, or three-family dwellings with three or fewer habitable stories above ground. ○ Any portion or component of a building that has not been submitted to the condominium or cooperative form of ownership; or any portion or component of a building that is maintained by a party other than the condominium or cooperative association. ● Permit associations that are required to complete a milestone inspection on or before December 31, 2026, to complete the SIRS simultaneously with the milestone inspection, but the associations must complete the SIRS by December 31, 2026. ● Permit associations to satisfy the SIRS requirement with a previous milestone inspection, or an inspection performed for a similar local requirement, if the inspection had been performed within the previous five years. Effective July 1, 2027, the bill permits condominium and cooperative unit owners to use the mediation process in this section for specified disputes related to compliance with the milestone inspection or SIRS requirements. Regarding the turnover inspection report that a developer must provide to the association when condominium and cooperative unit owners other than the developer are authorized to elect the majority of the board, the bill permits reserve specialists and professional reserve analysts to prepare the turnover report in addition to engineers and architects and adds the turnover inspection report to the required presale disclosures. The bill also provides additional presale notice requirements in contracts for sales of a unit by a developer or non- developer. A developer and a non-developer must give a prospective buyer of a condominium or cooperative unit a copy of a turnover inspection report completed on or after July 1, 2023, if applicable, and a copy of the inspector-prepared summary of the milestone inspection, if applicable. This provision is similar to current contract notices to unit owners obligated to furnish certain governing documents to the prospective buyer of a unit more than three days before closing for sales by a non- developer or 15 days before closing for sales by a developer. A contract that does not conform to these notice requirements is voidable at the option of the purchaser prior to closing. The bill also provides an appropriation of $1,301,928 recurring and $67,193 nonrecurring to the Division of Florida Condominiums, Timeshare, and Mobile Homes within the DBPR to implement the requirements in the bill, including funds for 10 additional full-time employees. The bill may be cited as the “Homeowners’ Association Bill of Rights.” It revises the requirements for the governance and regulation of homeowners’ associations to: ● Require all notices for homeowners’ association board meetings to specifically identify the agenda items for the meetings. ● Revise the requirements for the association’s use of a member’s e-mail to send notices, including allowing a member to designate an address different than the property address for all required notices. ● Require that, if a homeowners’ association collects a deposit from a member for any reason, including to pay for expenses that may be incurred as a result of construction on a member’s parcel or other reason for such deposit, such funds must not be comingled with any other association funds, the member may request an accounting of such funds, and the association must remit payment of unused funds within 30 days after completion.
2024, including inspection criteria, testing protocols, standardized inspection and reporting forms that are adaptable to an electronic format, and record maintenance requirements for the local authority having jurisdiction. The bill exempts unit owner policies from the requirement that all personal lines residential policies issued by the Citizens Property Insurance Corporation must include flood coverage. Regarding the governance of condominiums or cooperatives, the bill: ● Clarifies that any unit owner and any person authorized by any owner as their representative may inspect the official records of the association. ● Excludes insurance premiums from the calculation that permits members to petition for a substitute budget if assessments increase by 115 percent. The reserve funding requirements relating to condominium and cooperative associations are revised by the bill to: ● Require associations that are subject to the SIRS requirement to base a budget adopted on or after January 1, 2025, on the findings and recommendations of the association’s most recent SIRS. ● Clarify that reserves are required for the SIRS items for which the association is responsible under the condominium declaration. ● Clarify that reserves for replacement costs do not need to be maintained for any item with an estimated remaining useful life of greater than 25 years, but the SIRS study may recommend a deferred maintenance expense amount for such item. ● Permit associations that are not subject to the SIRS requirement to waive reserves if approved by a majority vote of the total voting interests of the association. ● Permit multi-condominium associations to waive reserves if an alternative funding method has been approved by the division. ● Provide that reserve assessments may be adjusted for inflation. The bill amends the SIRS requirements to: ● Limit the SIRS requirement to residential condominiums and cooperatives. ● Clarify that the SIRS recommendation must include a reserve funding schedule. ● Include the building structure as a SIRS building component, consisting of load-bearing walls and other primary structural members and primary structural systems as those terms are defined in F.S. 627.706 and delete “floor” and “foundation” from the list. ● Permit the visual inspection portion of the SIRS to be verified by an engineer or architect. Homeowners’ Associations Bill of Rights [Chapter 2023-228, HB 919, Effective June 9, 2023] Companion Bill HB 799, Effective October 1, 2023 Summary Homeowners’ Associations; ● Revises provisions relating to homeowners’ associations including official records, fines and suspensions, attorney fees and costs, liens, as well as removing and reinstating certain officers and directors from office. ● Prohibits certain funds from being commingled with association funds and requires certain accounting and remittance of funds within specified timeframe. ● Provides criminal and civil penalties for actions by officers, directors, or managers of association and requires disclosures. ● Provides criminal penalties for fraudulent voting activities.
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Book Code: CAMFL1524
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