Lessons from Surfside collapse: Florida vacation rentals evacuated after being found unsafe

Holmes Beach officials deemed a vacation rental building structurally unsafe on Friday, leading to the voluntary evacuation of several vacationers who were staying in the fourplex.

Mayor Judy Titsworth said the tourists were relocated to other properties by their vacation rental companies. She said the concern was mostly focused on the building's balconies.

“One of the tenants called code enforcement and told them he was concerned about the safety of the building,” she said. “It did appear to be unsafe. Cracks were showing up on the balconies. We notified the management companies, so they voluntarily relocated everybody to other properties.”

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The collapse of the Champlain Towers South condo building in Surfside has led to concerns over the structural integrity of other buildings across Florida.

Titsworth said Holmes Beach plans to review its options for a local ordinance, following the tragedy in Miami-Dade County.

“Commissioner Terry Schafer has asked to have the Miami-Dade ordinance distributed to the commissioners and asked for it to be at a future work session to decide if we want to have something in our own city that would regulate engineering inspections,” Titsworth said. “So we are going to look to see what we could do with our ordinance as well.”

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Florida vacation rental building evacuated over structural concerns