• We have asked, pleaded and begged for changes in the DIVISION, but received NOTHING!  

• We have seen governors come and go -- NO CHANGES!  
• We have seen DBPR Secretaries come and go -- NO CHANGES!  
• We have seen devastating OPPAGA Reports -- NOTHING CHANGED!

For too many years, the same DIVISION executives have wasted the money from the Condo Trust Fund and left condo owners unprotected with no feasible ways to enforce statutes and rules.

For too many years, the same DIVISION executives have run the show.  Their lack of willingness to enforce the rules is part of the problem we face in our communities. THIS HAS TO CHANGE!

HERE IS PLAN B -- SINCE PLAN A (ASKING NICELY!) OBVIOUSLY DOESN'T WORK

1.      Meetings with the Attorney General and Statewide Prosecutor to see if we could get a Statewide Grand Jury to investigate how DBPR regulates condos and handles condo owners' complaints.  We may also want to include construction and other areas regulated by DBPR.

2.      Depending on how #1 goes, meetings with legislative leaders to see if we could get a full investigation by a legislative committee or independent panel that would look at specific complaints, but not simply perform an overview, such as the one performed by OPPAGA.

3.      Depending on what happens with #1 and #2, a lawsuit to specifically challenge the lack of investigation and other malfeasance by DBPR.

4.       Press conferences and other media opportunities to spotlight DBPR and its incompetence.

We are in contact with a law firm in Tallahassee that will represent our interests!  We have some very good testimony and documentation proving that the DIVISION absolutely fails to do the job as intended by our Legislature!  Public record requests will reveal more -- we know where to look! 

TOGETHER WE HAVE THE STRENGTH TO FORCE THEIR HAND!

Frustrated by the dysfunctional DIVISION of Florida Land Sales, Condominiums and Mobile Homes, many condo owners voice their complaints.  I get daily loads of e-mails, a majority complaining about the unwillingness of the DIVISION to take care of business.  Owners see a lot more excuses why the DIVISION “can't do anything” -- or “has no jurisdiction” – rather than receiving the help that is desperately needed from this Florida agency.  Many wait for months for a response, only to be told that the DIVISION “couldn't find any wrongdoing” after lengthy investigation and “closed the file.”  Many are wondering: How could the DIVISION really investigate without contacting the folks named as witnesses?

And when the DIVISION really can't avoid the issues entirely, it sends the board a “warning letter” -- what a joke!  Some of these warning letters are being mailed to the wrong parties or even contain false instructions.  Gross incompetence!

Some boards get a good laugh when they receive one of those warning letters. They just don't take those letters seriously any more!

 DBPR ARBITRATION RULING AN ABSOLUTE DISASTER! 

Also, a bureau chief of a Bureau of Compliance is the brother of the senior partner of a large law firm that represents hundreds of condos in that same area!  Everybody knows -- nobody cares!

The recent ANNUAL CONDOMINIUM ASSOCIATIONS MEMBER ROUND-UP assembled by Florida's Condominium Ombudsman Danille Carroll made it clear again. The majority of complaints are directed against the DIVISION, and the number of complaints has risen dramatically in the last five years -- from 1,413 complaints filed in the year ending June 30, 2002 to 2,682 complaints filed this year ending June 30, 2007.  Although the number of complaints has nearly doubled, I can assure you that the number of condo units didn't double in five years!

For many years condo owners have packed town hall meetings all over the State of Florida .  According to the article in the Sun Sentinel (quote): "Top frustrations were the lack of regulations for condo boards [responsibility of the DIVISION] and delays in receiving responses to complaints filed with the state Department of Business & Professional Regulation." 

Let's just face it:  Financial mismanagement, uncontrolled spending and even clear embezzlement run rampant in our condos, but the people in charge of protecting the owners are asleep at the wheel. If the DBPR executives are unwilling to do the jobs they are being paid to do, they need to be replaced!  PERIOD!

We can no longer afford a DIVISION that spends condo owners’ money, but plainly fails to deliver.  So if it takes a lawsuit to prove our point -- SO BE IT! 

TOGETHER WE CAN ACHIEVE OUR GOAL:  AN EFFICIENT DIVISION THAT WILL DO THE WORK THAT CONDO OWNERS PAY IT TO DO!

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 SUBJECT LINE: FIGHT THE DIVISION!