Miami-Dade Approves Public Records For Condo Associations After Surfside Collapse

MIAMI (CBSMiami/AP) — As part of a package of legislation proposed after the collapse of Champlain Towers South in Surfside, the Miami-Dade commission has approved a new law that requires condominium and homeowners associations to make public financial statements and structural safety reports.

The Surfside collapse brought the issue of condo transparency "into stark visibility," said Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava, who endorsed the legislation.

The law requires associations to upload financial statements, engineering reports, and maintenance documents related to long-term structural concerns about buildings to a publicly viewable county database by February 2023, according to CBS4 news partner the Miami Herald. Most of the documents were currently available to property owners but were otherwise not available to the public.

Florida law currently requires condo sellers to turn over financial documents and reports on assessments to buyers once a sales contract is signed, if the buyer requests the paperwork.

"I think this is a step that the rest of the state will look to," Cava said. "I think this is a very innovative, creative way to address this issue."

The state's Legislature also has taken the Surfside tragedy into account. Last week the Florida House unanimously passed a bill Thursday that would require statewide recertification of any condo building above three stories high.

The bill would require recertification after 30 years, or 25 years if the building is within 3 miles of the coast, and every 10 years thereafter. The Champlain Towers South was 40 years old and was going through the 40-year recertification process required by Miami-Dade County when it collapsed.

(© Copyright 2022 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)