COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION LIVING STUDY COUNCIL

An Opinion By Jan Bergemann
President, Cyber Citizens For Justice, Inc.

Published March 8, 2009

The Community Association Living Study Council finally gets going -- too little to late! Courtesy of Division Chief Michael Cochran, who, as usual, not only confused himself but as well a lot of other people. So far only four (4) out of seven (7) members have been appointed -- please see below.

Nevertheless, it will be a good way to make your opinion known locally at a location near (?) you -- if you can't make it to Tallahassee. Three meetings with official public input: Tampa, Miami Beach and Tallahassee. For exact meeting schedule please see below!

It is imperative that as many interested owners as possible will attend the meetings of the Council to let the legislators know that legislative association reform is a priority for many of us. The bad economy finally showed the true face of these community associations. Instead of protecting property values as promised, they have turned out to be a serious liability for the financially responsible homeowner.

Representative Julio Robaina filed the big condo and co-op bill H 1397, very important for condo owners, but HOA reform seems to stall once again in Tallahassee. Please read my opinion here! I'm not quite sure why our elected government officials consider homeowners living in mandatory homeowners' associations as stepchildren of our society. Homeowners surely pay large property taxes without getting much in return? Make your opinion known and let our elected officials know that we need HOA reform NOW, not next year -- or after we are all flat broke!

Make sure you bring a hard copy of your presentation and hand it to all members and the Division staff. In the past, minutes of Council meetings often didn't reflect exactly what was presented to the Council by the public. A hard copy makes sure that you have proof of what you actually said!