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
Last week in my blog, I discussed how developers attempt to buy enough units in order to vote to Terminate the condominium. By doing so, the developer files a plan of termination, and buys up all the units. We also spoke about the fact that in some condominiums, a vote of 100% of the owners may be required…
Read: THE OTHER WAY TO TERMINATE THE CONDOMINIUM → Let me tell you what you should be looking for in your condominium documents after you stop reading this: the provisions in your declaration of condominium allowing termination of the condominium itself. We know that condo assessments have doubled, tripled or even quadrupled in many instances due to…
Read: DOES A DEVELOPER ALWAYS HAVE THE ABILITY TO TERMINATE A CONDO? → There has been lots of complaints over the years that when condominium owners bring their complaints to the DBPR and expect some help, the only thing they got in return was a letter that said the DBPR has no jurisdiction over the subject matter of their complaint. I actually watched a legislative hearing in…
Read: THE DBPR HAS LOTS OF NEW POWER – WILL THEY USE IT? → Ihope everyone had a great 4th of July long weekend. More than any other day of the year, it certainly is the day to fly the flag proudly. We all know that the statutes for both condos and HOAs state that owners may display a United States flag in a respectful way, and on certain other days, flags…
Read: WHICH FLAG CAN YOU FLY? → If there ever was a column that I hated to write, this is it! Last week I spoke about a case I argued before The Florida Supreme Court in 2011 called Cohn v. The Grand Condominium. In that case, the minority commercial unit owners at The Grand Condominium challenged a new Florida statute that took away…
Read: WAS ALL OF THIS FOR NOTHING? → In 2011, I argued a case in front of The Supreme Court of Florida called Cohn v. The Grand Condominium. Here’s a quick summary of the facts: The Grand is a large condo building built in 1986 in Dade County. The declaration of condominium was recorded in 1986. It contains 1,200 units. 800 of the units are…
Read: NEW ARBITRATION RULING SENDS SHOCKWAVES TO ALL COMMUNITY ASSOCIATIONS REGARDING ELECTIONS → There were even changes this year to the laws involving condominium records. For example, Florida Statute 718.111(12) is being amended to state that the association’s accounting records must include, but are not limited to: All invoices, transaction receipts, or deposit slips that substantiate any receipt or…
Read: BIG CHANGES TO CONDO RECORD LAWS → Irecently blogged about the new statute requiring education for HOA Board Members. This week, let’s talk about mandatory education for condominium Board members. There is definitely a difference between the two. So here’s the new law……. 718.112(2)(d)4b – CONDOMINIUM DIRECTOR EDUCATION A director of a board…
Read: NOW LET’S TALK ABOUT EDUCATION FOR CONDO BOARD MEMBERS → As I informed you last week, Representative Vicki Lopez, Senator Jennifer Bradley and Senator Jason Pizzo have filed companion bills HB1021 and SB1178 in The Florida House of Representatives and The Florida Senate that take aim at community association managers and community association management…
Read: COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION MANAGERS ARE IN THE CROSSHAIRS- PART 2 → If you think that mandatory condo education for board members was controversial, you haven’t heard anything yet. When a unit owner wants to sell their home, the buyer wants to make sure that the seller does not owe the association money. You see, if the buyer buys the property without making sure the condo,…
Read: THE ESTOPPEL FEE DEBATE → We all know what the cost of insurance is doing to our way of life. In most condominium associations, the cost of windstorm and peril insurance has tripled over the past few years, if not quintupled. And from what I am being told, there is no end in sight. God forbid another major storm hits and the…
Read: DO YOU REALLY WANT TO RISK NOT HAVING INSURANCE? → Last week was a primer on how foreclosures generally work and how banks get off the hook when they get back a unit when they foreclose on an owner’s unit or home. We learned that the banks are protected by the law because they only owe a few bucks to the association when they get title to the unit or home…
Read: MAKE SURE YOUR DOCS DON’T COST YOU MONEY – PART 2 → I get so many calls and e-mails each week about whether the condominium or the unit owner is responsible to fix something that’s broken. Florida Statute 718.113 was recently amended and here’s what it says: (1) Maintenance of the common elements is the responsibility of the association, except for any…
Read: NEW CONDO LAW MAKES IT CLEAR THAT THE CONDO MUST MAKE THE REPAIR → I can’t tell you how may fights I have been involved in regarding flags other than the U.S. flag flying above someone’s home and the fact that someone put down fake grass or stored a boat, that nobody can see, in their backyard. Well, here’s a new statute that solves both of those problems: Florida Statute…
Read: ANOTHER NEW LAW: HB 437 → CORRECTION: IN A PRIOR BLOG IT WAS NOTED THAT THE FLOOR AND FOUNDATION STILL NEEDS TO BE INCLUDED IN A STRUCTURAL RESERVE STUDY —– THEY DO NOT. SB 154 – is a long bill. Here are the final new laws: 1. The association shall provide for the maintenance, repair, and replacement of the condominium property for…
Read: SB 154 – PART FOUR – NEW LAWS → April 3, 2023 Ifeel like I handled a thousand annual meetings in the last month, flying from one to the other. When running the meetings, and depending upon whether the association is a condominium or HOA, it is important to know if the person running for the board, or even the winner of the election, is…
Read: OWE MONEY? YOU MAY NOT BE ALLOWED TO RUN FOR THE BOARD → Last week I blogged about the possibility of Board members walking off with your association bank accounts. Bank accounts that are about to explode with mandatory reserves and huge construction contracts that are on the way. Today, let’s talk about what you need to know about your management company. Often…
Read: THE GREED BEGINS – IT MAY BE TIME TO REVIEW YOUR MANAGEMENT CONTRACT OR PUT YOUR MANAGEMENT COMPANY IN PLACE → Now that condominiums are going to have to pass huge special assessments in order to make repairs and maintain new accounts with potentially millions of dollars in the bank, let me tell you one of the reasons I heard as to why these new laws should not go into effect. “Because we don’t trust our Board having…
Read: MAKE SURE YOU’RE COVERED →Read it. Then watch it.
