Do You Really Need to Install A Fire Sprinkler System In Your Condominium Building?

Many condominium buildings throughout Florida will be required by local municipal ordinance or other requirements to retrofit their buildings with code-compliant fire sprinkler systems. The estimates provided to a good deal of those associations indicate that the costs associated with such retrofitting may exceed the million dollar range. However, the owners of units in a large number of the condominium associations which would be required to retrofit their buildings with fire sprinkler systems may not be in a position to pay the assessments that may have to be imposed by the association in order to comply with the foregoing retrofit requirements. Fortunately, Florida law offers condominium associations with breathing room – providing unit owners with the ability to vote to forego the retrofitting that may be required by the local governmental authorities having jurisdiction.

The Florida Condominium Act provides that the local governmental authorities having jurisdiction cannot require a condominium building to be retrofitted with a fire sprinkler system if a majority of the voting interests within the condominium vote to forego such retrofitting. Those associations that do not vote to forego the retrofitting requirement may not be obligated to retrofit their buildings prior to December 31, 2019. The law further provides that associations which have not obtained the vote to forego the retrofitting requirement, and which have not yet achieved compliance with the applicable retrofit requirements, will have to initiate the application process for the issuance of a building permit by December 31, 2016, for the installation of such fire sprinkler system by the December 31, 2019, deadline.

It is important to keep in mind that the above-described majority vote of the association’s voting interests may be obtained by written consent of the association’s members or by a vote at a duly noticed meeting at which a quorum has been achieved. If the vote is to be taken at a meeting, then the use of limited proxies may facilitate the association’s efforts to obtain the vote. Once the required vote is achieved, then other steps must be followed. For instance, a certificate of the vote to forego the retrofitting requirement will have to be filed in the public records of the county where the condominium is located. Additionally, a written notice must be sent to the owners within 30 days of the vote announcing the successful results and a notarized affidavit must be kept with the association’s official records to document that the foregoing notice was properly sent. Within 60 days from recording the above-described certificate, the association must also file a notice with the Florida division of condominiums announcing the successful vote. Lastly, each unit owner is required to provide a copy of the notice sent by the association to anyone renting his unit and to the purchaser of the owner’s unit prior to the closing of such sale.

It should be noted that the decision to forego retrofitting is one that should be carefully evaluated by condominium directors, managers and unit owners given that buildings which forego retrofitting will not have the fire sprinkler systems that could play a vital role in protecting the residents of such buildings from injury and damage in the event of a fire. Additionally, buildings that forego retrofitting may be required to pay higher insurance premiums and may be subject to lower property values due to the lack of life safety systems valued by some purchasers. Moreover, even after a successful vote to forego retrofitting, owners of units in a condominium may trigger a vote to require retrofitting, provided at least 10% of the voting interests petition for such a vote.

Given the tedious requirements involved in above-described process and the impact such vote might have on a community, it is advisable that associations seek the assistance of their legal counsel in the process to ensure that the votes have been properly obtained and to minimize the risk of liability that may result from a failure to comply with the applicable requirements.