Orlando condo owners face hefty assessment to cover Hurricane Ian flood damages [Orlando Sentinel]

One year after Hurricane Ian doused the Orlando region with historic rainfall, dozens of condo owners at the Dockside at Ventura are still not back home.

Water flowed over a pond in the center of the neighborhood east of Semoran Boulevard off Curry Ford Road, flooding out first-floor units and destroying every vehicle in the parking lot, residents say. Many were rescued by airboats after the storm.

Today, the complex of more than 250 condominiums is a construction site with numerous units stripped down to the studs as crews work to do repairs. The residents who remain fear they too won’t be able to live there soon, priced out after being hit with a hefty assessment to cover damages.

The condo’s board agreed to an $18 million loan this month that they say will cover repairs while it’s in litigation with its insurance provider. Including interest, residents are on the hook for a monthly assessment that would total more than $32 million over the 12-year life of the loan, with payments ranging from $650 per month to more than $1,000 per month depending on the size of the owner’s unit.

That fee is in addition to the regular condo fee they already pay, which is between $350 and $500 per month.

“It means I have an extra $917 a month for the next 144 months,” said Jason Buhi, who purchased his condo two years ago. “I’m going to pay more in the special assessment than I am the retail price of my condo.”

Frustrated condo owners rallied in September to recall board members in hopes of stopping the assessments. They wonder if the loan is an effort to drive them into foreclosure.

“I think they’re trying to get our condos,” Buhi said.

The board rejected the recall in a brief meeting Monday, Buhi said. The residents said they plan to petition next week for arbitration from the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation, which regulates condo boards, if the board doesn’t certify their recall.

In the meeting, board members said the recall wasn’t valid in part because Florida law doesn’t allow them to move forward within 60 days of an association election, Buhi said. Residents say the annual election, currently slated for November, was scheduled after they served the association with the recall.

As word of the recall spread around the neighborhood, the management company, Access Residential, emailed an explanation of the loan to residents, saying it was necessary amid litigation with its flood insurance provider.

“While the association has received some funds for remediation and repair, there remains a substantial funding gap to complete the necessary repairs,” it reads. “The only viable option to proceed with reconstruction until the insurance claim is resolved was to secure a private loan.”

Access Management didn’t respond to an email requesting more information about the loan, alternatives considered and the status of repairs. Access Management has told residents that if their litigation with the insurance company is settled, the assessment would then go away.

Elizabeth Leuven, 74, said she watched the water rise last year from her second-story condo, where she lives with her husband. They welcomed in downstairs neighbors escaping floodwaters, eventually ending up with nine people and several pets in her unit.

“It was very, very scary,” she said.

State Rep. Johanna López, D-Orlando, said her office was contacted by a resident and was researching whether she could file a bill regulating such payments.

U.S. Rep. Darren Soto, D-Kissimmee, is seeking $2.5 million in federal funding to help with future flooding in the area.

The east Orlando neighborhood has many seniors, like Leuven, on fixed incomes, as well as younger families, she said. What most of them have in common is they can’t afford the assessments they’re facing, with payments due to start Sunday.

“We have a lot of retirees, a lot of veterans, a lot of young kids who are buying them so they can go from this to the American dream,” she said.

Now the neighborhood is awaiting word from state regulators.

“We’re going to fight to the last until we have to pack our bags and give away our furniture, move in with the kids and sleep in a spare bedroom,” Leuven said.

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