The firm’s latest “Real Estate Counselor” column in the Miami Herald appears in today’s newspaper and is again authored by partner Lindsey Thurswell Lehr. Her column, which is titled “Condo Terminations Require Ample Consideration by Association Directors and Unit Owners,” focuses on the rise in South Florida in condominium terminations involving building-wide purchases of all the units by developers. While such terminations may be inevitable for some buildings, Lindsey writes that they are typically contentious with some owners steadfastly opposed to the forced sale of their property. Her column reads:
. . . Florida’s condominium termination statute is one of the most controversial aspects of the state’s condo laws. The current statute, which has seen several significant changes over the years, enables owners to work together in the bulk sale of their units to a developer hoping to demolish a condominium and build a new one in its place.
Currently, the statute allows for an optional termination with a vote of 80 percent of the unit owners, but it also enables five percent or more of the owners to block a termination from proceeding for a period of 24 months by rejecting it in writing or via a negative vote.
As my fellow firm partner Oscar Rivera wrote in this column in February, condominium developers are now setting their sights on many potential targets for termination bids in South Florida’s red-hot real estate market.
For aging properties that are now uncovering potential structural life-safety issues, the lessons from Surfside cannot be ignored. They must either immediately ratify a plan to fund and execute the necessary repairs and remediation, or they must work to secure the best possible condo termination exit strategy for all the unit owners as expeditiously as possible.