NOW FOR CONDO DISPUTES
- Eric M. Glazer
- May 4
- 2 min read
FLORIDA STATUTE 718.1255 STATES THIS ABOUT CONDO DISPUTES...
(3) LEGISLATIVE FINDINGS.— (a) The Legislature finds that unit owners are frequently at a disadvantage when litigating against an association. Specifically, a condominium association, with its statutory assessment authority, is often more able to bear the costs and expenses of litigation than the unit owner who must rely on his or her own financial resources to satisfy the costs of litigation against the association.
(b) The Legislature finds that alternative dispute resolution has been making progress in reducing court dockets and trials and in offering a more efficient, cost-effective option to court litigation. However, the Legislature also finds that alternative dispute resolution should not be used as a mechanism to encourage the filing of frivolous or nuisance suits.
(c) There exists a need to develop a flexible means of alternative dispute resolution that directs disputes to the most efficient means of resolution.
(d) The high cost and significant delay of circuit court litigation faced by unit owners in the state can be alleviated by requiring nonbinding arbitration and mediation in appropriate cases, thereby reducing delay and attorney fees while preserving the right of either party to have its case heard by a jury, if applicable, in a court of law.
Before we get into the meat and potatoes of how the process starts, owners of homes in HOAs must be rubbing their eyes thinking they misread something. The above statute only says that condo owners are at a disadvantage when litigating against their association. Aren’t owners of home in an HOA at the exact same disadvantage?
Doesn’t an HOA “with its statutory assessment authority, often more able to bear the costs and expenses of litigation than the unit owner who must rely on his or her own financial resources to satisfy the costs of litigation against the association?” Why isn’t this also in the HOA statute?
Both statutes however make it clear that alternative dispute resolution has been making progress in reducing court dockets and trials and in offering a more efficient, cost-effective option to court litigation.
Can someone tell me why the members of the House of Representatives voted almost unanimously in HB 657 to cancel out mediation for HOAs despite this language in the condo and HOA statute?
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