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SOUTHCHASE PARCEL 45, ORLANDO, FLORIDA. 

Trouble brewing in DOWNS HOA
Revolution in CAI stronghold?
By Jan Bergemann
To The Homeowners Of Southchase 45
 IT’S TIME FOR A CHANGE 
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The problems started as they always do in homeowners' associations. Arguments how to run the association! But then in the DOWNS HOA, a nice neighborhood with about 800 single family homes,  the trouble went much further. They only have a little park as common property, no clubhouse or swimming pool and the whole annual budget is $ 160.000.00. According to information received more than a third of this budget is used to pay for the services of Leland Management Company and Paul Wean, the HOA Attorney on record. Today there is a law-suit about public records, a recall petition so far unanswered by the board and determined homeowners willing to oust the current board.

The list of complaints from the upset homeowners reads like the one in many other associations.
Board and Management Company run the association without letting the homeowners have their say. Obvious violations of the Florida Statutes are excused by the board with advice received from the HOA attorney and Sue Carpenter from the management company. Paul Wean, a well known HOA attorney from Orlando, who has been the CAI representative on the Condominium House Real Property and Probate Committee, refused to comment: (quote):" I decline to respond in the forum you have offered.  The issues relate to the conduct of a private business, not a governmental entity, and the matters raised are appropriately shared only with the members of the community." (end of quote). Even if he may be correct in some way, I strongly feel that it's about time to let the public know what's going on behind the closed doors of these deed restricted communities. Especially trade organizations of the industry like the CAI - Community Association Institute - based in Virginia - who love to present themselves in public as representatives of the homeowners don't like these problems discussed in public. During recent media discussions about the right of homeowners to fly the American Flag on their property, industry executives denied the existence of these problems. Court documents prove different. The reason for these denials are very obvious : as long as there is no public media outcry about these problems all over Florida, it's definitely easier to convince our legislators that everything is fine and dandy in these little kingdoms. Since governmental oversight and enforcement of existing Statutes is absolutely missing, homeowners have to finance their own law-suits, expensive and long-lasting, often not feasible for many retirees living on a limited budget.

One of the leaders of the opposing homeowners, Stephen Cluney, has filed a law-suit against the association for violating Florida Statutes F.S. 720.303 (4) (g)  "A current roster of all members and their mailing addresses and parcel identifications." According to a newsletter the President of the board uses a recent survey for his defense, claiming that a majority of homeowners didn't want the roster revealed.
Majority of participating homeowners, may be, but barely 10% participated. Is the result of a survey sufficient reason to violate Florida Statutes?

Another recent argument was the fact that the board prohibited the taping of a board meeting. Here in Florida this issue is regulated under F.S. 720.306 (8) "RECORDING.--Any parcel owner may tape record or videotape meetings of the board of directors and meetings of the members. The board of directors of the association may adopt reasonable rules governing the taping of meetings of the board and the membership." The board's interpretation of this Statute: "If one of the participants objects, the meeting can't be taped!"

When complaints didn't go anywhere concerned homeowners got together and filed a petition for a Special Meeting to recall the board according to F.S. 720.306 (3) and the association's deed restrictions.
According to the information I received 240 signatures were collected with a cover letter stating the reasons !  But despite the fact that the concerned homeowners delivered the petition according to regulations, no official answer from the board has been received yet. All there was mentioned was a little note in the last newsletter stating (quote):"you will be notified by mail of a special meeting."(end quote).

Emotions are running high! Sue Carpenter, the CAM manager, is speaking of slander and accuses the concerned homeowners of intimidation to get the necessary signatures and even of not having the required necessary number. But wouldn't even a few more than 200 signatures be sufficient to call for the meeting, considering there are about 800 voting interests in the community? 

On the other hand the "dissidents" - so named by the manager - are accusing her of intimidating people to withdraw their signatures from the petition. Their main complaint : the manager should have stayed neutral and should not, as a hired hand of the association, take sides in this conflict.

The date for the Special Meeting was according to the petition set for Oct. 22nd. The board had first announced a board meeting for Oct. 29th., but then declared the newsletter announcement a mistake and set that meeting for the 22nd. of October, according to the manager "an honest mistake!" According to Florida Statutes: "Business conducted at a special meeting is limited to the purposes described in the notice of the meeting." So the two meetings can't be combined into one.

But when no further contact was made the "Concerned Homeowners" decided to go ahead with the Special Meeting as planned and sent out the final invitation for the meeting to all homeowners.
So everything is set for the final showdown in this association. 

In my honest opinion these kind of war between neighbors wasn't what was intended when these homeowners' association were created. But nowadays they are very common in these neighborhoods, advertised as "carefree" and "easy living". 

While in former times neighbors were fighting about a permanent barking dog or music being too loud, today whole neighborhoods are involved in huge law-suits, management companies are hired at great expense and a specialized attorney is on permanent retainer. A whole industry has been created in order to help these neighbors live in these communities. But the growing number of law-suits show that these communities created by developers and the government definitely don't guarantee "carefree and easy living", but rather often create legal chaos much to the dismay of all involved homeowners.

Today you read about law-suits in communities about flying the American Flag, color of door trim, fences too high or wrong color. The list goes on and on! While the industry tries to blame these problems on uninformed or "disgruntled" homeowners, it seems very obvious that most homeowners are buying homes to live in peace, not to get involved in malicious fights within the neighborhood.
But as long as our government and our legislators are unwilling to establish Statutes with enforcement and penalties for disobeying and/or violating these Statutes, many of these associations will be run like dictatorships by power-hungry homeowners with their own agenda.

And many of these homeowners, after investing their life savings in their dream home, don't have the finances to fight for their rights in courts of law or follow the advice often given by industry partisans : "If you don't like it, move!"


CODING : Words in BLUE are direct links to documents