When Linda Melton ran into a fence dispute with the homeowners association of her Lakeland mobile home community, she found out the hard way how little the state can do for people in her predicament.

When she filed a formal complaint with the DBPR’s Division of Condominiums, Timeshares and Mobile Homes, she was told they don't investigate issues with HOAs unless it has something to do with elections of board members.

“Their response was there is no state agency to investigate complaints,” Melton said. "It shouldn't be this hard."

The agency used to have more oversight authority than that, but the Legislature stripped the DBPR of its fiduciary and maintenance oversight of condo boards and mobile homeowners’ associations in 2008.

The DBPR’s only oversight now is over election and recall disputes and ensuring owners have access to the association's financial records.

That leaves residents with little option but to hire a lawyer and file their complaints in court, as several residents of Champlain Towers South have done following that building's lethal collapse.

Ponte Vedra Beach resident Cassandra Ryder discovered that when the state rejected her request to go to arbitration over disputed hurricane repairs on her $500,000 townhouse condominium.

"I had no other recourse at that point but to hire a lawyer," Ryder said.

Three and a half years later, the matter is still in court and unresolved.

Adding insult to injury, she said, the $600 a month that Ryder pays in association fees helps pay for the lawyers representing the condo board.

Trying to get the state to handle disputes will get even harder, said Terri Jones, a former attorney for the DBPR.

A bill passed by the Legislature and signed into law by Gov. Ron DeSantis eliminates the requirement that such disputes go to a non-binding arbitration, which is subsidized by a $4 annual fee that homeowners pay to the DBPR.

During the 2019-20 fiscal year, the DBPR collected $13.7 million in fees from condos, time shares and mobile homes, division budget records show. A little less than half, $6.7 million, was collected from condo owners.

"That $4 fee is bogus because the division can't do anything," Ryder said. "They have no power."

The new law, which took effect July 1, gives both residents and boards the option of going straight to a costly pre-suit mediation or court.

“The proposal regarding pre-suit mediation as an option to arbitration will raise costs to unit owners involved in a dispute with their association,” a DBPR analysis said.

Unit owners are at a disadvantage “when litigating against an association as the association is better able to bear the costs and expenses of litigation than a unit owner who must rely on their own financial resources,” the DBPR analysis said.

Under the old law, residents who had a dispute with their board paid only a $50 filing fee, while condo associations pay a $200 fee for election and recall arbitration.

Filing a lawsuit in civil court costs $400, and legal fees for pre-suit mediation can cost hundreds of dollars an hour.

“The people have no options,” Melton said. “The board has all this power, and we have no recourse other than to call a lawyer. They can do whatever they want because they are not going to be held accountable.