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
You may remember that about two years ago, a Miami Dade Grand Jury was convened to investigate condominiums and the DBPR. The findings were scary. The Grand Jury found condo crime was rampant and that The Department of Business and Professional Regulation was not part of the solution, but rather part of…
Read: NEW GRAND JURY REPORT SAYS ALL IS WELL → As many of you already know, each owner of a condominium unit pays $4.00 per year to the Department of Business and Professional Regulation, Division of Condominiums, Timeshares and Mobile Homes. The money is supposed to be spent helping to regulate and provide services to condominium unit owners throughout…
Read: FINALLY A BILL TO PREVENT YOUR MONEY FROM GETTING STOLEN → You may recall that two years ago, The House and the Senate passed legislation that would have allowed condominiums in excess of 75 in height to opt out of a mandatory engineered life safety system. Legislation already existed that allowed these condominiums to opt out of sprinkler requirements. Condos…
Read: ANOTHER ATTEMPT BEING MADE TO PUT MONEY AHEAD OF SAFETY → Believe it or not……I received more than one e-mail this year from people complaining that their annual meetings are being conducted in a language other than English and some people are fighting mad about it. I’ll risk being politically incorrect and say that I think it’s absurd that that a unit owner can…
Read: PICK A LANGUAGE….ANY LANGUAGE → It’s that time of year again when The Florida Legislature convenes in order to debate and pass new laws. There’s always at least a few bills that have something to do with our Florida community associations. Over the next few weeks, we will discuss the bills that have been filed, track their progress and…
Read: THE LEGISLATURE IS NOW IN SESSION → In Woodside Village Condominium Association, Inc. v. Jahren 806 So.2d 452 (Fla. 2002) The Florida Supreme Court heard the story of a unit owner who owned 4 units in a condominium and who basically lost the ability to rent those units because the unit owners voted to amend their declaration of condominium…
Read: DO YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO RENT YOUR UNIT? DEFINITELY MAYBE → It seems as if the foreclosure crisis is certainly not as bad as it once was, even though Florida is still the worst state in the nation, with approximately one in every 346 homes in foreclosure. The percentage of delinquencies in our community associations are certainly down from where they were just a…
Read: COLLECTIONS LAW UPDATE → Afew weeks ago, we blogged about how to run a successful annual meeting. I not so jokingly said the best way to make the meeting run smoothly was to order food. Lots of it. I also made it clear not to serve liquor. I wasn’t joking about that either. As many of us know, liquor tends to fuel the emotions and…
Read: A SUCCESSFUL ANNUAL MEETING – PART TWO – CURBING THE VIOLENCE. → The summer is here and in Florida that often times equates to lots and lots of empty condominium units because the owners have returned up north. Just because you leave your Florida condominium for a few months however does not mean that your responsibility to maintain your unit stops once you hit the…
Read: COLLECTIONS LAW UPDATE → Two years ago, you may remember that a Miami Dade Grand Jury issued a scathing report about condominium board members in Miami Dade County. In sum, the report concluded that they’re basically all a bunch of thieves who get on the board with evil intentions including purposely diverting the association’s…
Read: DIRECTORS ARE IN THE CROSS HAIRS YET AGAIN → Sometimes, a unit owner will take the position that the association can’t take certain action against them because they have “vested rights.” At least in their mind, the owner thinks that a certain right they have can’t be taken away from them, can’t be modified and can’t be messed with in any manner. Here…
Read: SO WHAT ARE VESTED RIGHTS → The right to rent your unit has undergone some change over the years. It all started in a landmark case called Woodside v. Jahren which was ruled upon by The Florida Supreme Court in 2002. A condominium in Clearwater amended its declaration of condominium to suddenly prohibit the rental of your unit to no…
Read: THE RIGHT TO RENT – THERE’S MORE TO KNOW THAN YOU THINK → In the world of community associations, this is a pretty important time of year. In most associations, the fiscal year ends on December 31st. The condo, HOA and co-op statutes provide: Within 90 days after the end of the fiscal year, or annually on a date provided in the bylaws, the association shall…
Read: COMMUNITY ASSOCIATIONS --- IT’S TIME TO REPORT! → Insurance payments may be the single largest expense of an association’s budget. Typically, and to over-simplify, the association pays for general liability insurance should someone get injured while on the association’s property. In addition, the association pays for windstorm insurance which covers…
Read: ARE YOU IN GOOD HANDS? → Insurance payments may be the single largest expense of an association’s budget. Typically, and to over-simplify, the association pays for general liability insurance should someone get injured while on the association’s property. In addition, the association pays for windstorm insurance which covers…
Read: ARE YOU IN GOOD HANDS-2? → We have blogged before about the battle brewing in Tallahassee between Community Association Managers and The Florida Bar. In fact, we are awaiting a decision from The Florida Supreme Court concerning what activities a community association manager can perform and which actions go too far and constitute the…
Read: SOME CLARITY FOR CAMs MAY BE COMING → In a post 9/11 world, big brother is watching us like never before. Walk into any business and you can bet you’re on camera being video taped. Same thing goes while walking down any city street for that matter. Indeed, many of us live in communities where there are security cameras all over the place…
Read: SMILE ---- YOU’RE ON CANDID CAMERA → Several years ago, our firm was involved in a lawsuit representing many condominium unit owners against their association, alleging that material alterations were made without a 75% vote of the unit owners before the material alterations were made. We alleged that the amount of the assessments for these…
Read: MATERIAL ALTERATIONS CLARIFIED ---- MAYBE →Read it. Then watch it.
