The story about the fight over the financial records of the Boca View Condominium continues.  Look at this “PLAINTIFF’S EMERGENCY MOTION TO STAY PENDING APPEAL” – another clear attempt to prevent an owner from taking a look at the financial records.

The last story ended with a huge financial loss for one of the owners (“CONDO FROM HELL” – CHAPTER 2"), because it seems that the judge ruling in favor of the association had a pretty weird interpretation of the Florida statutes regulating the inspection of financial records (FS 718.111(13) + (14).

Now the association attorneys of the law firm of Becker & Poliakoff are making big bucks, trying again to keep an owner from seeing the records. In my opinion the association board must have a lot to hide if they are willing to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees preventing owners from inspecting the financial records. They even bankrupted one of the owners who won in arbitration, but lost due to the ruling of a judge who obviously wasn’t too knowledgeable in condo law and found a loophole to allow Becker & Poliakoff to win a lawsuit the association should have lost hands down.

But here is the real kicker: Florida’s condo-owners are paying $4 annually to finance a regulatory agency who is – according to Florida statutes – tasked with getting the financial records for owners if the association failed or refused to provide access to official records:

FS 718.501(1)(d)7.  If a unit owner presents the division with proof that the unit owner has requested access to official records in writing by certified mail, and that after 10 days the unit owner again made the same request for access to official records in writing by certified mail, and that more than 10 days has elapsed since the second request and the association has still failed or refused to provide access to official records as required by this chapter, the division shall issue a subpoena requiring production of the requested records where the records are kept pursuant to s. 718.112.

But, as usual, the Division of Florida Condominiums, Timeshares, and Mobile Homes is failing to do the job they are getting paid for and is allowing the law firm of Becker & Poliakoff to rake in hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees – at the expense of the owners, who are still looking forward to seeing the financial records – maybe one day in the future?

For me it’s a clear sign that the whole system created by the Florida Legislature doesn’t work in the favor of the owners.