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
No doubt some changes are on the way for condominiums as a result of the Surfside tragedy. The changes are long overdue. Here’s another long overdue change that is necessary..the condominium insurance statutes.Suppose I told you that under Florida law, there is no absolute requirement that your condominium…
Read more → Imagine a world where accountants can examine your heart and give you an opinion regarding its condition and your life expectancy. Suppose an auto mechanic can examine your kidneys and liver and give his opinion on whether or not they are healthy. Perhaps one day you can walk into my office and one of the…
Read more → How many times have you heard someone bragging about how cheap their monthly expenses are at their condo? How many times have you heard comments like “We have a great board – the assessments are so cheap.” It turns out that those boards were not doing you a favor by keeping your assessments low. They were…
Read more → In May of 2018, at about the same time the engineer was advising Champlain Towers South that their building need millions and millions of dollars in repairs, I wrote about the dangers facing condominiums all over the state because of the ability for owners to opt out of funding reserve accounts. I implored…
Read more → On June 27th, Florida was no longer considered to be in a State of Emergency. Governor Desantis did not renew the emergency order. So that means all of the emergency powers that Boards of Directors of condominiums and HOAs had during the COVID pandemic have expired. The question is…….in practical terms —…
Read more → Iwas lucky enough to be on vacation the past two weeks. On my last day, I woke up to the tragedy that was unfolding in Dade County as the Champlain Towers South Condominium came crashing down in Surfside. There are still over 150 people missing or unaccounted for. Before commenting on this devastation…
Read more → As they say…hindsight is 20/20. The tragedy in Surfside rips your guts out. I had to go there and see it for myself. I did. I then walked over to the memorial and saw pictures of the victims, including little kids, entire families and you wonder how anything like this could have possibly happened.…
Read more → Avery interesting case was just decided by Florida’s Second District Court of Appeal. RIVIERA-FORT MYERS MASTER ASSOCIATION, INC., v. GFH INVESTMENTS, LLC. 2020 WL 7767856. To simplify, in a mixed-use community, meaning a community made up of commercial property and residential housing, the Master…
Read more → So the Florida Legislature has ended their session and I’m sure everyone wants to know what association laws passed this year.So here we go….. Subrogation New law: If a condominium association’s insurance policy does not provide rights for subrogation against the unit owners in the association, an…
Read more → Prior to 2010 Florida law only allowed the association to fine for violations of the governing documents, if the authority to fine was contained in the declaration or bylaws. In 2010, the law changed and associations had the power to fine, even if the power to fine was not contained in the governing…
Read more → So The Florida Legislature has ended their session and I’m sure everyone wants to know what association laws passed this year. So here we go….. Subrogation New law: If a condominium association’s insurance policy does not provide rights for subrogation against the unit owners in the association, an…
Read more → Almost every association I ever represented complains about the community pest who won’t stop asking for access to records. Can the association stop it or at least limit it? Florida Statute 718.111 (12) states: The association may adopt reasonable rules regarding the frequency, time, location, notice, and…
Read more → The Supreme Court of Iowa came out with a big decision regarding emotional support animal law that I’m hoping Florida eventually follows as well. Karen Cohen vs. David Clark And 2800-1 LLC. This case involves a tenant with pet allergies who deliberately moved into an apartment building due to its no-pets…
Read more → Ioften times get phone calls from board members who are upset about the fact that some new owner went through the screening process, filled out the application, paid the fee and showed up for an interview. But it turns out that there are more people living in the unit than expected and none of them went…
Read more → It’s funny how many times over the years, Boards have told me “We weren’t having a meeting, we were only talking about the condo” or “We weren’t having a meeting, we were in a workshop.” For clarification, let’s see how a “meeting” is defined by law. For a condominium, the Florida Administrative Code says:…
Read more → There certainly have been a few debates lately and there may be another on the way. Who Knows? Maybe you think Trump won. Maybe you think Biden won. Maybe you think Pence won or maybe you think Harris won. It doesn’t matter if some of you even think the fly won. The bottom line is that it’s apparent that…
Read more → While the condo statute outlines a very specific and rigid procedure on how HOAs should conduct the election, the HOA Statute doesn’t say much at all: Elections of directors must be conducted in accordance with the procedures set forth in the governing documents of the association. Except as provided in…
Read more → Do you believe that your real estate taxes too high? Why not appeal your tax bill as a group? Under Florida Law, a condominium association can file a property tax appeal petition on behalf of all of the unit owners in the condominium. Once a petition is filed, the Value Adjustment Board sets the case for…
Read more →Read it. Then watch it.
