Legal News You Can Use: 2025 - 2026 Community Association Legislative Update

2025-2026 COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION LEGISLATIVE UPDATE

My Safe Florida Condominium Pilot Program (Section 215.55871 of the Florida Statutes) Last year, the legislature created the My Safe Florida Condominium Pilot Program (MSFCP Program) to assist eligible condominium associations with wind mitigation efforts. The MSFCP Program offers free inspections and grants for qualifying wind mitigation improvements, which may also help lower windstorm insurance premiums. The MSFCP Program is limited to condominiums located within 15 miles of a coastline, and total grant awards are capped at $175,000 per association. The new laws modify the MSFCP Program as follows: » Participation in the MSFCP Program is limited to structures or buildings on the condominium property which are three or more stories in height, provided that each structure or building that is the subject of a mitigation grant contains at least two single-family dwellings. » An association may not apply for a mitigation inspection or grant unless the association has complied with the milestone inspection requirements and the inspection requirements for a SIRS. » An association may not apply for a grant for window improvements unless the windows are established as common elements in the declaration. » In order to apply for a grant which improves one or more units within a condominium, an association must receive both of the following: (1) approval by a majority vote of the board or a majority vote of the total voting interests of the association to participate in a mitigation inspection; and (2) approval by at least 75% of all unit owners who reside within the structure or building that is the subject of the mitigation grant. ▪ Note – For component #2, previous law required a unanimous vote of all unit owners within the structure or building that is the subject of the mitigation grant. » As a condition of awarding a grant, the State will require mitigation improvements to be made to all

openings (including exterior doors, garage doors, windows, and skylights) if doing so is necessary for the building or structure to qualify for a mitigation credit, insurance premium discount, or other rate differential. » Grant funds may only be used for water intrusion mitigation devices or mitigation improvements that will result in a mitigation credit, insurance premium discount, or other rate differential for the building or structure to which the device or improvement is applied or made. » Improvements must be identified in the final hurricane mitigation inspection in order for an association to receive grant funds. ▪ Note – Under previous law, grants could be used for a structure that had been “previously inspected,” presumably referring to an inspection conducted before the “final” one. This provision was stricken from the statutes. These changes to the MSFCP Program took effect on June 23, 2025. ■ The My Safe Florida Condominium Pilot Program offers free inspections and grants for qualifying wind mitigation improvements, which may also help lower windstorm insurance premiums.

18 | Kopelowitz Ostrow Ferguson Weiselberg Gilbert