ENFORCEMENT?

OWNERS ARE STILL LOOKING FOR IT!

An Opinion By Jan Bergemann

Published January 20, 2026

Year for year, during the annual legislative session, Florida’s legislators are adding more and more new provisions to the already very lengthy community association statutes. But does this really help the property owners in these communities?

NOT REALLY!

Legislators totally forget that the best laws are useless without real enforcement. Two years ago the Division of Florida Condominiums, Timeshares, and Mobile Homes received more power of jurisdiction and more than $60M to hire more employees and especially investigators. Result: Nothing has changed!

Condo owners filing complaints are still getting the same form letters telling them that no faults could be found, despite the complainants adding documents to their filings showing clearly the violations and adding names an contact addresses of witnesses who would testify to the facts of the allegations.

Big example: Inspection of financial documents! Owners of a condo in Palm Beach County are fighting since years – at the expense of hundreds of thousands of dollars – to inspect their financial records. One unit-owner is now in debt for more than $500,000 in legal fees after court decisions no person in his right mind will ever understand. Another condo owner has won lawsuit after lawsuit – in Appeals Courts and Federal Court – with rulings stating that the owner has to the right to see all requested documents and the award of legal fees. Has the owner seen the financial records or received the legal fees? NO!

Now everybody is waiting for the association websites. Deadline for every condominium with more than 25 units was January 1, 2026. Guess what? Many owners are looking for the websites with all the required documents according to FS 718.111(12) – many without success. It has to be seen how the Division will deal with the complaints regarding no – or incomplete – websites. We still hear excuses from managers and board members claiming that they are still working on it. Sorry, that’s unacceptable: They knew for more than 18 months that such website would be required to be running on January 1, 2026.

Since Homeowners’ Associations (FS 720) have no enforcement whatsoever – owners have to be rich to be able to afford the very costly litigation – Representative JC Porras filed HB 657, a bill that would among other provisions create a community association court program. This bill tries to avoid putting HOAs under the jurisdiction of the Division of Florida Condominiums, Timeshares, and Mobile Homes, a jurisdiction that is obviously not working. Will the bill end up on the desk of Governor Ron DeSantis for his signature, finally ending the fact that provision over provision has been added to FS 720 (HOA ACT) since its creation on the year 2000 without the real chance to enforce these provisions? Many homeowners definitely hope so!