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An
Opinion By Jan Bergemann
President, Cyber Citizens For Justice, Inc.
Published
July 7, 2008
All over
Florida
homeowners battle their associations, spending millions of dollars in
legal fees, without ever really winning the war. In these battles there
are no winners – only losers! Whatever happens in the end – the
homeowners always pay!
Estimated 2.4 million
homes in
Florida
are located within mandatory homeowners’ associations. But the owners
living in these associations are treated by the
Florida
legislature like the stepchildren of our society.
Each year legislators
add some more unenforceable provisions.
Florida
has lengthy statutes (FS 720) to regulate these associations, but they
really don’t regulate anything. The best laws are useless if they are
not being enforced.
That
was the clear statement of the nine members of the House Select
Committee on Condominium & Homeowners Association Governance after
holding five (5) meetings in different parts of
Florida
during Spring 2008. More than 1500 owners attended, more than 200
testified and a wide majority of the owners had nothing good to say about
these associations.
Representative
Rich Glorioso’s (
R-Plant
City
) statement said it all: "It's
criminal; it almost appears as if white collar crime has taken over our
homeowners' and condo associations! The problem is that nobody is
enforcing it. The current law has no teeth. You don't have this kind of
condo police or homeowners' association police."
So far so good, but
our legislative leaders in
Tallahassee
had other things in mind. Instead of pushing an owner-friendly HOA reform
bill, House leadership decided to push another ill-advised association
bill – supported by special interest (H679/S2504). You could call the
bill the “ATTORNEYS' FULL EMPLOYMENT ACT.” It contained many
more convoluted provisions – badly written and even with legal flaws –
but again contained no provisions enabling owners to enforce the laws. The
mediation/arbitration provisions were complicated and difficult to
understand. The third rewrite in four years – none of them ever worked.
Legislators should finally understand that mediation only works if all
parties approach the dispute in good faith. That surely is not the case in
most homeowners’ association disputes. These are mostly very emotional
– families’ homes are at stake. Governor Charlie Crist saw the writing
on the wall: He
vetoed this ill-advised HOA Bill.
Without
enforcement – and not even enforceable election provisions –
homeowners are really upset about legislators being unwilling to rein in
the abusive associations
that have been created by the legislature
but not because owners demanded these associations. They were lured
into these associations under the false pretense of “protecting property
values.”
Today
is difficult to find a newer home to buy
that is not part of an association.
Especially
considering our bad economy, homeowners need laws that will finally stop the financial mismanagement, uncontrolled spending
and even clear embezzlement!
State
Representative Julio Robaina,
Chairman of the House
Select Committee on Condominium & Homeowners
Association Governance, has pledged to make homeowners’ association
reform his
top priority for the next legislative session.
During
the 2008 legislative session Robaina sponsored an excellent
owner-friendly condo bill (H 995) that has
already been signed by Governor Charlie Crist into law, effective
October 1, 2008.
CCFJ,
Inc. will hold again town hall meetings this winter.
The
first of these meetings will take place in
Port Charlotte
on Saturday, December 6, 2008!
Representative
Julio Robaina will be one of the panel members of this town hall meeting.
The Homeowners’ Battle Cry For The 2009 Legislative Session:
- EASY
ENFORCEMENT OF UNDERSTANDABLE LAWS
- DEMOCRATIC
ELECTION PROVISIONS
- ACCOUNTABILITY
OF THE PEOPLE IN CHARGE
- EASILY
ACCESSIBLE INFORMATION AND EDUCATION
Homeowners
shouldn’t be treated like the stepchildren of our society!
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