Jerry Libbin, a Miami Beach City Commissioner, has begun a campaign to protect Florida’s condominium unit owners from unfair assessments levied on them when banks foreclose on other units in their buildings.

The current residential real estate market has forced thousands of condo unit holders to pay higher assessment fees so they can maintain their buildings because banks holding mortgages on distressed condo units are not required to pay the full assessment costs.

Under current Florida law, banks and other mortgage holders only have to pay 1 percent of the normal condo assessments once they foreclose on a distressed property. The result is that condo unit owners in good standing are burdened with high assessments to make up the shortfalls, which in turn leads to an increase in distressed units.

Commissioner Libbin has formed a coalition of condo unit owners and condo management companies to lobby the Florida Legislature for reforms. He will host a town hall meeting on the subject in the coming weeks.