CLEARWATER, Fla. — The 2021 Surfside Condo collapse spurred the Florida legislature into action, in an effort to prevent a similar tragedy from happening again.

Laws passed have increased scrutiny on maintenance and forced residents to make much larger financial commitments to reserve funds, so that condo associations can make repairs when needed.

However, there is a growing concern among condo owners that the legislation has led to an unsustainable increase in costs, even to the point of being priced out of their homes.

Ronni Drimmer, a condo owner in Clearwater, has lived in her home for 20 years.

“I do like living here because I have a lot of friends,” Drimmer said.

She is retired and supposed to be enjoying retirement, but she says that is getting harder. Insurance rates continue to rise for the 55-plus community she lives in.

“We were with citizens, because they were the only ones that would take us,” she said. “I was originally told that it was because we were an older building.”

After the 2021 Surfside building collapse, the state legislature passed multiple laws aimed at improving the safety of condo buildings. One law added regulations on how much a condo association must keep in reserve to fund future repairs.

Drimmer is president of her condo association and said those regulations have and will continue to lead to climbing costs for condo owners.

“My maintenance would have gone up immediately to about $850 a month from $500 a month and then go up every year,” Drimmer said.

She said recent building inspections found no structural issues, but maintenance fees are expected to increase by a third next year along with a spike in insurance rates and a recent $500,000 special assessment to replace the roof. Her portion of the assessment alone cost $7,200. She said it’s tough when you are on a fixed income.

“I worked all my life,” she said. “I had my own small business, and I put away money. I have retirement money, that’s it, I have no way to make income.”

Drimmer’s building is covered by the state-run Citizens Property Insurance and she says it threatened cancelation unless the building got a new roof and the cost per resident will drive some owners out.

According to Florida Realtors, condo and townhouse listings are up 65 percent in the past year, and sales have slumped 20 percent.