When a condo collapses: Are our condos deferring maintenance to death?
That seems to be the morality lesson from the Champlain Towers South catastrophe. News reports cite potentially major structural repairs that went undone for years as the condo association grappled with how to deal with a multi-million dollar special assessment.
Well, your condo may not collapse, but in our practice, far too often we see evidence of the effects of deferred maintenance on South Florida’s aging condos:
– Holes and trip points in the parking lot, sidewalks, walkways and stairs
– Crumbling balconies, docks and seawalls
– Collapsing ceilings and roofs
– Bursting sewage pipes
These may not make headlines, but all these and more can and do cause injury, even serious injury. So when your condo association does the minimum to get by, to keep the maintenance low, low, low, just remember: It is the safety of your loved ones and you that is being compromised. And once a trauma ensues, the effects of the trauma are permanent.
Practice tip: Check you liability and property policies, commission a safety audit, run your condo professionally. ©
