New Florida condo law is about to take effect | HeraldTribune.com | Southwest Florida's Information Leader: "In a situation that might qualify as a 'be careful what you wish for' tale, several new Florida laws related to condominium insurance policies are slated to go into effect Jan. 1. The problem is they are essentially unworkable as currently written -- leaving many condo owners, community associations and insurance agents in a state of confusion about how to proceed.
At issue is a bill passed during the last legislative session, one which was pushed in large part by condominium associations looking to deal with a particular problem: how to deal with condo units that became damaged or destroyed inside, but whose owners lacked homeowner's insurance policies to fix them."
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What you wish for? Did the people of Florida wish for laws that are "essentially unworkable as currently written"? I kind of doubt that.
The problem being spoken of here is that under the new law, every condo owner has to buy insurance on his/her own unit. How enforced? Well, the association has to verify that they did so, and if the owner doesn't buy it the association pays for it and assesses the owner.
Sounds good. Unfortunately, though, the insurance industry doesn't sell insurance that way. The condo association can't buy these policies on the individual units. So the law is "unworkable" in the sense that the legislature has required associations to do something they are unable to do.
3 comments:
Thank you for enlightening us on the subject. Loved reading your post. Great Article.
No, the condo will adopt a "rule" requiring homeowners to provide proof of insurance and perhaps even specifying the amount of insurance. To continue favoritism to specific insurance companies, the Board will have a "pre-approved" insurance company and will give homeowners difficulty unless they purchase from the Board-designated vendors.
The rule will provide for a fine for "failure to comply" with providing the HOA Board a copy of the insurance policy on a timely basis.
The justification for this legislation is lame at best. The HOA was responsible for any exterior and/or interior common elements and structural items. The owners only owned the inside and at best had some area of exclusive limited use on the outside. The HOA insurance should have been sufficient to fix up any structural and external damage. The HOA wasn't harmed by an owner's individual inability to fix up the inside of a unit. Something else is going on here.
While the HOA might not seem to be directly harmed by an owners individual inability to fix the inside of his/her unit, it can be harmed in certain situations. Mold is a good example. If an individual unit owner does not fix a problem in their unit, in certain situations it can create a mold problem in that unit. If untreated, that could spread thought the building and cause massive amounts of damage to not only common areas, but to other owners units as well.
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