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
Find out how Fannie and Freddie's new rules impact Florida condos. Discover how Fannie and Freddie make financing easier yet more demanding.
Read: FANNIE AND FREDDIE MAKE IT HARDER AND EASIER FOR FLORIDA CONDOS →
Florida promised condo safety after Surfside. Now they’re backpedaling with bills that gut reserves. History is doomed to repeat.
Read: THE FLORIDA LEGISLATURE BETTER KILL HB 913 AND SB 1742 →
Last week I made it clear that Floridians better understand that if they cannot afford the mandatory wave of special assessments that are coming for inspections, repairs and reserves they better put their condo up for sale, and fast, before a foreclosure is ultimately filed against them for failing to pay…
Read: IT’S TIME FOR BANKS OR OUR GREAT STATE TO COME TO THE RESCUE → We all know what the cost of insurance is doing to our way of life. In most condominium associations, the cost of windstorm and peril insurance has tripled over the past few years, if not quintupled. And from what I am being told, there is no end in sight. God forbid another major storm hits and the…
Read: DO YOU REALLY WANT TO RISK NOT HAVING INSURANCE? → Let’s start with what some of you already know……..foreclosures are on the rise. Incredibly, this is happening before huge special assessments are kicking in for many of you and before mandatory reserves go into effect. If foreclosures are already on the rise, what’s going to happen when special assessments…
Read: MAKE SURE YOUR DOCS DON’T COST YOU MONEY → Ireally hate to be a Debbie Downer, but I have never been more afraid of an economic collapse in Florida, especially South Florida, as I do now. I couldn’t care less about the statistics that get reported about whether foreclosures are going up or not. I’m telling you that they are. I know because process…
Read: THE HOUSING NUMBERS JUST DON’T ADD UP → Iremember as a kid growing up in Brooklyn, Red Buttons would do a commercial that aired in New York, promoting Century Village. You were promised beautiful spacious apartments, amazing views, golf courses, endless entertainment and simply the perfect dream place to retire to. So forty years later, we learn…
Read: WERE WE SUCKERED IN BY FALSE ADVERTISING? → Today, I feel sadness for the victims in Surfside and their families. I said a million times on the air and in columns that they did not die in vain. I swore that as a result of their deaths, The Florida Legislature would ensure that at least some forms of reserves would be mandatory, that inspections by…
Read: MY APOLOGIES TO THE FAMILIES OF THE VICTIMS → When I started practicing law in 1992, condominiums and HOAs had it a lot easier when it came to collecting their unpaid dues. If someone was thirty days late, you were able to file a lien on their home or unit right away. And if they didn’t pay within thirty days, foreclose on their unit. I don’t remember…
Read: IT’S GETTING TOUGHER TO COLLECT THOSE UNPAID ASSESSMENTS → As if condos didn’t have enough problems, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have just come out with new guidelines that condos must follow. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are government-sponsored agencies that purchase large quantities of home loans to keep money circulating throughout the home mortgage economy. They…
Read: IT MAY BECOME IMPOSSIBLE TO GET A NEW MORTGAGE IN MANY CONDOS → Iwas lucky enough to be on vacation the past two weeks. On my last day, I woke up to the tragedy that was unfolding in Dade County as the Champlain Towers South Condominium came crashing down in Surfside. There are still over 150 people missing or unaccounted for. Before commenting on this devastation…
Read: A TRAGEDY WITH MORE QUESTIONS THAN ANSWERS → In about 25 years a crisis is coming to the condo and co-op world that will be shocking to say the least. Here is the problem. Many of you think that by purchasing your condo or co-op, you can live there forever, as long as the mortgage, taxes and assessments are paid. You may be wrong. Very wrong. Florida…
Read: DO YOU OWN YOUR CONDO OR CO-OP OR DO YOU LEASE IT? ARE YOU SURE? → As promised a few weeks back, we need to discuss some very interesting pitfalls associations sometimes fall into in the area of collections. In light of the fact that mortgage delinquencies are at an all-time high, rest assured that owners will in a short while begin falling behind on condo and HOA…
Read: MORE ABOUT COLLECTIONS → Irecently explained how lucky the banks are when they foreclose on a unit or a home and take back ownership. The law protects them, and despite how much the unpaid condo or HOA assessments are, the bank is only responsible for the lesser of one year of assessments or 1% of the mortgage. Many of you are…
Read: WAIT – IT GETS WORSE → So here is what you need to know in a nutshell: Mortgage defaults are soaring. In fact, homeowners stopped paying mortgages in record numbers in April. It was the largest one month increase ever recorded. Under Florida law, that spells financial disaster for our condos and HOAs. Keep this in mind as you…
Read: FORECLOSURES AND WHY OUR CONDOS AND HOAs MAY BE IN TROUBLE → Last week we showed how it’s better to be the developer in an HOA instead of an owner. Developers can maintain control over a community forever in some instances and don’t even have to provide warranties for anything they build. Nice. We told you it gets worse and here’s why….. Under Florida law, a…
Read: IT'S BETTER TO BE THE DEVELOPER IN AN HOA–PART 2 → When it comes to Florida Statute 720, there’s no question that you would rather be the developer than the homeowner. At least The Florida Condominium Act has a drop-dead seven year deadline where the developer must turn over majority control of the Board of Directors to the unit owners. If you’re an HOA…
Read: IT'S BETTER TO BE THE DEVELOPER IN AN HOA-part 1 → Many of you are aware of an article in The Miami Herald last week about a class action settlement in Dade County due to overcharging people who want to move into the community for screening fees and background checks. As a result of that class action settlement, I thought it would be a good idea to re-print…
Read: TRANSFER FEES – WHY ALL THE CONFUSION? →Read it. Then watch it.
