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
Election season is here! First notices must go out—condos or HOAs. Learn what can go wrong and why your attorney and manager must team up!
Read: YOUR ANNUAL MEETING AND ELECTION IT AIN’T AS EASY AS IT SOUNDS - Part 1 →
Wayside is a small, ten-home, self-managed homeowners’ association located in Seminole County. Pecchia and Porter both respectively own homes within Wayside. As members of the association, Pecchia and Porter were concerned that Wayside was failing to adequately maintain the association’s common elements, and…
Read: APPEALS COURT MAKES IT CLEAR EVEN TO A SMALL HOA: ALLOW ACCESS TO THE ASSOCIATION’S OFFICIAL RECORDS OR ELSE → Wow! How quickly things change. We’ve spoken about on the Condo Craze and HOAs show about a recent Miami case involving the Biscayne 21 Condominium, where its’ declaration of condominium stated that the condominium can only be terminated with a 100% vote of the owners. However, the declaration could be…
Read: TERMINATION: NOW YOU SHOULD BE SCARED TO DEATH OF IT → Even the possibility of The Florida Legislature going into Special Session in order to solve this alleged condo crisis is insane. You know why? Because our legislators had the guts to fix it two years ago after 98 innocent victims perished in a condominium building that was in a terribly poor, dangerous…
Read: Sorry condo owners – it is what it is. → 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 → When our blog was published last week about the new powers of the DBPR, some owners in HOAs really were appalled. They still can’t believe that they can’t go to the DBPR for help but condominium owners are perhaps now getting all the help they need. Florida Statute 720.302(2) states the…
Read: AND WHAT ABOUT HOAs? → We fought long and we fought hard, but we got what we wanted; mandatory education for all condo board members and HOA board members. Now, all Board members of both condominiums and HOAs must become certified by both submitting a document stating you have read your governing documents and will comply with…
Read: MANDATORY EDUCATION IS HERE AND SO ARE THE CLASSES → 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? → Boards of Florida condominium associations and homeowner associations are allowed to make rules regarding use of the common areas, access to records, the right to speak at meetings,and in a few other areas. Here are a few rules regarding rules: 1. Rules must be reasonable: Rules have to have a valid…
Read: SOME QUICK RULES ABOUT MAKING RULES → 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 → I think everyone reading this knows how long and how hard I have fought for mandatory education for Board members. I always thought it was disgraceful to allow someone to get certified by signing a dumb form that says I read my governing documents and promise to enforce them. Finally, we have a change in…
Read: FINALLY: EDUCATION IS REQUIRED FOR HOA BOARD MEMBERS → FINANCIAL TRANSPARENCY If the unit owners elect to do so, they can vote for the association to prepare a lesser year-end statement than what is required by law. The law has changed and now states: An association may not prepare a lesser financial statement than what is required by law for consecutive fiscal…
Read: House Bill 1203 - Continued → An HOA here in South Florida recently fought the State Attorney’s Office tooth and nail when they attempted to obtain copies of the association’s official records. There’s no doubt that as a result of that one HOA, the following law was passed: HB 1203 Florida Statute 720.303 (i) If an association receives…
Read: WHEN LAW ENFORCEMENT WANTS THE ASSOCIATION’S RECORDS →
There’s no question that 2024 will be remembered as the year that both HOA and Condominium law were jolted. This week, let’s discuss how HOA directors can wind up behind bars. Here’s the new law in : 720.303(5) (d) Any director or member of the board or association or a community association manager who…
Read: FROM NOW ON…...HOA DIRECTORS ARE ON THE RADAR AS WELL → House Bill 1203 and SB 7046 merged to eventually create a huge bill for the protection of homeowners in HOAs. It starts by placing lots of responsibilities on community association managers. A community association manager or community association management firm that is authorized by contract to provide…
Read: HB 1203: LOTS OF NEW PROTECTIONS FOR MEMBERS LIVING IN HOAs MAKES IT HARDER FOR CAMs → March 11, 2024 Until now there was no law in our Florida HOAs that would allow a home owner to install their own electrical generator with above ground or below ground gas tanks. Here we are, living in Florida with sometimes unbearable heat and humidity, we have a large elderly population, hurricanes…
Read: A GENERATOR BILL THAT IS LONG OVER DUE (Part 2) → So when I wrote my blog last week asking people what their problems are, I couldn’t help but think about all of the issues that can arise in a condominium or HOA. It’s almost endless. Here’s some issues that are routinely litigated or arbitrated:faulty elections, failure to hold meetings, failure to post…
Read: SO WHAT AM I LEAVING OUT →Read it. Then watch it.
