When the Champlain Tower South condominium in Surfside, Fla., partially collapsed three years ago this month, Daniel Gonzalez was in bed just an hour away in Boca Raton. His immediate reaction was to commission a structural inspection on their nearly 50-year-old building. Gonzalez advises managers and boards facing the recertification process to be hypervigilant about structural maintenance.
California’s “balcony bill,” SB 721, requires balcony inspections within all multifamily residential buildings containing three or more dwelling units no later than Jan. 1, 2025. David Swedelson, founding senior partner at Swedelson Gottlieb firm, provides details to help communities prepare for and transition to these new requirements.
Community associations should incorporate preventive maintenance and structural inspections into their reserve studies—the important budget planning tools that identify the components a community association is responsible for maintaining or replacing, indicate the status of the reserve fund, and provide a stable and equitable funding plan to offset anticipated future major common area expenditures. The recommendations are part of new Reserve Study Standards released by Community Associations Institute (CAI), the leading international authority on community association governance, management, and education.
Today marks the two-year anniversary of the partial collapse of the Champlain Towers South Condominium in Surfside, Fla. The tragedy took 98 lives. CAI honors those who lost their lives, the loved ones of the victims, and the survivors who lost their home and neighbors.
The partial collapse of Champlain Towers South condominium in Surfside, Fla., on June 24, 2021, killed 98 people and is considered one of the worst building disasters in U.S. history. The tragedy spurred CAI into action, galvanizing members and staff around condo safety. Over the past two years, CAI has educated community association residents, board members, managers, business partners, legislators, and regulators about structurally sound and fiscally responsible communities.
