The association says Castronova is violating the rules. It could ultimately foreclose on his home. 

In a nutshell, what's wrong with current condo law? "To a great extent the law makes sense and it works," said Florida state representative Juan Zapata. "The problem is, the law also allows for people who want to abuse that law to take advantage of it." 

"At the end of the day, a lot of the homeowners are the ones suffering," said Florida state representative Julio Robaina. 

Robaina and Zapata are state representatives hearing condo complaints at town hall meetings like these in South Florida. "They can get away with murder," one audience member told the panel. 

A separate task force is hearing from irate homeowners: "Time after time, homeowners are abused, harassed, intimidated," one man told the panel. 

"Honestly," Florida state representative Gus Barreiro told me, "I think the frustration that condo and homeowners are facing today, it's unprecendented in numbers." 

If you live in a community with a homeowner's association, court is the only place you can go, because the state has no office to oversee them or settle disputes. Bill Sklar, co-chair of homeowners association task force, told us, "We're hearing that some homeowners want a regulatory agency or at least a statuatory mechanism that they could at least hold their boards accountable." 

If your condominium is governed by a condo association, there is a place to complain: The Department of Business and Professional Regulation. Its job is to enforce laws governing condos. 

"There are a lot of good associations operating in the state," said DBPR division director Russ Fleetwood. "In the course of a year, we hear from less than 10% of the associations -- in other words, less than 10% of the associations are complained against." 

But Eddie Hernandez says he lives with a security camera focused on his front door for his own protection because he complained about his association. 

"Are the unit owners powerless?" I asked Hernandez. 

"Yes, we are," he said. 

He found out the hard way that reporting trouble can cost you. The DBPR found his condo board had committed more than a dozen violations -- but DBPR fined the entire association. 

"The association was fined recently from $45,000 from the DBPR," said Hernandez. 

"Who paid that money?" I asked. 

"We are all required as unit owners to pay that money," Hernandez said. 

"So it seems you can't win for losing," I said. "They do wrong, and they get fined, they go to you to pay." 

"Right," said Hernandez. 

In fact, our investigation found the DBPR rarely fines association board members. The first time it did so in over 10 years was just last month. 

The vice president of Grand Vista Condominium Association says Hernandez is upset because he ran for the board and lost. He told us the board has improved and a good management company has been hired. 

The new president at El Bosque Condominium Association told us problems there are being addressed. 

Ultimately, experts say, know what you are getting into. Understand rules and keep up with what's going on in your community. 

Clarification: After our report aired, the Department of Business and Professional Regulation obtained new information that showed two other cases of board members being fined personally. It also mentions, Florida statute only permits this type of action if the board member's conduct can be shown to be a willful and knowing violation of the statute or rules. The phrase "willfully and knowingly" is defined by s. 718.501(1)(d)4, Florida Statutes, to mean that the division must have informed the individual that his or her conduct or intended conduct violates the chapter or rules, and that the person has refused to take corrective action. Given these restrictions, the number of cases that the division can take against board volunteers individually is collectively small.