Forced To Give Up Condo

AS PREDICTED BY ACTIVISTS

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

Published April 21, 2008

Under the headline "Forced To Give Up Condo" the Tampa Tribune published an article many condo activists had waited for since the legislature passed last year S 314 (Senator Steven Geller) and H 407 (Representative Elaine Schwartz). Condo owners' activists dubbed this bill the "THE EMINENT DOMAIN BILL FOR CONDOS!" Many e-mails, letters and telephone calls warned legislators about this dangerous bill. Owners pleaded and begged legislators to strike the portion of the bill that allows termination of condos without buildings being seriously damaged by natural disaster. Lots of newspaper articles were written that discussed this bill. Even after the legislature passed the bill, CCFJ, Inc. asked Governor Charlie Crist to "Please Veto Condominium Association Bill S 314/H 407"! Governor Crist signed the bill anyway -- with no concern for the welfare of Florida's condo owners. 

In 2006 Governor Jeb Bush had vetoed Senator Geller's bill using the words (quote): "changes the default provision of requiring the consent of all unit holders for termination in existing law and permits voluntary termination in virtually any circumstance, thereby diminishing security in ownership of private property." 
   

These words of wisdom were forgotten in 2007, because the wealth of service providers and developers was more important than the welfare of Florida's constituents! AS USUAL!

The writing was on the wall, but our legislators and the Governor Crist didn't read it. Now that the damage is done, the normal blame game has started, coming exactly from the same people who before had pushed the bill. The Tampa Tribune article quoted attorney Donna Berger (last year the lobbyist for CALL -- the lobbying arm of the law firm of Becker & Poliakoff) and Gary Poliakoff. They try to blame the legislators for this "oversight." Donna Berger's comment (quote): "This is the flip side of the statute. I don't think this is what legislators intended." 

Please don't ever forget that these kinds of bills are not written -- or pushed -- by the legislators. Specialized attorneys are handing these bills to the legislators for sponsorship -- and fight hard to keep in all the money-making parts -- the actual reasons for these bills being filed in the first place. But since the names of the legislators are attached to the bill, it's easy to blame them when things go wrong and create negative headlines!

Now that the damage this bill is causing is apparent, they all want everybody else to be responsible -- just not them. Why do we have such a mess in Florida's associations in the first place? Because attorneys like Peter Dunbar, Gary Poliakoff and Donna Berger have the open ear of many legislators, who then get blamed for mistakes. In my opinion, these attorneys are the ones who are really responsible for all the misery in our associations. 

That's just one example of many, where owners are paying for legislators passing ill-advised bills, without listening to their constituents.

Another sad example is the association revitalization process. Lobbyist Peter Dunbar was pushing this money-maker for attorneys, but it really doesn't do anything for homeowners except create more misery. Vague language and confusing requirements made revitalization an adventure in failure. The best example: The DCA (Department of Community Affairs) confused mandatory and voluntary associations -- and revitalized voluntary associations as mandatory. The mistakes of the DCA -- caused by this ill-advised bill -- created nothing but wars among neighbors. And to add insult to injury, the DCA wrote letters to owners, involved in these disputes over revitalization that shouldn't have occurred in the first place, telling the owners to consult an attorney in private practice -- forcing owners to spend money to remedy mistakes made by the agency and the legislature!

Another sad example that has already cost homeowners millions of dollars: Mandatory mediation in homeowners' associations. Since 2004 -- HOA TASK FORCE BILL S 2984 -- we have seen annual re-writes of mediation procedures -- claiming to be the solution for the many problems homeowners living in mandatory association are facing. The provisions changed so often that even specialized attorneys have serious problems to distinguish between right or wrong! Nothing worked -- as predicted during the meetings of the HOA Task Force. Mediation can only work if both parties approach the table in good faith. And good faith is the last thing you can find in these disputes. Mediation of HOA disputes has a very low success rate -- at outrageous cost. We see the latest -- and by far the worst -- attempt in this year's HOA Bill H 679 -- a bill pushed by the Republican House leadership, totally contrary to the recommendations of the House Select Committee on Condominium and Homeowners Association Governance. It's just another politically motivated bill, ignoring the needs of homeowners. This bill is actually so ridiculous that it should be entitled: "ATTORNEYS' FULL EMPLOYMENT ACT." It's another of these stupid bills pushed by lobbyists like Peter Dunbar, his side-kick Travis Moore, Donna Berger and Gary Poliakoff! And next year, after more homeowners have been bankrupted and families have lost their homes, these same lobbyists will claim again: "This is the flip side of the statute. I don't think this is what legislators intended." 

Taking responsibility is something we forget to teach kids nowadays -- and it's something these attorneys will never learn. They cause the damage but then blame everybody else!

It's just another bill where the wishes of Florida's homeowners are totally ignored.  It will bring us even closer to the reason why consumer activists claim: "Hell is a gated community!"