Florida condo & HOA news
Plain-English Florida condo and HOA law updates for owners, volunteer board members, managers, and everyone navigating community-association life.
Read the latest articles ↓From the front lines
Written by Eric M. Glazer · Florida attorney
umors of my demise have been greatly exaggerated. I just spent a week in the hospital — again with kidney stone issues. This is I believe the 5th time I needed some sort of surgery for this never ending painful problem. I left the hospital with a tube coming out of my right side. I still need a…
Read more → In light of the tragedy at The Champlain Towers in Surfside last year, The Florida Legislature, to its credit, passed massive condominium reform regarding safety, inspections and reserves. These laws are confusing to those who work in the industry every day, never mind to those who serve on condo Boards…
Read more → Iam getting swamped lately with requests from both condos and HOAs as to how to limit the number of homes or units that are being rented. People are getting real tired of Air BNB type scenarios and want to know how they can put a stop to it. Some background on this topic is necessary. In the landmark case of…
Read more → So this week, my mom asks me to attend her Board meeting because the agenda says they will speak about the budget for 2023. She knows I have been babbling a lot lately about how assessments are going to soar and she wants to know if her community is set for the troubles I’m predicting. So I went. I won’t…
Read more → Afew weeks ago on the Condo Craze and HOAs radio show, I was sent a chart by a listener that showed that just under 50% of condominiums were funding a reserve account in full each month. As I was broadcasting this information, I felt that it sounded a little high. It turned out that I was referring to a…
Read more → Nancy Knowitall is the President of Broken Dreams Condo, a 10 story 120 unit condominium here in South Florida. Nancy decides that because it’s Labor Day, she is going to prove to the owners just how dedicated her and her board are, by holding a Board meeting to discuss the state of the condominium and all…
Read more → As we have written about a million times, each condominium unit pays $4.00 per year to the Department of Business and Professional Regulation, Division of Condominiums, Timeshares and Mobile Homes. That $4.00 is supposed to be spent on the people who are paying it. The law states that: All fees shall be…
Read more → It seems that for week after week we have been blogging about condominiums for the obvious reason that condo laws have undergone an absolutely dramatic change this year. Not only is the change dramatic, but it will no doubt lead to foreclosures of countless units when unit owners cannot pay the special…
Read more → Ican’t tell you how many times I heard clients tell me that they were scared that a Board member was in their home unannounced or that they feared a Board member was going to come into their home unannounced. The claim is usually made by people who have had disagreements with the Board or a particular Board…
Read more → Today, we finally conclude all off the new condominium laws that were passed in 2022 by The Florida Legislature. There is a lot to know. ALL CONDOMINIUM ASSOCIATIONS MUST: Although the DBPR has yet to produce the required form: On or before January 1, 2023, condominium associations existing on or before July…
Read more → DISTRIBUTION OF THE INSPECTION REPORTS Upon completion of a phase one or phase two milestone inspection and receipt of the inspector-prepared summary of the inspection report from the architect or engineer who performed the inspection, the association must distribute a copy of the inspector-prepared summary…
Read more → We all know by now the myriad of new safety laws condos that are 3 stories or more are required to follow. They include mandatory fire sprinklers or an engineered life safety system (for buildings 75 feet or higher only), a Phase One Milestone Inspection after 30 years and every ten years thereafter (25…
Read more → I’m lucky and privileged. Over the past few summers, I have had the opportunity to travel to so many of those countries that claim to have “the happiest people on earth.” All the surveys from these learned magazines and institutions say countries like Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Scotland and Estonia are the…
Read more → In a word — YES. Are all these new laws really necessary? In a word –YES. This is all happening due to a complete lack of foresight and planning by The Florida Legislature. Mandatory Reserves and Mandatory Inspections should always have been the law. I urged The Florida Legislature in May of 2018 to make…
Read more → For the past 364 days we have all been labeled at one time or another as either Democrat, Republican, Independent, Conservative, Pro Choice, Pro Life, Straight, Gay, LGBTQ, pro police, anti-police, pro open borders, anti open borders, For Black Lives Matter, Against Black Lives Matter, pro Trump, anti Trump,…
Read more → THE BIG CHANGE: NO LONGER IS THERE THE ABILITY TO WAIVE RESERVES OR USE THEM FOR OTHER PURPOSES Effective December 31, 2024, a unit-owner controlled association may not determine to provide no reserves or reserves less adequate than required by the items listed in the mandatory structural integrity reserve…
Read more → Over the last few weeks, I blogged about every condominium in every county now needing a “milestone inspection.” To recap, these “milestone inspections” will start after the 30 year mark and every ten years thereafter (25 years and every 10 years thereafter if your property is within three miles of the…
Read more → So last week we discussed the fact that the change in the law will now require every condominium building in the state that is 3 stories or higher and at least 30 years old (25 years old if within 3 miles of the coast) to undergo a Phase One inspection, every 10 years, by a licensed architect or engineer who…
Read more →Read it. Then watch it.
