Q&A: Surprise Inspections?

Q&A: Surprise Inspections?
Our condominium has a completely new board of directors, installed quite recently. On the bulletin board by the mail boxes, addressed to every tenant, is the following note: The Board has voted to require our superintendent and a designated board member to conduct apartment inspections and there would be no prior notification. Is this legal?

—Keeping Things Private in Pembroke Pines

“No.§718.111(5),Florida Statutes permits the association “access to each unit during reasonable hours, when necessary for the maintenance, repair, or replacement of any common elements or of any portion of a unit to be maintained by the association pursuant to the declaration or as necessary to prevent damage to the common elements or to a unit,” says Russell Robbins, Esq., a managing partner at the law firm of Mirza Basulto & Robbins, LLP in Coral Gables.

“Based on the notice posted at the mailbox, it does not seem that the association has a legitimate purpose for entry into the unit. In 2014 the legislature enacted amendments to Florida Statutes permitting the association to enter abandoned units “to inspect the unit and adjoining common elements; make repairs to the unit or to the common elements serving the unit, as needed; repair the unit if mold or deterioration is present; turn on the utilities for the unit; or otherwise maintain, preserve, or protect the unit and adjoining common elements.”