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
The minute it struck midnight on New Year’s Eve, large scale condominium associations were required by law to have their own website. I’m proud to say I had a hand in getting this law passed. When the law was first drafted, it was only to apply to associations that had 500 or more units. This means less…
Read more → 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 more → Last week we blogged about some association bills that were filed in Florida’s Legislature. I thought two were bad but one was good. Here are some more: CS/HB 0623: Provides that if a condominium association’s insurance policy does not provide rights for subrogation against the unit owners in the…
Read more → 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 more → 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 more → 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 more → Regardless of what you may think about the impeachment process taking place in Washington, I promise that the impeachment process in your community is worse. Florida law allows directors in both condominiums and homeowner associations to be removed from office without waiting for the results of the next…
Read more → 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 more → 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 more → 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 more → 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 more → So you ran for the Board because you were tired of the board members ignoring your requests to discuss certain issues at board meetings. It gets better………..you won. The only problem is that you’re still in the minority, as you and your friend only constitute 2 of the five seats. As a result, nothing has…
Read more → Before you know it, The Florida Legislature will be in session. In terms of legislation for condominiums and homeowner associations, 2019 was a complete bust. There wasn’t a single change to Florida Statute 718 or 720. For reasons beyond my comprehension, there are differences between these two statutes…
Read more → Many of you are aware of an article in The Miami Herald last week about a class action settlement in Dade County due to overcharging people who want to move into the community for screening fees and background checks. As a result of that class action settlement, I thought it would be a good idea to re-print…
Read more → As of July 1st, 2018 Florida HOA law was amended to mandate that HOAs amend their “governing documents” in the same manner as condominium associations. In general, words to be added to the original text must be presented to the owners underlined. Words to be deleted from the original text are to be…
Read more → Remember the TV show Eight Is Enough? Apparently, that’s how The Florida Legislature feels about your right to serve on a condominium board of directors. Eight years in a row is enough. This does not mean however that if you already served eight years in a row on a condo board that you are precluded from…
Read more → Remember the TV show Eight Is Enough? Apparently, that’s how The Florida Legislature feels about your right to serve on a condominium board of directors. Eight years in a row is enough. This does not mean however that if you already served eight years in a row on a condo board that you are precluded from…
Read more → If you ever tried to remove a tree from your condo or HOA community, you know how difficult, expensive and impossible it can be. There are applications to fill-out, inspections to be made, fees to be paid and promises made to put a new tree back somewhere on the property or in the municipality. Well, thanks…
Read more →Read it. Then watch it.
