Homeowner association bill running out of time


 

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.


HB 1593 Puts Florida Back Into The Middle Ages

A HOUSE OF SHAME?

 
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