Florida Condo Owners Face Financial Strain Amid Rising Special Assessments and New Regulations
Christy Rojas has called the same condo unit in Southwest Miami-Dade home for about 20 years. Over the years, her monthly payments have steadily increased, with her homeowners association (HOA) dues and a special assessment now totaling over $600—double the amount of her mortgage.
“There’s always a special assessment,” Rojas said. “You either pay for it, or you sell and leave.”
But leaving isn’t always a viable option. In the wake of the Surfside condo tragedy in 2021, Florida lawmakers passed a series of reforms aimed at improving building safety. One of the key mandates requires condo associations to have fully funded reserves by the end of this year, a requirement that has led many associations to impose substantial special assessments on their residents.
The financial burden of these assessments can be staggering. “They are six figures and they’re growing,” said Craig Studnicky, CEO and broker at ISG World. “I’ve heard as high as $350,000 per unit to fix the structural imperfections in these older buildings, basically rendering that inventory unsellable at the moment. It’s even hard to get a mortgage lender to want to lend on any of those units because of the threat of the special assessments.”
ISG World’s recent analysis highlights a worrying trend: the number of condos up for sale in Palm Beach, Broward, and Miami-Dade counties has surged from 8,353 in the second quarter of last year to over 20,293 a year later. Of those, nearly 90%, or 17,796 units, are in buildings that are over 30 years old.
“I’m very concerned,” Studnicky continued. “A lot of these folks that live in these buildings are older, most are retired. They’re on fixed incomes. They do not want to write those checks for special assessments. They’re hoping that somebody’s going to come in and buy them, but there’s nobody out there that wants to take that risk right now.”
The financial strain on older condo owners is undeniable, and some believe that the state’s new milestone inspection rules may have gone too far. These rules, intended to identify and address structural issues in aging buildings, are essential for safety but come at a steep cost.
“We know that people are hurting,” said State Representative Alex Rizo (R-Hialeah). He acknowledged the financial challenges that these new regulations are imposing on condo owners, particularly those on fixed incomes. Rizo mentioned that there has been some discussion in Tallahassee about finding ways to alleviate the financial burden on condo owners.
“One possibility is perhaps extending the amount of time to have the fund filled,” he said. “Another one may be perhaps doing sort of a sliding scale to have that fund filled by the age of the property owner.”
However, for residents like Christy Rojas, time isn’t the main issue. “The money is the problem,” she emphasized. “If they keep on putting more assessments, what are people gonna do?”
As it stands, state lawmakers have yet to develop a specific plan to address the financial strain on condo owners. However, Rizo indicated that the governor is open to discussing potential solutions.
For now, many Florida condo owners face an uncertain future, trapped between the necessity of maintaining building safety and the growing financial demands that could force them out of their homes.
