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Article
Courtesy of the Sun Sentinel
By
Joe Kollin
Published March 4, 2005
Homeowner
association boards will be subject to the same state scrutiny as condominium
boards if a bill introduced by a South Florida legislator is approved during
the 60-day legislative session that begins Tuesday.
"This is a very consumer-friendly piece of legislation," State Rep.
Julio Robaina, R-Miami said Thursday. "What we're trying to do is protect
the rights of all unit owners in Florida."
While homeowner and condo associations have the same function of maintaining
common property, the state has regulated condos since the 1960s but not
homeowner associations. Owners in both types of associations are required to
obey rules, face disciplinary action if they don't pay dues and face
foreclosure for not paying.
Robaina's proposal would give the Division of Florida Land Sales, Condominiums
& Mobile Homes the power to investigate violations of state law by
homeowner association boards and directors, to subpoena witnesses, and fine
boards and individual directors. The agency would be renamed to reflect its
expanded scope.
He would also give the condo ombudsman, a position created last year, the
power to mediate homeowner disputes, recommend new laws and educate directors
and owners.
His proposal doesn't ignore condos. It requires mandatory training for condo
and homeowner directors and frequent audits of condo association books. It
also makes it more difficult for condo associations to waive reserve accounts.
Waiving reserves often means owners must later come up with thousands of
dollars at once in special assessments for an emergency, such as roof repairs.
Other legislators are expected to propose more changes in the next few days.
State figures aren't available for the number of mandatory homeowner
associations, but experts estimate they number slightly more than condo
associations. According to the state, there are 1.1 million condo units in
20,000 associations with more than 2 million residents.
Donna Berger, an attorney who leads a Fort Lauderdale-based organization
lobbying on behalf of associations, estimates that three out of four new
houses being built in Florida are in mandatory association communities.
Berger, executive director of Community Association Leadership Lobby, or CALL,
is opposing many of the proposed changes.
"I see it as the condo-ization of homeowner associations," she said.
"You have a different set of expectations when you live in a homeowner
association. I don't know if it's because you're in a single-family house or
there is a distance from your neighbor or that an association doesn't maintain
your roof, but you don't want to be as regulated. It's a different lifestyle
and you can't have a one-size-fits-all."
She said last year's reforms "need time to gel before we throw more onto
the heap." She also criticized Robaina for putting regulation into the
hands of an agency "we're told is inept and has no money."
Robaina admitted it may seem strange for him to propose that the Division of
Land Sales also regulate homeowner associations when he has been so critical
of its inability to properly regulate condo associations.
"Although I've been critical, it's the only agency we have in place that
provides regulation," he said. "If there was another, I would put it
there."
But he said that in the next few weeks, after the Legislature holds hearings
on a critical audit, a housecleaning of the agency is likely.
"It will be cleaned up and maybe we can get the division to function
properly, but meanwhile, I don't want to let our residents in homeowner
associations stand out there alone," he said.
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