NJ passes law to protect residential buildings, inspired by deadly collapse in Florida (2024)

3-minute read

New Jersey has enacted legislation aimed at protecting and maintaining the structural integrity of residential condominiums and cooperative housing buildings. It's the second state in the country to do so, behind Florida.

Signed by Gov. Phil Murphy this month, the bill puts in place additional procedures and regulations for the inspection, evaluation and maintenance of the structural integrity of residential housing structures..

The bill comes as a result of the June 2021 collapse of the Champlain Towers South beachfront condominium in Surfside, Florida. It was drafted and passed with the help of the New Jersey chapter of the Community Associations Institute and its Legislative Action Committee.

"The goal of this legislation is to make sure that a tragedy like Champlain Towers doesn't happen in New Jersey," said Matthew Earle, a condo and co-op attorney at Kates Nussman Ellis Farhi & Earle, LLP, in Hackensack and the chairperson of the New Jersey Legislative Action Committee.

"There were multiple failure points of Champlain Towers. There was the structural failure of the building, and there were also difficulties in having enough funding available to do the work, or even the board's availability to raise the funding," Earle said.

After the collapse in Florida, the legislation was drafted based on the institute's public policy that was released at the time, with additional input the Legislative Action Committee felt was necessary to include for New Jersey, said Ed San George, owner and president of Integra Management Corp. in North Arlington and vice chairperson of the committee.

San George said Sen. Troy Singleton was asked to be involved, and he helped them get the legislation introduced and submitted to the state's Office of Legislative Services. The bill was introduced at the beginning of the last legislative cycle and was signed on the last day of the two-year session, Earle said.

"The process entailed really two components of existing legislation and modifications to that. The Uniform Construction Code needed modifications in order to address what the structural integrity issues might be, and the Planned Real Estate Full Disclosure Act needed to be amended to address how we would identify the requirements for funding replacement reserves," San George said.

The first step of the process, he said, involved defining what types of buildings would be covered under the legislation. He said the institute included buildings with structural components made of steel, reinforced concrete, heavy timber or some hybrid of those materials. He said there was a debate about whether this would be limited to high-rise buildings — which have at least seven stories in New Jersey — but they chose to include lower-rise condo and co-op buildings also common in the state.

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Then, San George said, they defined how frequently building inspections would be required. Buildings constructed after the signing of this legislation will need to have their first inspection within 15 years. Buildings 15 years old or older will need to have an inspection within two years of the legislation's signing.

For buildings that experienced an event that may lead to structural damage, such as severe weather or a vehicle crashing into them, an inspection must be done within 60 days of the event.

This bill will also require building associations to conduct a reserve study to determine the amount in reserve funds necessary in the case of major repairs or replacement of common building elements.

San George said associations with an existing reserve study have five years to update it. Brand-new associations have two years to get a study done, and existing associations that haven't had one have one year to do so, he said.

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"What a lot of boards are faced with when they find themselves in some sort of financial dilemma is not having enough reserves," San George said. When boards find they have a major building issue, "they are often restricted in the governing documents to their authority to either levy an assessment to deal with the problem or to borrow funds to deal with the problem," he added. "This legislation supersedes governing documents that limit boards' authority to levy assessments or borrow money for a justified structural repair."

Others who had an instrumental role in drafting this legislation include David Ramsey, a lawyer at Becker & Poliakoff in Morristown; Mitch Frumkin, president of Kipcon Engineering in North Brunswick; Singleton, the state senator; state Sen. Linda Greenstein; Assemblywoman Yvonne Lopez; and Assemblyman Benjie Wimberly, the proponents said.

Maddie McGay is the real estate reporter forNorthJersey.comand The Record, covering all things worth celebrating about living in North Jersey. Find her onInstagram @maddiemcgay,onX @maddiemcgayy, and sign up for herNorth Jersey Livingnewsletter.Do you have a tip, trend or terrific house she should know about? Email her atMMcGay@gannett.