Brickell Attorney

Meet Your Brickell Attorney, Arturo R. Alfonso

What Is Different About Legal Matters in Brickell

A neighborhood of condominium towers. Brickell is a neighborhood of the City of Miami, not a separate municipality, and much of its housing is in high-rise condominium buildings. That makes the association as important as the unit: before you buy, look at the building’s milestone inspection and structural reserve status and any special assessment already voted, covered in our guides to condo milestone inspections and SIRS and who pays a special assessment.

Building recertification goes through the City of Miami. Because Brickell is inside the City of Miami, an older tower’s recertification under the Miami-Dade County Code is handled by the Recertification Division of the City of Miami Building Department’s Unsafe Structures Section, 444 SW 2nd Avenue. The owner or association hires an architect or engineer to do the inspection; single-family homes, duplexes, and small structures of 2,000 square feet or less with an occupancy load of ten or less are exempt. A building’s recertification status is a City record, separate from the title to your unit, so a buyer checks both: the City’s building records for the tower, and the Official Records for liens and ownership problems, covered in title search and title insurance in Miami.

Buying to rent, or buying from abroad. Many Brickell units are bought as investments. If an association amends its declaration to prohibit or regulate rentals, the amendment applies only to owners who consent to it and to owners who take title after it takes effect (Florida Statutes section 718.110(13)); rental rules already in the declaration when you buy still bind you, so read them first. Buyers and sellers who live outside the United States should also plan for federal tax withholding rules at closing, explained in what foreign buyers need to buy Miami property.

Renting the unit out. Once a Brickell unit is leased, the lease is governed by Florida’s Residential Landlord and Tenant Act, Part II of Chapter 83 of the Florida Statutes. Section 83.425 preempts the regulation of residential tenancies to the state, so neither the City of Miami nor the County sets the lease terms; the association’s own leasing rules still apply on top of the statute. For a lease of one year or longer, the landlord must give the tenant a written flood disclosure at or before signing (section 83.512), a form worth taking seriously in a neighborhood on Biscayne Bay. If a tenant stops paying or will not leave, see landlord-tenant and eviction representation in Miami; if you later sell the unit, see what a Florida seller must disclose.

Courts just north of Brickell. Family cases in the Eleventh Judicial Circuit are heard at the Lawson E. Thomas Courthouse Center, 175 NW First Avenue, in downtown Miami. Bankruptcy cases from Miami-Dade are filed in the Miami Division of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Florida, at the C. Clyde Atkins United States Courthouse, 301 North Miami Avenue.