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
On today’s radio show, a woman complained that in her HOA, there is never a quorum that appears at the annual meeting and therefore the same board remains in place year after year. Remember…in an HOA, in order to have a valid election, a quorum must appear at the annual meeting. In a condo on the other…
Read: ARE TERM LIMITS A GOOD THING OR A BAD THING? → Ialways thought that the dry part of the Board Certification Course was teaching about budgets and reserves. The material simply doesn’t lend itself to any interesting side stories or provide much room for jokes or even amusing anecdotes. However, the funny thing is that it’s normally the part of the…
Read: CAN THE BOARD FORCE FULLY FUNDED RESERVES? → After doing this for 22 years now, I don’t get surprised that often any longer by anything that takes place in the world of condos and HOAs. This week however, I was quite surprised. Twice in the same week, community association managers brought it to my attention that companies that do business in South…
Read: CAMs: Avoid That Temptation at all Costs → It appears as if the foreclosure crisis is coming to a close. You made it through. You survived. You were one of the few that paid the mortgage payments each month, paid your taxes, paid your assessments, paid your insurance and you were nothing short of a model unit owner. Sorry…….you still have to go.…
Read: JUST WHEN YOU THOUGHT YOU WERE SAFE → The other day on the show, we spoke about a President of an association who is in trouble because he used community association funds to pay himself for doing services that would normally be performed by a licensed community association manager. So, you might ask, does that mean all community associations…
Read: IS A C.A.M. MANDATORY? → If you listened to the show last week, you know that my wife and I dodged a huge bullet. Our children were swimming in our pool and as they were swimming toward the deep end, they began yelling at each other that they both felt like they were getting zapped with electricity. They immediately got out of the…
Read: BETTER SAFE THAN SORRY → Many of you heard the Condo Craze show a few weeks ago concerning the Mainlands VII HOA in Tamarac, where a President was arrested for stealing over $180,000.00 from her association. Earlier in the week, I appeared on the local news regarding yet another President allegedly taking tens of thousands of…
Read: IS ASSOCIATION CRIME ON THE RISE? → It’s Labor Day and condo President Esa Nomyjob, has the day off from work. She gets to stay home from work and simply enjoy all the wonderful amenities her condo has to offer. It’s well deserved. The day starts off though with a call from Willie Winer, that the upstairs neighbor has apparently let the…
Read: A LABOR DAY STORY – TRUTH OR FICTION? → We’re approaching the time of year when Boards are starting to prepare the budget for the following fiscal year. As we all know, in a condominium, the budget must show fully funded reserves, and the owners then have the option of waiving or reducing the funding of reserves. In an HOA, the budget can…
Read: SUPPOSE YOU TOUCH THE RESERVE FUNDS YOU’RE NOT SUPPOSED TO TOUCH? → Every year, I am lucky enough to take my family on a trip to another city, whether it be here in the United States or even in a foreign country. It seems that every city I go to was planned far better than South Florida. On the contrary, it seems as if all of South Florida was built with no plan whatsoever…
Read: IT’S ALL IN THE PLANNING --- OR LACK THEREOF → You look around the world and see that bombs are falling in neighborhoods throughout the Middle East, violent demonstrations are happening in European countries and tornadoes and floods seems to be destroying towns across the United States. Those are difficult problems to live with day in and day out. So…
Read: ARE THINGS REALLY THAT BAD? → Listeners of our Condo Craze and HOAs radio show know that we just discussed a new law for condominium associations that lets directors communicate, but not vote, by e-mail. On its face, I don’t find it objectionable that directors can communicate by e-mail. Of course board members need to exchange ideas,…
Read: ACCESS TO E-MAILS → It seems like the biggest issue today for community associations is whether or not “no-pet” communities have the authority to question individuals that request exemptions, so they can reside with animals that are medically necessary. Before we get into the authority of associations, it’s important that you…
Read: SERVICE ANIMALS AND EMOTIONAL SUPPORT ANIMALS-PART 1 → There was lots of news last week about Lebron James coming back home to Cleveland. Well….Lebron isn’t the only person coming back home. It’s happening in alarming numbers. College graduates, graduate school graduates and even some with professional licenses and degrees are returning home to their parents…
Read: RETURNING HOME → Last week we blogged about how apathy can harm a community in many different ways. Everyone’s comments were great. This week I want to take the conversation in the opposite direction. Is it a good idea for the Board or community to be zealous or perhaps overly zealous in enforcing the governing documents…
Read: rules rules rules → We always talk about apathy in community associations. Nobody wants to run for the Board. Nobody wants to serve on a committee. Nobody wants to even vote in the annual election. Usually, apathy is more prevalent in communities where the populace believes all is OK. If the place generally looks good, the…
Read: APATHY CAN BE MORE DANGEROUS TO A COMMUNITY THAN YOU THINK → Many of you have seen outgoing board members sign long term contracts with a vendor just before getting off the Board. Often times, these contracts were executed by a single board member without any vote of the board whatsoever. The question is……is the contract still an obligation of the association even…
Read: CAN ONE RENEGADE BOARD MEMBER BIND THE ENTIRE BOARD? → It’s officially hurricane season here in Florida. Pretty soon, the media will be trying to scare the bejesus out of us the minute a single cloud rolls off of Africa’s west coast. We all know how lucky we’ve been for close to a decade now, but one day our luck will again run out. Imagine for a moment that…
Read: WHEN YOUR BELONGINGS AND YOUR DOCS GO OUT THE WINDOW →Read it. Then watch it.
