{"id":379918,"date":"2026-08-24T18:40:10","date_gmt":"2026-08-24T18:40:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/379918\/"},"modified":"2026-08-24T18:40:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-24T18:40:10","slug":"problem-statewide-florida-lawmaker-targeting-elevator-outage-loophole","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/379918\/","title":{"rendered":"‘PROBLEM STATEWIDE’: Florida lawmaker targeting elevator outage loophole"},"content":{"rendered":"

BOCA RATON, Fla. \u2014 A Florida state representative is proposing new legislation to require timely elevator repairs in condominium buildings after a 99-year-old Boca Raton woman was trapped in her home for three weeks due to a broken elevator.<\/p>\n

WATCH WPTV’S COVERAGE BELOW:<\/p>\n

Woman trapped 3 weeks by broken elevator sparks new law push<\/p>\n

State Rep. Peggy Gossett-Seidman, R-Boca Raton, announced her legislative push last week following WPTV’s reporting about Norma Schweitzer, an elderly resident who couldn’t leave her condo unit because her building’s elevator remained out of service for weeks.<\/p>\n

Current law creates dangerous gap<\/p>\n

Florida’s Elevator Safety Act mandates annual elevator inspections, but Gossett-Seidman said the law contains a critical loophole that leaves condo residents vulnerable.<\/p>\n

“So, I started doing a deep dive and it turns out our state statutes do not really fully cover this issue,” Gossett-Seidman told WPTV.<\/p>\n

When elevators fail inspection, building management must take them out of service, but state law includes no requirement to actually repair the equipment.<\/p>\n

“You can let it languish there and keep people not able to leave their units — their home \u2014 and that has been the problem statewide,” Gossett-Seidman said.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

WPTV Investigates<\/p>\n

99-year-old trapped in 4th-floor home during elevator outages<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Why this matters now<\/p>\n

The issue has gained urgency as Florida’s aging condo population continues to grow, with many elderly residents dependent on elevators for basic mobility and access to essential services.<\/p>\n

While federal laws including the Americans with Disabilities Act and Fair Housing Act provide civil protections, Gossett-Seidman said federal litigation isn’t practical for residents needing immediate access to their homes.<\/p>\n

“I mean, all of the condo could join together and file a class action. But what’s the point? We just need to get the elevator fixed,” she said.<\/p>\n

Building safety act could provide framework<\/p>\n

Gossett-Seidman plans to model her proposal on Florida’s Building Safety Act, legislation passed after the 2021 Surfside condominium collapse that killed 98 people. That law requires building inspections, reserve funds and certain repairs for multi-story condo buildings.<\/p>\n

The representative wants to expand the act’s repair requirements beyond structural integrity to include elevator maintenance and timely repairs.<\/p>\n

WATCH BELOW: 99-year-old trapped in 4th-floor home during elevator outages<\/p>\n

99-year-old Boca Raton woman trapped in 4th-floor home during elevator outages<\/p>\n

Cost concerns unlikely to derail proposal<\/p>\n

The Building Safety Act has faced criticism from condo owners who say required financial assessments have created unaffordable costs. However, Gossett-Seidman doesn’t expect similar opposition to elevator repair requirements.<\/p>\n

“What’s the cost to not being able to leave your condo?” she said. “When you add up everyone having to order DoorDash, because they can’t go to the grocery store, would be your argument there.”<\/p>\n

The lawmaker emphasized her goal isn’t to penalize building management but to provide resources ensuring repairs happen quickly.<\/p>\n

Gossett-Seidman said she plans to introduce the legislation during the upcoming Florida legislative session, which begins in March.<\/p>\n

This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.<\/p>\n

We want to be your voice and help you find solutions.<\/p>\n

While we hold our monthly Let’s Hear It meet-ups, we know many are not able to attend, but we still want to hear from you and start taking action to get you answers. You can e-mail us at LetsHearIt@wptv.com.<\/p>\n

\"Let's<\/p>\n

WPTV<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BOCA RATON, Fla. \u2014 A Florida state representative is proposing new legislation to require timely elevator repairs in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":379919,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[41888,3337,152500,28,30,100,29,12400,152499,557,23487,12758],"class_list":["post-379918","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-accessibility","tag-boca-raton","tag-building-safety-act","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-legislature","tag-florida-news","tag-lets-hear-it","tag-norma-schweitzer","tag-palm-beach-county","tag-peggy-gossett-seidman","tag-wptv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379918","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=379918"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379918\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/379919"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=379918"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=379918"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=379918"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}