Article
Courtesy of The Sun Sentinel
By
Joe Kollin
Published May 6, 2005
A
last-minute attempt to allow homeowner associations to foreclose on owners who
fail to pay fines is expected to fail. Although the House approved the
measure, the legislative session is scheduled to end today before the Senate
has a chance to consider it.
The House passed the bill (HB 1593) by a vote of 99-11 on Monday.
Last year, the Legislature took away from associations the power to file liens
and seek foreclosures against those who don't pay fines imposed for violating
rules. The law was enacted after an association in Jupiter foreclosed on an
owner for flying an American flag from a flagpole rather than from wall
brackets attached to the house.
The law only applied to homeowners who disobeyed rules. Associations continued
to have the right to foreclose on owners who don't pay their assessments.
Since last year, other states, including California, Texas, Nevada and
Colorado, have either adopted or are considering measures that follow
Florida's ban.
However, Florida legislators late last month inserted an innocuous line into
an existing bill that attempted to give the power back to boards. The bill
came up for a vote in the House on Monday and Rep. Julio Robaina, R-Miami, who
led the fight for the ban last year, said he couldn't block it.
But he said Senators Rudy Garcia, R-Miami, and Skip Campbell, D-Fort
Lauderdale, are preventing it from coming up in the Senate. A spokeswoman for
Senate President Tom Lee confirmed it will not come up by the session's end.
Meanwhile, a bill that would have prohibited associations from seeking
foreclosure on amounts less than $2,500, even when related to assessments and
dues, also died. Sen. Gary Siplin, D-Orlando, failed to win any support for
the bill designed to prevent owners from losing their houses because they
won't pay a $25 late fee.
Robaina said he would support a measure next year if it applies only to owners
who can prove a hardship. The problem with Siplin's bill, he said, was that
owners could decide not to pay until their debt reaches $2,500, and that could
harm many associations.
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