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On a bright afternoon in June, James McGuinness arrived in the lobby of Champlain Towers South, one of the tallest condo towers in Surfside, just north of Miami Beach. Like its sister building, Champlain Towers North, the South tower was built in 1981, in the midcentury modern style so beloved by Florida developers of the era: squat and unlovely, with an L-shaped Duplo block footprint and heavy concrete balconies that jutted from the 13-story structure. Out back, there was a

When Jack Driscoll saw the video of the collapsed condo building in Surfside, Fla., his first thought was: “That’s horrendous.” Then he started wondering: Could that happen to his home? Driscoll lives on the second floor of a 12-storey building on the Dartmouth side of Halifax Harbour. He can lean over his balcony railing and look straight down at the seawater lapping against the concrete foundation. “You can’t help but have ‘What ifs,’ ” he said. “What if there’s a flood? Wh

In the wake of last month’s deadly building collapse, inspectors from around South Florida have fanned out to review other high-rises for damage in an attempt to avert another tragedy. But Champlain Towers South had been visited regularly by officials in the years before it fell. Inspectors from the town of Surfside conducted permit-related inspections at the condo tower more than once a week on average in 2018 and 2019, according to a CNN analysis of town records. Even as an

Three years ago, Florida lawyer Eric Glazer offered a dire warning: The state’s condo buildings faced an “absolutely avoidable” crisis stemming from years of willfully neglected maintenance combined with lax government oversight. Writing on his blog “Condo Craze and HOAs”, Glazer warned that building after building lacked the savings to fund increasingly common repairs. He understood, he wrote, why it’s hard to get condo and homeowners associations to set aside money for...

The deadly collapse of Champlain Towers South in Surfside has brought a little-noticed loophole in Florida law to the attention of lawyers, condo management companies, Realtors, insurance companies and consumer advocates. Called the “kick the can down the road” provision by one attorney, Section 718.112 of the Florida Condominium Act allows condominium associations to waive the rule that their boards set aside adequate cash reserves to pay for needed building improvements. Al

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — The state of Floridacollected $13.7 million in fees in 2020 from condominium owners associations, vacation timeshares and mobile home parks. But instead of using that money for its intended purpose — including training condo associations about things like maintenance — the Florida legislature swept $5 million of it into the state’s general fund. It’s a pattern that’s been going on for years, records show. In the wake of the collapse of the Surfside condomi

An independent budget review warned the Champlain Towers South condo association that its financial reserves were critically underfunded in the face of urgently needed structural repairs a little over a year before the building collapsed, a document obtained by CNN shows. The condo association only had 6.9% of the recommended level of money to complete repair and replacement projects and stay financially secure, according to a March 2020 report from Association Reserves, a co

The Champlain Towers South collapse emergency is ongoing, and some experts say they expect condo sales, in what was a roaring condo market in Miami, to struggle from the impact. What can agents, sellers and buyers anticipate? “The condo market was on fire,” said Eric Glazer, attorney and founder of Glazer and Sachs, specializing in condominium and homeowner association law, and host of the weekly Condo Craze and HOAs radio show. “There is no question that the condo market is

Explosives were set off Sunday night to bring down the rest of Champlain Towers South in Surfside, Fla. The controlled demolition provides more room for search-and-rescue crews to look for survivors as Tropical Storm Elsa heads toward Florida. Photo: Lynne Sladky/AP SURFSIDE, Fla.—A task force has been created to investigate Florida’s laws surrounding condominiums and make recommendations for legal reforms to the governor’s office and state legislature in the wake of the buil

URFSIDE, Fla. — Crews looking for survivors in the rubble of a condo that collapsed outside Miami last week found more bodies on Friday, raising the number of confirmed deaths to 22 as 126 people remain missing. Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said she has signed off on the demolition of the part of the building that remains standing because it poses a threat to public health and safety, although no date has yet been set for the demolition. The top priority remains sear

Except for a brief window that lasted barely two years, the state has had no oversight of the condition of aging condominium buildings in nearly 60 years of condo construction in the Sunshine State. No post-construction inspection requirements. No enforcement measures to repair potentially life-threatening structural damage. No requirement to maintain a contingency fund for emergency repairs. A USA Today Network-Florida review of state statutes governing the condo industry fo

NORTH MIAMI BEACH, Fla.—The city’s closure of the 156-unit Crestview Towers Condominium on July 2 displaced dozens of families overnight. Three weeks later, they remain in a housing limbo made worse by financial struggles and complicated medical conditions. Ligia Mora is staying at a Motel 6 near Miami International Airport while caring for her two sons, one of whom is autistic, and an elderly aunt with diabetes. She doesn’t have a kitchen to cook meals, and her aunt needs he

As they say…hindsight is 20/20. The tragedy in Surfside rips your guts out. I had to go there and see it for myself. I did. I then walked over to the memorial and saw pictures of the victims, including little kids, entire families and you wonder how anything like this could have possibly happened. Immediately you want to blame someone. You want justice. You want someone to pay for what happened here. It’s only natural to feel that way. But we need to try to calm down