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 mean no disrespect to anyone who suffered from Covid or who had a family member suffer from Covid over the last two years. My sympathies are with you wholeheartedly. However, in terms of having unit owners participate in the affairs of their communities by way of telephone or ZOOM, Covid was the kick start…
Read: SO DO WE NEED IN PERSON MEETINGS OR NOT? → When the original bill was filed that required condominiums to have a website, the statute was only going to apply with condominiums of 500 units or more. In effect, the statute would have applied to less than one percent of all condominiums in the state. I met with the legislator who drafted the bill and…
Read: NO ASSOCIATION WEBSITE? WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR? → This is such an important topic that is often times difficult to teach. In a nutshell however, assume the following: Your condominium or HOA was created in the year 2000. That was when your declaration of condominium or declaration of covenants was recorded. Your declaration only adopts The Florida…
Read: SUPPOSE YOUR DEC DOES NOT HAVE KAUFMAN LANGUAGE? → Avery interesting case was just decided by Florida’s Second District Court of Appeal. RIVIERA-FORT MYERS MASTER ASSOCIATION, INC., v. GFH INVESTMENTS, LLC. 2020 WL 7767856. To simplify, in a mixed-use community, meaning a community made up of commercial property and residential housing, the Master…
Read: MASTER ASSOCIATION V. SUB ASSOCIATION – WHO WINS? → Avery interesting case was just decided by Florida’s Second District Court of Appeal. RIVIERA-FORT MYERS MASTER ASSOCIATION, INC., v. GFH INVESTMENTS, LLC. 2020 WL 7767856. To simplify, in a mixed-use community, meaning a community made up of commercial property and residential housing, the Master…
Read: MASTER ASSOCIATION V. SUB ASSOCIATION – WHO WINS-PART 1? → The question of whether or not an association may deny a proposed renter who seeks to live in a community may depend upon where the condominium of HOA is located. To simplify, Section 8 Housing is a government program that helps pay the rent for a family that can’t afford it. The government pays the rent…
Read: CAN AN ASSOCIATION DENY SECTION 8 HOUSING? → In light of the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg on Friday and the controversy surrounding filling the Supreme Court vacancy, I thought it best to discuss the procedures required by our laws when there is a vacancy on a condo or HOA board of directors. For condominiums and HOAs: Unless otherwise provided in…
Read: DOES THE 8 YEAR RULE APPLY IN YOUR CONDOMINIUM? → So here is what you need to know in a nutshell: Mortgage defaults are soaring. In fact, homeowners stopped paying mortgages in record numbers in April. It was the largest one month increase ever recorded. Under Florida law, that spells financial disaster for our condos and HOAs. Keep this in mind as you…
Read: FORECLOSURES AND WHY OUR CONDOS AND HOAs MAY BE IN TROUBLE → In a few days it’s July 4th. Our country’s birthday. USA flags will be flying everywhere, even in our community associations and even if the Board in that association says take it down. With the political upheaval sweeping the country, this year I anticipate receiving complaint about owners or renters…
Read: CAN I FLY ANY FLAG → My how we love to gamble. For some, you don’t even have to leave the community. Perhaps the most common form of gambling in our condos and HOAs is running a Bingo game. Before starting bingo in your community however, here’s what you need to know: 4) The right of a condominium association, a cooperative…
Read: BINGO! → Last week we suggested that now was a good time to consider spending some time reviewing your declaration and finally trying to amend those provisions that need amending. I hope you listened. Since we’re not quite back to life being normal, keep busy and now think about amending your rules. Some general…
Read: AND DON'T FORGET YOUR RULES → Ican’t hold it in any longer. I must tell someone. I have been less than honest with the readers of this blog and the listeners to the Condo Craze and HOAs Radio Show. I’m a fake and a fraud. The truth is…………despite the fact that I urge all of you out there to get involved in your community, to run for…
Read: I MUST CONFESS → As many officers and directors of Florida homeowner associations have learned the hard way and now know, the governing documents in a Florida homeowner’s association expire if not properly “preserved” within thirty years of the documents originally being recorded. That’s right. Suddenly, you are living in…
Read: MAJOR NEW RESPONSIBILITY FOR HOA DIRECTORS → The question of whether or not you can bring your personal trainer on to the common elements in order to help train or teach you was answered by the 4th District Court of Appeals last week. In Charterhouse Associates, Ltd., Inc., v. Valencia Reserve Homeowners Association, Inc., here are the facts:…
Read: CAN YOUR ASSOCIATION PREVENT YOU FROM BRINING YOUR PROFESSIONAL TRAINER INTO THE COMMON AREA GYM OR TENNIS COURTS? → 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: DON’T LET SMALL ISSUES BECOME HUGE PROBLEMS → 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: THE IMPEACHMENT PROCESS IN YOUR COMMUNITY IS WORSE THAN WASHINGTON’S → Last week we showed how it’s better to be the developer in an HOA instead of an owner. Developers can maintain control over a community forever in some instances and don’t even have to provide warranties for anything they build. Nice. We told you it gets worse and here’s why….. Under Florida law, a…
Read: IT'S BETTER TO BE THE DEVELOPER IN AN HOA–PART 2 → 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: IT'S BETTER TO BE THE DEVELOPER IN AN HOA-part 1 →Read it. Then watch it.
