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
There are all kinds of Board members and all kinds of reasons to want to become a Board member. Maybe you think expenses are too high. Maybe you think there’s not enough transparency. Perhaps you want to bring some diversity to a Board that has basically been the same group of folks for the last decade or…
Read: ARE YOU TOUGH ENOUGH TO BE A BOARD MEMBER? → It’s the end of the summer. Millions of kids across our state have to suck it up and return to school. And if the kids have to endure school for the next ten months, all of you can endure a measly three hours. I’m talking of course about Condo and HOA Board Certification. There’s a lot that goes into my…
Read: IT’S BACK TO SCHOOL TIME-PART 2 → Our firm won an interesting HOA election case two weeks ago in arbitration before the DBPR. I think the case makes for some good precedent here in Florida and deals with an issue that has been plaguing HOAs for all eternity. As we know, each and every year, we get complaints from people that live in HOAs…
Read: NO QUORUM AT YOUR H.O.A. ANNUAL MEETING? IT MAY NOT MATTER → We already blogged about a new law that will bring further chaos and confusion to the association election process, and that is the law that now allows voting via the internet if a plethora of conditions are met. The Florida Legislature passed some other association laws as well this year. Let’s see what…
Read: SOME OTHER NEW LAWS THAT MAY OR MAY NOT APPLY IN YOUR ASSOCIATION → On Friday, I had the pleasure of being invited to attend a meeting of many representatives from the Department of Business and Professional Regulation, including arbitrators and the Condominium Ombudsman. The purpose of the meeting was to hear from the public in regards to the new condominium statute that…
Read: ELECTRONIC VOTING – IS IT A SOLUTION OR A PROBLEM? → You have all heard the saying “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” Apparently, The Florida Legislature overlooked this concept when it recently passed a bill which authorizes owners in community associations to vote by e-mail in their elections and for other unit owner votes. In condos, H.O.A.s and co-ops,…
Read: VOTING BY COMPUTER --- LET THE GAMES BEGIN → Every now and then, the courts of our state issue an opinion in a case involving a condo or HOA that is very important and certainly worth mention. On June 1st, the 4th District Court of Appeals issued a decision in Pundit 2 Joint Venture v. Westwood Gardens HOA that does not bode too well for some…
Read: HOW ONE ASSOCIATION LOST BIG BY FAILING TO UPDATE THEIR DOCS. → Sometimes the exceptions to the rule swallow the rule, rendering the rule virtually meaningless. Mandatory competitive bidding is a fine example. The Florida Condominium Act provides: If a contract for the purchase, lease, or renting of materials or equipment, or for the provision of services, requires…
Read: THE FALLACY OF COMPETITIVE BIDDING → As the weather begins heating up, our thoughts inevitably turn to the hurricane season that we deal with each and every year. Associations all across the state hope and pray that they’re able to escape the wrath of a storm for another year and that luck remains on their side. They have their fingers…
Read: DID YOU CORRECTLY WAIVE YOUR RESERVES? → This is a story about John and Jane. John lives in a condominium in Miami and Jane lines in an H.O.A. in Central Florida. Election season is approaching quickly in both of their communities. While it may seem at first glance that all things are equal…….that is certainly not the case. The election in John’s…
Read: A TALE OF TWO ELECTIONS-PART 2 → We often times blog about how a Board member or a manager stole a few thousand dollars from the association and how they should be prosecuted for it. If someone should be prosecuted for stealing a few thousand dollars, what should happen to the people that steal 16 million dollars from condo owners over the…
Read: CONDO OWNERS – YOU SHOULD BE OUTRAGED → It seems like no matter how early, or on what day of the week we hold our Board Certification seminars for both condominium and HOA members, the classes are packed to the rafters. There’s often times complaints about communities going to hell because of unit owner apathy. When you see a room full of…
Read: BOARD MEMBER APATHY → Last week’s blog spoke yet again about the rise in condo and HOA crime. It’s escalating and people are tired of it. The number of responses to the blog and “hits”were overwhelming. In fact, JanisLentz said: Help is on the way! The proposed FL House and Senate versions of HOA Reform 2015 bills… will…
Read: HALSEY WHO? → We certainly blogged in the past about Board members and managers getting arrested for stealing association funds. I’m on record as previously saying that I didn’t think this area was more prone to arrests than say lawyers, doctors or politicians. I may have been wrong. I don’t know what’s going on, but…
Read: Association crime is on the rise? → It’s the end of the summer. I watched my kids suck it up this week, pack their school bags and head off to school to return for another year of learning. Millions of kids across our state did the exact same thing. And if they can do it five days a week for the next ten months, each of you can do it for a…
Read: BACK TO SCHOOL TIME-PART 1 → So you want to be on the Board of Directors. Did you ever wonder whether or not by being on the Board, you are subjecting yourself to loss of your personal assets should your association get sued. Unless you’re truly a bad guy or gal, you have little to worry about. Getting personal liability against an…
Read: GETTING PERSONAL → Funny how things work sometimes. Over the past 23 years, I have noticed an interesting pattern in Florida community associations. When money is tight and foreclosures are soaring, associations are far less likely to engage in litigation. Suddenly, nobody really cares what color someone painted their house…
Read: YOU MAY WANT TO WAIT BEFORE YOU LITIGATE → Over the last several years, the issue of delinquencies in our Florida community associations became worse and worse. The more people didn’t pay, the more the good paying owners had to pay. The more bank foreclosures, the less the association was receiving in badly needed revenue. The real solution to the…
Read: FINALLY - A REMEDY THAT WORKS FOR ASSOCIATIONS →Read it. Then watch it.
