| Small
Claims Court Law-Suit for Violation of Florida Statutes
An Easy "HOW-TO" ! |
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ATTENTION: Since July 1, 2007, any dispute regarding access to the official records of the association has to mediated according to FS 720.311 |
| Are you living as well in one of these
fancy Homeowners' Association, where the Board and their attorney feel
that they are above the Florida Statutes and don't have to obey by them?
Or they tell you in a public board meeting that you should sue them if
you don't like the way they are doing business?
Don't feel alone! It happens on a daily basis all over Florida. And you're in pretty good company. Even the General Attorney's office was rebuked by a HOA attorney in a recent legal challenge. Quote: "Association attorney Donald Peyton responded with a letter dated Oct. 14 in which he questioned the "legal authority" of the Attorney General's Office to demand the records." Gee, may be you should take them up on
their word and show them you really will. Homeowners in Chimney Lakes,
Jacksonville, did exactly that and a judge in Circuit Court agreed with
them. This case dealt with so-called official documents, which according
to FS 720.303(4) + (5) have to be made
available on written demand.
It all started with a so-called 10-day demand letter, sent to the registered agent of the association, in this case the management company, by certified mail, return receipt requested. If you don't receive any response, make a call after ten days to remind them. Then wait another ten days before going to the local court house and file the necessary Small Claims Court Form. This is just a workable example. Just fill in the applicable questions and attach the copies of the 10-day-letter and a copy of the certified mail receipt (you do need minimum three copies each). Use wording in Question 1 below. There is normally a special office, where somebody will assist you with the filing. You do have to pay the fee - somewhere around fifty dollars depending on the Court - and the charge for the process-server, normally $ 20.00. In order to make things easy on you and the judge, just file for one item at a time, you might anyway not get more than $ 500.00 , depending on the judge. From then on everything will go automatically. Possibly your board might contact you and offer to give you the required document. They may have realized by now that you were serious about it? Don't forget, in the meanwhile it's requested document plus filing fee. At trial all you have to bring is a copy
of the Florida Statutes, or make it two, in case the HOA attorney claims
he doesn't know about this rule, and explain to the judge that you filed
the law-suit for monetary damages according to Florida Statutes 720.303
.
You should end up with a Final Judgment as seen below. Then it's time to make copies of this final judgment to send to your neighbors to make sure that they are not voting again for board members violating the Statutes, wasting valuable funds. Please, don't forget : the place you've built your dream home in is called a "Homeowners'" association, so you as the homeowner should have the last word in regards to decisions made to the "welfare" of the members. It's not called "Board" or "Attorney" or "Management Company" Association for a reason. They are supposedly only the tools to make your community work right, not the dictators calling the shots, disregarding the wishes of the homeowners. Please remember : this only works in Florida - see applicable Statutes! If you have questions please let us know at : info@ccfj.net |
| 10-day Letter
To whom it may concern,
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XXXXXX Jacksonville, FL XXXXX Plaintiff, vs. Board of Directors
FINAL JUDGMENT THIS CAUSE
came on for Trial and the Court having heard evidence and being
ORDER ENTERED
Copies: Plaintiff A. Jeffrey Tomassetti, ESQ
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