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 → The holidays are now in the rear view mirror. It doesn’t have to be doom and gloom however in your association. Resolve this year to start off on the right foot, get rid of the clutter, get a grip on your finances, and make sure you don’t get locked into bad deals for yet another year. Here are some…
Read: STARTING THE YEAR OFF RIGHT → This is a very interesting time of year in the condo and HOA world. Of course everyone’s thoughts turn to the holidays. We start thinking about Christmas, Chanukah, New Years and all of the days off we get to spend with friends and family. The problem is that this is typically the busiest time of year as…
Read: SOME YEAR-END OBSERVATIONS → 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 → 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? → Last week’s Labor Day blog was devoted to those officers and directors who truly give their heart and soul to the communities they serve. In my 25 years of practicing law I have been privileged to represent many such a devoted person. But then there’s the flip side…. What do I mean by the flip side? I…
Read: AND NOW THE FLIP SIDE → It’s President’s Day today. Time to honor Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Lincoln and all the other Presidents. Let’s not forget Smith, Cohen, Jones, Martinez and Miller. I know the last few names on the list weren’t Presidents of The United States. I haven’t totally lost my mind….yet. But surely, these…
Read: IN HONOR OF PRESIDENT'S DAY → 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 → I’ve been to some crazy board meetings over the years. And one I attended Thursday night ranks right up there with the loudest, craziest and meanest of all time. And this happened even though two police officers attended the meeting. It is frightening to think what would or could have happened had they…
Read: ORDER IN THE COURT! OR THE BOARD ROOM…. OR ANYWHERE ELSE FOR THAT MATTER → 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? → 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 → It’s amazing how dangerously uninformed some people are. Over the years I have heard time and again owners of condominium units and homes in HOAs take the position that even if they don’t pay their assessments, it makes no difference because it’s their “homestead property” and “homestead property” is…
Read: CAN THEY REALLY TAKE MY HOME? → The weekly blog has been dealing with a lot of tough issues lately. Whether or not birthdays of Lee and Davis should be state holidays, crime by board members, election fraud, crime by community association managers, etc. Today, let’s step back and have some fun instead. From now until November, 2016 we…
Read: TELL US ABOUT YOUR PRESIDENT → It has been a long time since we blogged about whether or not officers and directors of our Florida community associations should get paid for their service to the community. I certainly don’t know if payment to directors would cut down on theft of association funds and get more people to participate in the…
Read: IS IT TIME TO RE-THINK PAYMENT TO DIRECTORS? → Two weeks ago, we made it clear that Florida community associations are allowed to borrow money absent a provision in the governing documents that would expressly prohibit it. But, just because you can borrow money doesn’t necessarily mean that you should. Many associations have an open line of credit with…
Read: THE PITFALLS OF BORROWING MONEY → You won’t hear an attorney say this too often, but I’ll say it today. I got lucky. About seven years ago, I simply wanted to do some advertising for my law firm on the radio. Instead, I was somehow talked into doing my own radio show. It happened real quick and I’ll admit it was real scary. We had…
Read: CENTRAL FLORIDA, SPACE COAST AND TREASURE COAST --- HERE WE COME! → Each year your condo association or HOA is required to pass an annual budget that in theory should pay all of the bills of the association. The statutes require this. Then a storm hits, or balconies start deteriorating and many Associations suddenly find themselves in desperate need to repair the common…
Read: TO BEG OR BORROW →Read it. Then watch it.
