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
Wow what a difference a week makes! The world became different this week, like nothing most of us have ever seen or lived through before. For the time being, this Corona Virus has changed life as we know it, requiring us not to stay inside and hide, but not to tempt fate, while staying smart and taking…
Read: SO WHAT DO WE DO NOW? → Ican’t hold it in any longer. I must tell someone. I have been less than honest with the readers of this blog and the listeners to the Condo Craze and HOAs Radio Show. I’m a fake and a fraud. The truth is…………despite the fact that I urge all of you out there to get involved in your community, to run for…
Read: I MUST CONFESS → In the housing context, pursuant to The Fair Housing Act, a reasonable accommodation is a change in a rule, policy, practice, or service that may be necessary to allow a person with a disability the equal opportunity to use and enjoy a dwelling. Failure to provide a reasonable accommodation may be construed…
Read: WHAT IS A REASONABLE ACCOMODATION? → Hope everyone had both a happy and a healthy new year. I also hope you are all well rested and are now ready to stand-up and protect yourselves by demanding new laws that benefit our community associations. For the next few weeks, we will let you know what community association law bills have been filed in…
Read: SO WHAT MAY BE IN STORE FOR 2020-PART 1? → We all know that the condo and HOA statutes contain differences that often times don’t make any sense. Let’s review two more instances of there being no real justification for differences among the statutes. In an HOA, before the Board files suit, there is a statute they need to consider: 720.303(1): Before…
Read: OTHER LAWSUIT ISSUES → Last week we discussed how the expenses of your condominium or HOA get divided among all of the owners. The blog ended by warning you that there is one type of expense that is not subject to the standard rules, and that’s when it comes to your association’s bulk cable and internet bill. In both a condo and…
Read: BE CAREFUL ABOU THE CABLE BILL → So why is it that in some condos and HOAs the bigger the unit or the bigger the home does not necessarily mean the bigger the monthly assessment payment? For condominiums built before 1992, the developer was able to create a set of documents where anything goes when it comes to what a particular unit will…
Read: WHY DO THEY PAY LESS THAN I DO? → As many officers and directors of Florida homeowner associations have learned the hard way and now know, the governing documents in a Florida homeowner’s association expire if not properly “preserved” within thirty years of the documents originally being recorded. That’s right. Suddenly, you are living in…
Read: MAJOR NEW RESPONSIBILITY FOR HOA DIRECTORS → As you all know, Florida law currently mandates that condominium “disputes” are mediated before arbitrators who are employed by the DBPR, rather than being litigated in a court of law. Florida Statute 718.1255 states: LEGISLATIVE FINDINGS.— (a) The Legislature finds that unit owners are frequently at a…
Read: THE DEATH OF CONDO ARBITRATION MAY BE NEAR → The HOA statute does do one thing right. It requires the parties to a dispute to submit that dispute to an arbitrator before going to court. Florida Statute 718.311 states: (2)(a) Disputes between an association and a parcel owner regarding use of or changes to the parcel or the common areas and other…
Read: FIGHTING IN YOUR HOA? DON’T WAIT! MEDIATE! → What a great time of year. The best actually. Everyone seems to be in the holiday spirit. You drive down the streets and people have beautifully decorated their homes. But what about the people that live in condos and HOAs? Are they allowed to do the same? In regard to condominiums, Florida Statute…
Read: PRACTICING YOUR RELIGION: ARE THERE LIMITS IN YOUR COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION? → Both the condo statute and the HOA statute grant owners the authority to record board meetings. The condo statute states: 718.112: The right to attend such meetings includes the right to speak at such meetings with reference to all designated agenda items. The division shall adopt reasonable rules…
Read: THE RIGHT TO VIDEO RECORD YOUR BOARD MEETING → There is a great book out there called “Don’t Sweat The Small Stuff.” As you can imagine, the book basically tries to convince you to take things in stride, nothing is ever as bad as it seems and sometimes learn to look the other way. This is a great way to live, but if you choose to live in a Florida…
Read: DON’T LET SMALL ISSUES BECOME HUGE PROBLEMS → Here we go……We are headed into election season. It’s a little harder to run an election in a condo than in an HOA, but let’s give some tips to both types of communities. For a Condo If your condo docs call for a range of directors, for example no less than x or no more than y, the number is automatically 5.…
Read: SOME REAL QUICK PRE-ELECTION TIPS → Last week we showed how it’s better to be the developer in an HOA instead of an owner. Developers can maintain control over a community forever in some instances and don’t even have to provide warranties for anything they build. Nice. We told you it gets worse and here’s why….. Under Florida law, a…
Read: IT'S BETTER TO BE THE DEVELOPER IN AN HOA–PART 2 → When it comes to Florida Statute 720, there’s no question that you would rather be the developer than the homeowner. At least The Florida Condominium Act has a drop-dead seven year deadline where the developer must turn over majority control of the Board of Directors to the unit owners. If you’re an HOA…
Read: IT'S BETTER TO BE THE DEVELOPER IN AN HOA-part 1 → We all know that condo and HOA board members must get certified within ninety (90) days of getting on to their Board of Directors. Unfortunately however, Florida law allows board members to get certified either by attending an educational course or by signing a ridiculous, silly, self-serving, nonsensical…
Read: THE FLORIDA LEGISLATURE NEEDS TO MANDATE CONDO AND HOA EDUCATION → Many of you that live in an HOA are learning or have already learned the hard way that pursuant to The Florida Marketable Record Title Act, your governing documents expire after thirty years if they are not properly preserved. That’s right. Suddenly, after 30 years, you’re no longer living in a community…
Read: BIG CHANGES TO FLORIDA HOA LAW NO MORE EXCUSES FOR FAILING TO PRESERVE YOUR DOCUMENTS →Read it. Then watch it.
