An Opinion By Jan Bergemann

Published April 18, 2005

House Bill 1229 was amended in Civil Justice Committee.   Please click on link below to read amended version.

The sponsor, Representative Julio Robaina, removed mandatory education and HOA regulation by the DBPR for good reasons.  The OPPAGA review made it very obvious that the DBPR personnel are not even able to handle the workload handed to them by regulating condominiums, cooperatives and mobile homes.  Necessary changes have to be made –  meaning the DBPR has to be revamped -- to serve the needs of Florida’s citizens.  In the moment the DBPR seems more interested in protecting the businesses than regulating them and/or protecting the consumer.

And the education courses, in the moment outsourced to the Community Associations Institute (the trade organization of attorneys and other service providers) need desperate reforms, using high tech to spread the word!  An education program has to be developed -- by unbiased sources. What good does it do for the owners, who all pay $4 annually into the condo trust fund, if no more than 5000 board members are allowed to participate in these education courses, at an expense of about $500,000?

It is imperative that the systems need to be overhauled before we can attack these projects.  But – like the old saying goes:  WE SHALL RETURN!

This will be priority for next year!

It becomes more and more obvious that some of the attorneys fighting these reform proposals are living in a dream world – or are distributing false information on purpose!

According to a recent e-mail (quote): “NEVERTHELESS ALL 6 OF THESE MEMBERS VOTED FOR THE BILL DESPITE HAVING RECEIVED ALMOST 1,000 EMAILS FROM ALL OF YOU, THEIR CONSTITUENTS, OUTLINING THE NUMEROUS PROBLEMS WHICH THESE BILLS WOULD CREATE IF APPLIED TO COMMUNITY ASSOCIATIONS AROUND THE STATE.”

I received different counts from two offices of legislators:  124 from one office and 148 in opposition from another one!  Or may be she meant all Florida legislators together? Far cry from the nearly 1000 e-mails claimed.  I guess quite a few just disappeared in cyberspace – or was there wishful thinking involved? 

Adding the fact that quite a lot of these e-mails were sent by professionals, it actually wasn’t all that much.  Some people forget that their e-mail addresses betray the source, especially if they are using the addresses of their law firms and management companies.

Many e-mails were sent, caused by the distribution of false information about the contents of the bill, or leaving out important parts.  Just scare people with claiming there will be 1-year term limits and the requirement of fully funded reserve funds – oops – forgot to mention that associations have until January 1, 2011 to meet the requirements.

Using the Chicken Little Theory will scare a lot of the older folks.  Adding the threat of outrageous costs and necessary increases of maintenance fees will definitely encourage them to write opposing e-mails.  Who cares if they make a fool out of themselves by making false claims why they are opposing the bill?   Their purpose has been achieved by getting many opposing e-mails written.  It’s easy to write later and say that there was some miscommunication and false information from certain sources.

Get your information from sources that know what the bills and their amendments really say before opposing these bills -- written by consumer-friendly legislators.  These bills have the welfare of owners in mind -- no question about it!  A lot of research was done before creating these bills!  Please check before opposing!

Don’t just listen to the opinion of service providers who will oppose any consumer-friendly bill, since it may reduce their income – and save owners quite some money!

Despite whatever attorneys try to tell you – House Bill 1229 by Representative Julio Robaina is a consumer-friendly bill that will help unit-owners in the long run!

IF YOU HAVE QUESTIONS REGARDING THE BILL 

PLEASE CONTACT US AT: [email protected]