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
In response to the Miami Dade Grand Jury Report that blasted officers and directors, management companies and the DBPR, but ignored the fact that prosecutor’s offices often turn a blind eye toward condo and HOA crime, Senator Rene Garcia and House Member Jose Felix Diaz filed a bill that attempts to do a…
Read: In response to the Miami Dad → In response to the Miami Dade Grand Jury Report that blasted officers and directors, management companies and the DBPR, but ignored the fact that prosecutor’s offices often turn a blind eye toward condo and HOA crime, Senator Rene Garcia and House Member Jose Felix Diaz filed a bill that attempts to do a…
Read: March 6, 2017In response to the Miami Dade Grand Jury Report that bla → Last year we blogged about a long awaited decision by The Florida Supreme Court regarding what a licensed community association can do, without being accused of practicing law without a license. It bears repeating. The Florida Bar tried hard to curtail what community association managers can do without a…
Read: CAMS BE CAREFUL ABOUT THE UNAUTHORIZED PRACTICE OF LAW → As we all know, a quorum of directors is necessary in order to have a valid meeting of the Board of Directors. But, how is a quorum determined? The first thing you need to do is look at your bylaws of the association and determine how many directors are required to serve on the Board. Remember, that as for…
Read: SO WHAT EXACTLY IS A QUORUM OF DIRECTORS? → Boy what a difference a few years makes. Remember the days where foreclosures were the talk of the town? Remember when a large percentage of the units or homes in your community were not paying their assessments and the association was struggling to pay its bills? Remember when banks began owning units in…
Read: WHERE HAVE ALL THE FORECLOSURES GONE? → Let’s narrow the issues right off the bat. You only need to keep reading if your building is 75 feet or more in height, measured from the lowest level of fire department vehicle access to the floor level of the highest occupiable story. If your condominium does not fit into this category, if you already…
Read: TICK TOCK – TIME IS RUNNING OUT TO OPT-OUT OF THE FIRE SPRINKLER REQUIREMENT → Contracts Clause Application in an Ever Changing Legislative Landscape When representing a Florida condominium association, one interacts with many laws and other sources of authority. These include Chapter 718 of the Florida Statutes (Florida’s Condominium Act) and Chapter 617 of the Florida Statutes (the…
Read: Florida Community Association Law → Basically, every year, The Florida Legislature passes laws that effect condominiums and Homeowner Associations. You may be surprised to learn however that just because these laws are passed by The Florida Legislature, it doesn’t mean that these laws automatically apply in your community association. The…
Read: DO YOUR GOVERNING DOCUMENTS CONTAIN THE MAGIC LANGUAGE? → 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? → Over the past week or two, The Miami Herald has been running a few articles about wrong doing in certain condominium associations in South Florida. The writer almost seems amazed that there are apparently ballots being cast with fake signatures and that in some condominiums voter turn-out exceeds 100%. Now…
Read: HOW MUCH MORE PROOF DO YOU NEED? → Let’s pretend it’s the night of your annual meeting. It’s time to verify the signatures and count the ballots. Someone reminds the attorney not to count the votes of any owners who are more than 90 days delinquent. Are they right? Maybe…. I would first argue that without the Kaufman or “as amended from…
Read: SOME OTHER CONFUSING VOTING ISSUES → 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 → 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? → 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 → On Friday, I had the pleasure of being invited to attend a meeting of many representatives from the Department of Business and Professional Regulation, including arbitrators and the Condominium Ombudsman. The purpose of the meeting was to hear from the public in regards to the new condominium statute that…
Read: ELECTRONIC VOTING – IS IT A SOLUTION OR A PROBLEM? → 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 → The long awaited decision by The Florida Supreme Court is finally in regarding what a licensed community association can do, without being accused of practicing law without a license. The Florida Bar tried hard to curtail what community association managers can do without a license to practice law, while…
Read: THE LAWYERS V. THE MANAGERS --- SO WHO WON? → This is a story about John and Jane. John lives in a condominium in Miami and Jane lines in an H.O.A. in Central Florida. Election season is approaching quickly in both of their communities. While it may seem at first glance that all things are equal…….that is certainly not the case. The election in John’s…
Read: A TALE OF TWO ELECTIONS-PART 2 →Read it. Then watch it.
