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
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 → Despite the fact that legislative progress has been made in getting owners access to association records, there is still confusion as to whether or not associations and/or management companies can charge an owner for such access and for photocopies of the records. Let’s address the law for both condominiums…
Read: ACCESS TO RECORDS – SO IS THERE A COST OR NOT? → So last week we blogged about the fact that your right to display religious symbols on your own property is limited. In a condominium, you only have the right to display a small religious object on the frame or mantle of your door. In an HOA, there is no statute whatsoever which gives you the right to…
Read: YOUR RIGHT TO PRACTICE YOUR RELIGION MAY NOT BE AS STRONG AS YOU THOUGHT IT WAS → It’s the end of the summer. Millions of kids across our state have to suck it up and return to school. And if the kids have to endure school for the next ten months, all of you can endure a measly three hours. I’m talking of course about Condo and HOA Board Certification. There’s a lot that goes into my…
Read: IT’S BACK TO SCHOOL TIME-PART 2 → think most lawyers would agree that some cases are simply more interesting than others. Over the last few weeks I have had the privilege of working on one of those interesting cases. It involves an attempted recall of two directors who were on the Board of a Hollywood Condominium association. I…
Read: IF YOU THOUGHT SOUTH CAROLINA WAS BAD…… LOOK AT YOUR OWN STATE → As the weather begins heating up, our thoughts inevitably turn to the hurricane season that we deal with each and every year. Associations all across the state hope and pray that they’re able to escape the wrath of a storm for another year and that luck remains on their side. They have their fingers…
Read: DID YOU CORRECTLY WAIVE YOUR RESERVES? → We often times blog about how a Board member or a manager stole a few thousand dollars from the association and how they should be prosecuted for it. If someone should be prosecuted for stealing a few thousand dollars, what should happen to the people that steal 16 million dollars from condo owners over the…
Read: CONDO OWNERS – YOU SHOULD BE OUTRAGED → It seems like no matter how early, or on what day of the week we hold our Board Certification seminars for both condominium and HOA members, the classes are packed to the rafters. There’s often times complaints about communities going to hell because of unit owner apathy. When you see a room full of…
Read: BOARD MEMBER APATHY → It’s the end of the summer. I watched my kids suck it up this week, pack their school bags and head off to school to return for another year of learning. Millions of kids across our state did the exact same thing. And if they can do it five days a week for the next ten months, each of you can do it for a…
Read: BACK TO SCHOOL TIME-PART 1 → Last week, we spoke about how difficult it is to obtain personal liability against an individual director of a community association. The plaintiff would basically need to show a crime, fraud or self-dealing. What about when the directors make decisions that may ultimately be incorrect but were made in…
Read: THE FLORIDA BUSINESS JUDGMENT RULE → Over the last several years, the issue of delinquencies in our Florida community associations became worse and worse. The more people didn’t pay, the more the good paying owners had to pay. The more bank foreclosures, the less the association was receiving in badly needed revenue. The real solution to the…
Read: FINALLY - A REMEDY THAT WORKS FOR ASSOCIATIONS → (4) MANDATORY NONBINDING ARBITRATION AND MEDIATION OF DISPUTES.—The Division of Florida Condominiums, Timeshares, and Mobile Homes of the Department of Business and Professional Regulation shall employ full-time attorneys to act as arbitrators to conduct the arbitration hearings provided by this chapter. The…
Read: FLORIDA STATUTE 718.1255 → 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 → 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 → Without a doubt, one of the most common complaints unit owners hurl at their Board of Directors is that the Board hold private meetings that the owners simply never get notice of. May owners complain that these meetings violate the “Sunshine” laws that require public meetings, but they are incorrect, as the…
Read: SO WHEN IS A MEETING A MEETING? → There’s a lot that goes into my job as an attorney working in condominium and HOA law. Each week, I working on my current cases, keep abreast of the changes in the law, advocate for legislative reform, work on the Condo Craze Radio Show and write a blog each Monday. Without a doubt however, my favorite…
Read: THE IMPORTANCE OF CONDO AND HOA EDUCATION-PART 2 →Read it. Then watch it.
