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
I’m always asked what can be done to prevent our community from completely turning into a rental community. The answer differs depending upon whether or not you live in a condominium or an HOA. Here is the case that settled the issue in a condominium: In Woodside Village Condominium Association, Inc. v.…
Read: RESTRICTING RENTALS? CAN IT BE DONE? → The three of us were certainly flattered by how many people read and participated in our blog discussion last week regarding The Miami Herald’s expose’ into condo fraud in South Florida. Those of you who live in HOAs must be wondering why the findings were limited to condominiums and not expanded to include…
Read: WELL WHAT ABOUT HOAs and WHAT DO WE DO ABOUT VOTER FRAUD? → Last week we discussed how Board members can be removed from the Board for failing to pay their assessments. We also know that unit owners can be prevented from voting for failing to pay their assessments. They can also be banned from using portions of the common areas and can be prevented from running for…
Read: THE AS AMENDED FROM TIME TO TIME LANGUAGE REVISITED → We all know that there are no professional qualifications that are required in order to become a Board member. You don’t need any type of degree or license. You don’t need any prior experience of any kind in business. There are no tests to take. However, there are still some provisions of the Florida…
Read: ARE YOU QUALIFIED TO BE A BOARD MEMBER? → What can be more American than exercising your First Amendment Free Speech rights to campaign and support the candidate of your choice by displaying one of their campaign signs on your front lawn or in your window? It’s almost unimaginable that in a country founded on the idea of political expression,…
Read: CAN YOUR ASSOCIATION SAY “TAKE DOWN THAT SIGN?” → Happy New Year to everyone. In the condo and HOA world, with a few exceptions, the new year certainly means one thing; the annual meeting is almost here. I’m often asked whether or not I recommend that an attorney be present at the annual meeting or if the association should simply allow the community…
Read: DO I NEED A LAWYER AT MY ANNUAL MEETING? → The weekly blog has been dealing with a lot of tough issues lately. Whether or not birthdays of Lee and Davis should be state holidays, crime by board members, election fraud, crime by community association managers, etc. Today, let’s step back and have some fun instead. From now until November, 2016 we…
Read: TELL US ABOUT YOUR PRESIDENT → Jan, Darlys and I write a lot. We write 52 columns a year for the past several years. No doubt, that’s a lot of talk. While we have said a lot throughout this year, and voiced our opinions and provided our comments, we want to conclude the year on a different note. That is to simply say that we wish each…
Read: MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR → So last week we blogged about the fact that your right to display religious symbols on your own property is limited. In a condominium, you only have the right to display a small religious object on the frame or mantle of your door. In an HOA, there is no statute whatsoever which gives you the right to…
Read: YOUR RIGHT TO PRACTICE YOUR RELIGION MAY NOT BE AS STRONG AS YOU THOUGHT IT WAS → Ihave been to some real nasty association meetings over the last 23 years. I’ve personally been cursed at, screamed at, yelled at and insulted. My wife can sometimes get that way. All kidding aside, I’ve attended meetings where control was totally lost and violence erupted. It happened more than once and…
Read: SHOULD THE POLICE BE ATTENDING YOUR MEETINGS? → This is the time of year that my family starts to see less and less of me. I’m writing this column from a hotel room in Bradenton, Florida. Tomorrow morning I have the honor of kicking off the L&L Condominium and HOA Expo by teaching our Condo Craze and HOAs Board Certification Course for both condominium…
Read: THERE'S LOTS OF RESOURCES OUT THERE → Everyone knows that whether you live in a condominium or an HOA, your association has an obligation to provide the unit owners access to the association’s records. What is an association to do however with the owner that won’t stop asking for access? Week after week, month after month, year after year, the…
Read: THE NEVER ENDING RECORDS REQUESTS → It’s been a tradition for the last few years in this blog to talk about how various Presidents of their community association spend their Labor Day. After all, the President of your association not only worked the whole year for your association, but did so free of charge. (But for those who were arrested…
Read: IT'S LABOR DAY ---- SIT BACK AND RELAX → 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 → think most lawyers would agree that some cases are simply more interesting than others. Over the last few weeks I have had the privilege of working on one of those interesting cases. It involves an attempted recall of two directors who were on the Board of a Hollywood Condominium association. I…
Read: IF YOU THOUGHT SOUTH CAROLINA WAS BAD…… LOOK AT YOUR OWN STATE → 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 → 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 →Read it. Then watch it.
