Article Courtesy of  The MIAMI HERALD

By JEANNETTE RIVERA-LYLES
Posted on Sunday, January 2, 2005

Between Jan. 1 and Dec. 17, 2004, the Town Foundation, Weston's homeowner association, filed liens against more than 200 homes in the city.

Most of these, according to Broward County court records, are for unpaid cable TV bills, which until 2003 were collected by the foundation. The city utilities department now handles that task.

The records also show that in many instances those homeowners had missed only one quarterly payment.

This has residents up in arms, arguing that the punishment hardly fits the alleged crime. They also contend the association did not exhaust all avenues available to collect the debt before pursuing harsher legal action.

It's not clear whether the foundation did anything to bring the accounts up to date or if residents facing liens owed the association fees other than those listed in the court documents. The foundation attorneys were not available for comment last week.

One of the upset residents is Vincent Andreano, whose mother, Lita Andreano, was faced with the predicament of losing her Weston Country Club Home for a $109 cable bill that he said had been left outstanding by the previous owner.

The Andreanos said that when closing on the home about a year and a half ago, they came upon the outstanding debt and sent a check.

''No one ever contacted me or my mother afterwards to tell us they had not gotten the check or that the debt was still outstanding,'' said Andreano, an attorney. ``Then a year and a half later, they slap my mother with a foreclosure lawsuit. It's legal brutality.''

Andreano said he tried to reason with Town Foundation attorney Douglas Gonzales, whose signature appears in the lawsuit paperwork, to no avail. He said he was told to pay the debt, plus legal fees billed at a little more than $200 per hour, in addition to court filing fees and other miscellaneous charges. The final tab: more than $1,500.

Gonzales said Wednesday he could not comment on the liens and foreclosure actions in Weston and referred all inquiries to City Attorney and Town Foundation lead attorney Jamie Cole, whose vacation ends tomorrow.

Weston Mayor Eric Hersh, one of the master homeowner association officials, did not return telephone calls from The Herald.

Florida law does allow homeowner associations to file liens against properties and move towards foreclosure for unpaid fees. The statutes do not require that other means be exhausted before seeking to expropriate. Neither do they cap the amount of money that can be charged on legal fees -- in many instances higher than the debt itself -- and other charges.

State Rep. Julio Robaina, R-South Miami, who has championed reform in condominium association laws, is now writing a bill that seeks to reduce the number of liens filed for small sums by setting new debt limits.