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
Afew weeks ago, I wrote a blog called It’s Time To Stop A True Florida Farce. The blog spoke about the fact that members of community association boards of directors can still get certified without taking an educational class. Instead, they can sign a rather silly piece of paper that states they have read…
Read: THANK YOU SENATOR ANNA MARIA RODRIGUEZ! → Over a decade ago The Florida Legislature thought it was a good idea for members of condo and HOA boards to become “certified.” Sounds like a good idea. The problem is that the legislators allowed for two ways to become certified. One way is by going over to your computer and printing a form that is on…
Read: IT’S TIME TO STOP A TRUE FLORID → It’s hard to believe that we have been dealing with COVID for a year and a half now. It’s harder to believe that it looks like we will be dealing with it for at least another year and a half. It’s a never-ending nightmare with no end in sight apparently. Who would ever have thought this could happen? While…
Read: BOARDS ARE NOT POWERLESS WHEN IT COMES TO COVID → It’s hard to believe that we have been dealing with COVID for a year and a half now. It’s harder to believe that we will be dealing with it for at least another year and a half. It’s a never-ending nightmare with no end in sight apparently. Who would ever have thought this could happen? While we are…
Read: WHEN THE GOING GETS TOUGH…………… → On June 27th, Florida was no longer considered to be in a State of Emergency. Governor Desantis did not renew the emergency order. So that means all of the emergency powers that Boards of Directors of condominiums and HOAs had during the COVID pandemic have expired. The question is…….in practical terms —…
Read: THE EMERGENCY IS OVER! → Avery interesting case was just decided by Florida’s Second District Court of Appeal. RIVIERA-FORT MYERS MASTER ASSOCIATION, INC., v. GFH INVESTMENTS, LLC. 2020 WL 7767856. To simplify, in a mixed-use community, meaning a community made up of commercial property and residential housing, the Master…
Read: MASTER ASSOCIATION V. SUB ASSOCIATION – WHO WINS? → So the Florida Legislature has ended their session and I’m sure everyone wants to know what association laws passed this year.So here we go….. Subrogation New law: If a condominium association’s insurance policy does not provide rights for subrogation against the unit owners in the association, an…
Read: HERE ARE THE NEW LAWS EFFECTIVE JULY 1ST → Prior to 2010 Florida law only allowed the association to fine for violations of the governing documents, if the authority to fine was contained in the declaration or bylaws. In 2010, the law changed and associations had the power to fine, even if the power to fine was not contained in the governing…
Read: IS YOUR FINING PROCESS FINE? → So The Florida Legislature has ended their session and I’m sure everyone wants to know what association laws passed this year. So here we go….. Subrogation New law: If a condominium association’s insurance policy does not provide rights for subrogation against the unit owners in the association, an…
Read: HERE ARE THE NEW LAWS EFFECTIVE JULY 1ST → Ioften times get phone calls from board members who are upset about the fact that some new owner went through the screening process, filled out the application, paid the fee and showed up for an interview. But it turns out that there are more people living in the unit than expected and none of them went…
Read: BUT THEY WEREN’T SCREENED AND APPROVED! → It’s funny how many times over the years, Boards have told me “We weren’t having a meeting, we were only talking about the condo” or “We weren’t having a meeting, we were in a workshop.” For clarification, let’s see how a “meeting” is defined by law. For a condominium, the Florida Administrative Code says:…
Read: WHEN IS A MEETING A MEETING? → There certainly have been a few debates lately and there may be another on the way. Who Knows? Maybe you think Trump won. Maybe you think Biden won. Maybe you think Pence won or maybe you think Harris won. It doesn’t matter if some of you even think the fly won. The bottom line is that it’s apparent that…
Read: LET'S HAVE A DEBATE → While the condo statute outlines a very specific and rigid procedure on how HOAs should conduct the election, the HOA Statute doesn’t say much at all: Elections of directors must be conducted in accordance with the procedures set forth in the governing documents of the association. Except as provided in…
Read: MAKE SURE YOU DO YOUR HOA ELECTION NIGHT RIGHT → 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 1 → Yesterday was a big day. I turned 50. It’s a time to not only reminisce about the past, but also a time to think about the future, and retirement and whether or not a “retirement community” or “55 and over” community is in the future. So, what actually is a “55 and over” community? Generally speaking, state…
Read: 55 AND OVER COMMUNITIES – HOW TO BECOME ONE AND STAY ONE → s we said last week, The Florida Legislature is in session, and there have been some community association bills filed, but nothing to write home about. CCFJ and I have been working together to hopefully get legislation passed this year that will help communities. For example: Requiring HOAs to use the…
Read: SO WHAT'S IN STORE THIS YEAR AT THE FLORIDA LEGISLATURE? PART-2 → The Florida Legislature is in session, and there have been some community association bills filed, but nothing to write home about. CCFJ and I have been working together to hopefully get legislation passed this year that will help communities. For example: I drafted a proposed bill that does away with…
Read: SO WHAT’S IN STORE THIS YEAR AT THE FLORIDA LEGISLATURE-PART 1? → Sometimes we get lucky and the political world mirrors what takes place in the condo and HOA world. The Senate is about to start a trial regarding the impeachment of Donald Trump. As we all at least understood the process—-the whole purpose of a trial in the senate is to see if the president needs to be…
Read: CAN YOU REMOVE A PRESIDENT THAT HAS ALREADY BEEN REMOVED BY THE VOTERS? →Read it. Then watch it.
