Article
Courtesy of The Sun Sentinel
By Daniel
Vasquez
Published February 3,
2010
The deadline for Florida lawmakers to introduce new
legislation is a month away, and about a half-dozen pending condominium
and homeowner association reform bills have already been filed. Many aim
to alleviate financial and operating problems caused by record
foreclosures and delinquencies.
Many South Florida Associations are on the brink of
financial disaster because owners have stopped paying community
maintenance fees because they've fallen into foreclosure, lost a job, seen
property values drop and other reasons.
So there is little surprise some state law proposals
aim at pressuring owners behind in payments to catch up or face penalties
or restrictions. Others try to help associations financially by exempting
them from costly safety upgrades.
"It is time that common sense returns to our
community associations. We need bills that help owners and
associations," said Jan Bergemann, president of Cyber Citizens for
Justice, an advocacy group for owners in condo and homeowner associations.
He said expects more bills to be filed before the official March 2 noon
deadline. Among those filed that he supports are bills that provide some
cash-strapped condo communities with exemptions from state-mandated fire
alarm retrofits.
Here are some Senate and House bills and provisions
worth paying attention to:
H.B. 337: Requires associations to send out
letters of delinquency to owners detailing all charges and late fees and
precludes associations from penalizing owners in any way — including
removal of office or imposition of fines — until at least 20 days after
an owner receives delinquency letter. Penalties are also precluded for
owners who dispute delinquency charges. Sponsored by Rep. Yolly Roberson,
D-Miami.
S.B. 1196: Exempts some single- and two-story
condo buildings from requirements of installing manual fire alarm systems
if they meet certain conditions, such as having exterior stairway exits;
removes from office any director who is more than 90 days behind in
maintenance payments or facing a felony theft or embezzlement offense
involving association funds; takes voting rights away from owners 90 days
or more late in payments. Sponsored by Sen. Mike
Fasano, R-New Port Richey.
H.B.
329: Requires condo renters and tenants to pay rent to the association
for fees and payments owed for more than 30 says by the owner of the unit.
The fees may include attorneys fees owed to the association for collection
costs and interest. The bill allows associations to bar from a unit owners
who are in foreclosure and more than 90 days behind in assessments.
Sponsored by Rep. Julio Robaina, R-Miami.
COMMENT:
I got this morning lots of e-mails who read this article.
Just to make it clear: My quote has nothing to do with the bills listed below the comment.
I can assure you that we strongly oppose S 1196. There are some good provisions included, but it sure doesn't make up for some of the provisions in the bill that are detrimental for owners!
We are strongly favoring H561/S1222 (Rep. Bogdanoff/Sen. Ring) and H419/S864 (Rep. Robaina/Sen. Garcia)
And naturally S 164 + S 780 (both Sen. Lynn) -- but these two bills don't have House companion bills -- yet.
As soon as all bills are filed, we will publish summaries and comments on all these bills -- from the viewpoint of owners.
Jan Bergemann, President
Cyber Citizens For Justice, Inc.
Daniel can
be reached at [email protected]
or at 954-356-4219 (Broward County) or 561-243-6686 (Palm Beach County).
His condo column runs every Wednesday in the Local section and online at www.sunsentinel.com/condos
. Check out Daniel's Condos & HOAs blog for news, information and tips
related to life in community associations at www.sunsentinel.com/condoblog
.
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