Florida condo owners face hefty fees under new structural reserve laws

Florida condo owners face an uphill battle of rising costs after new rules took effect in the new year. Well, following the surfside collapse a couple years ago, condo associations must have reserves to cover repairs, and for one Brickell condo building, residents are facing a $21 million price tag. CBS News Miami's Chelsea Jones tells us why some are choosing not to pay it. Only around 17 years old, 1060 Brickell is facing a roughly $21 million assessment fee. Condo owner Evan Cohen has to pay $45,000. This is a relatively new building. This isn't an old, falling down, you know, dilapidated building. This is a copy of what the condo association says needs to be done. Tower 2 restoration for over $7.7 million, parking garage repair and restoration at over $3.5 million, and rotunda repairs at over $1.6 million, to name a few. These are critical, requiring immediate attention, right? Quote from management, and when you look at the engineering reports, it doesn't say that. We reached out to the lawyer representing the condo association for a response. We're told he's out of the office, but back in November, Mark Halpern told CBS Miami the decision was made birthed from the law following the partial collapse of the Champlain Towers. It is now in effect, so residents here at 1060 have to cough up their share of that $21 million, something they're not willing to do because they believe the repairs aren't critical, based on an engineering report done by a structural integrity reserve study. If we had that situation, I think everybody in the community would contribute. Obviously, we're not, you know, we don't want to be something unsafe. A hearing is set for January 24th to try and get an injunction for these costs. Daniel Codsey is the developer for the Paramount Miami World Center. He tells me the way buildings are being structurally engineered today are done differently, making it safer so that what happened at Champlain Towers can be avoided. He tells me once projects are completed by developers, that maintenance becomes the responsibility of condo associations. And so if they're not maintaining the building properly, you know, then you get into an issue with, you know, can there be an exuberant cost because they haven't done certain things that they should have done. For those at 1060, the fees they face have them considering other options. For me, it's like, I want to sell. I've been considering selling. What the government needs to really think about is affordability. You know, how are you going to continue to build affordable housing for people? At the end of the day, people can only afford so much. So what if you can't afford your assessment fee? In Miami-Dade County, there is a loan program if you make a percentage less than the median income. But even those reserves are running out. In Miami, I'm Chelsea Jones, CBS News, Miami.