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
Florida Statute 718.111(d) states: An officer, director, or agent shall discharge his or her duties in good faith, with the care an ordinarily prudent person in a like position would exercise under similar circumstances, and in a manner he or she reasonably believes to be in the interests of the association.…
Read: WHEN AN OFFICER OR DIRECTOR’S CONDUCT CROSSES THE LINE → Over the past two weeks, we have been discussing the power and authority of Boards to pass rules and regulations. We discussed the fact that a board may have gone too far in making a rule as they really did an unauthorized amendment to the declaration. The question for today’s blog is what makes the rule…
Read: WHAT ARE CATEGORY ONE AND CATEGORY TWO RESTRICTIONS? → Inherent in the condominium concept is the principle that to promote the health, happiness, and peace of mind of the majority of the unit owners since they are living in such close proximity and using facilities in common, each unit owner must give up a certain degree of freedom of choice which he might…
Read: DO BOARDS HAVE UNLIMITED AUTHORITY TO MAKE RULES? → Some governing documents contain language that limit the number of people that can live in a unit. For example, the declaration may say something lie “no more than two persons can live in a one bedroom unit” or “no more than four persons can live in a two bedroom unit.” The question is…..are these…
Read: CAN THE ASSOCIATION LIMIT THE NUMBER OF OCCUPANTS IN A HOME? → Ihate beating around the bush, so I want to get to the point. A financial crisis is coming and it’s going to be a big one. It’s also going to hit those that can least afford it. It’s going to result in massive amounts of foreclosures. It’s going to result in countless cases of elderly persons being…
Read: SHOULD RESERVES BE MANDATORY? → With the thousands of condominium and HOA communities built in the last two decades or so, it was inevitable that The Florida Bar would, and has now officially, recognized Condominium and Planned Development Law as an area of the law where practicing attorneys can distinguish themselves by becoming Board…
Read: CONDOMINIUM AND PLANNED DEVELOPMENT LAW RECEIVES SPECIAL RECOGNITION → New condominiums and HOA communities continue to get built all over the state. The developer gets to control the community while the place is being built and sold, but perhaps the most critical time period in the entire existence of either a condominium or homeowner’s association is when that control of the…
Read: THE TURNOVER PROCESS: SIMPLIFYING THE PROCESS - REDUCING THE FEAR → Last week, we discussed when turnover from developer control to unit owner control is triggered. Relinquishing control of the Board of Directors is not the only responsibility of the developer at the time of turnover however. What Documents Must Be Turned Over by the Developer at Turnover? Generally…
Read: TURNOVER – PART 2 → Yesterday was a big day. I turned 50. It’s a time to not only reminisce about the past, but also a time to think about the future, and retirement and whether or not a “retirement community” or “55 and over” community is in the future. So, what actually is a “55 and over” community? Generally speaking,…
Read: 55 AND OVER COMMUNITIES – HOW TO BECOME ONE AND STAY ONE → So you did your job as a director and you made sure to purchase insurance for the association. So what is actually insured? Florida Statute 718.111 says: f) Every property insurance policy issued or renewed on or after January 1, 2009, for the purpose of protecting the condominium must provide primary…
Read: SO WHAT ACTUALLY GETS INSURED? → Hurricane season starts June 1st. If you haven’t ensured that the association property is properly insured, you better get busy. And fast. Let’s go over what the condo statute says about a board’s obligation to insure the condominium property. Florida Statute 718.111(11) states: (a) Adequate property…
Read: THE PERFECT TIME FOR AN INSURANCE PRIMER → All of you know how terrible the condo and HOA statutes are in terms of the association’s ability to collect unpaid assessments when a bank forecloses on a unit or home. If the bank gets back a unit in foreclosure, they owe the association the lesser of 1% of the mortgage or 1 year of assessments.…
Read: YOU MAY BE CHEATING YOURSELF OUT OF MONEY → Some years are quiet when it comes to the passage of new laws affecting Florida community associations. This was definitely not one of those years. Here are the new laws in summary form as a result of the passage of HB 841. 718.111 —- OFFICIAL RECORDS: The law now makes it clear that the association must…
Read: HERE THEY ARE………..THE NEW ASSOCIATION LAWS FOR 2018 → Boards of Directors love to have extra money in the bank. Who doesn’t? But the question is…… when is enough enough? Boards of Directors are required to simply pass a budget that pays the association’s bills. Anything collected, above and beyond what pays the bills is “Common surplus” which means the…
Read: BUT…….IT’S NOT THE ASSOCIATION’S MONEY! → Several months ago, I blogged about confusion that exists in the 2017 condo crime bill. That new statute states that: A board member may not serve more than four consecutive 2-year terms, unless approved by an affirmative vote of two-thirds of the total voting interests of the association or unless there…
Read: SOME ELECTION CONFUSION MAY SOON GET CLEARED UP → Exactly a year ago now the now infamous Miami-Dade Grand Jury report came out that exposed some glaring issues with the DBPR and their role in Florida condominiums. Here is a segment from that report: The Select Committee heard numerous speakers at its hearings express their frustration with DBPR “delay and…
Read: EXPAND OR CONTRACT THE DEPARTMENT OF BUSINESS AND PROFESSIONAL REGULATION? → This week I am very proud to announce that our office drafted legislation that truly brings Florida into the 21st century. It is still being tweaked by others with input, but it seeks to address an issue that we will need to deal with on a large scale, sooner than later, and that is electric cars. Many…
Read: SO HOW ARE WE GOING TO DEAL WITH ELECTRIC CARS? → 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: WHEN IS A MEETING A MEETING? →Read it. Then watch it.
