HOAleader.com - Tip of the Week - January 4, 2019
Published: Fri, 01/04/19
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5 Hot Condo/HOA Challenges You May Face This Year
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In this week’s tip, we get you started in 2019 with a scan of the national condo/HOA environment.
Part of your job is to know which issues should be on your radar this year. To help you out, we asked our experts in both HOA/condo management and the law what they expect to see arise more often in 2019. Here’s the first of five hot or soon-to-be-hot topics they suggest you prepare to face:
1. Fire safety issues may be gaining more traction.
“There’s a Florida-specific issue, but it’s one that may also apply to some level across the nation,” reports Bill Worrall, vice president of FirstService Residential in Hollywood, Fla., which manages 1,300 condominium and homeowner associations totaling 310,000 residential units.
“It’s the engineered life safety system issue, or ELSS,” he says. “It’s essentially sprinkler system issues. In 2017, we saw that fire in a Hawaii high-rise apartment, and there were several deaths, unfortunately. The same thing happened in a building in England called Grenfell Tower, which caused 79 deaths. There have been a couple of other instances specifically here in Florida, as well.
“The Florida legislature passed a law requiring that every building that fits a certain criteria must have this life-safety issue resolved by end of 2019,” explains Worrall. “Going back, older buildings and older building codes didn’t require these systems, and the legislature is now demanding these buildings be retrofitted. It’s tremendously expensive.
“It’s a hot topic here, but it probably will gain traction nationwide,” predicts Worrall. “It affects buildings, not condos specifically, of about 75 feet and above. Basically, when you think about it, all of this came out of the 9/11 tragedy. The legislature picked that height because fire truck ladders can’t get higher than that; firefighters can’t get up any higher to safely rescue people. That’s the tragedy behind these laws.”
The challenge in Florida is that there’s lots of debate on what the legislature is requiring. “Does the legislature intend to have the project completed by the end of 2019 or just permitted and approved?” asks Worrall. “Also, certain buildings are still hoping the legislature will overturn this and provide additional extensions, but who the heck knows? We’re advising our clients to look at this issue and make sure they’re in compliance by talking to association counsel and engineers.”
Read about four other challenges you may face this year in our new article:
https://www.hoaleader.com/members/3845.cfm
Best regards,
Matt Humphrey
President
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5 Hot Condo/HOA Challenges You May Face This Year
In this week's tip, we get you started in 2019 with a scan of the national condo/HOA environment. Part of your job is to know which issues should be on your radar this year. To help you out, we asked our experts in both HOA/condo management and the law what they expect to see arise more often in 2019. Here's the first of five hot or soon-to-be-hot topics they suggest you prepare to face
Click here to read full article:
https://www.hoaleader.com/public/5-Hot-CondoHOA-Challenges-You-May-Face-This-Year.cfm
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