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Homeowners Associations (HOAs)
in Florida,
Developer
and/or Owner controlled, are more or less unregulated by Florida Statutes. Some
changes have been made in 2004, but by far not as far reaching enough to protect
the consumers! Here are the new statutes: NEW:
Florida
Statutes FS 720 -- Homeowners' Association
FOR
COMPARISON:
OLD:
Chapter
720 Homeowners' Associations
Check out as well:
CHAPTER
498 LAND SALES
CHAPTER
617 CORPORATIONS NOT FOR PROFIT
The new statutes, effective since
October 1, 2004, are obviously a step in the right direction. But we need more
reforms and more owner to help pushing for these reforms. Only together we do
have a chance to achieve our goals and create the nice and peaceful communities
we are all looking for!
The many complaints
from homeowners all over the state prove that these Statutes are definitely
not consumer friendly.
The laws in place are obviously biased
by the industry and their lobbyists, partially even flying the flag of
representing the homeowners. They are seriously influencing our legislators,
trying not only to prevent more consumer friendly legislation, but as well
the enforcement of the existing Statutes.
Homeowners trying
to enforce the existing statutes are faced with huge amounts of legal cost.
The fact that a many of them are retirees living on a restricted budget,
makes it nearly impossible for them to defend their Rights.
Even the enforcement
of criminals laws is not present, according to the Office of the Attorney
General because of lack of funds.
Developers and the
industry are well aware of these facts and are abusing the Rights of the
homeowners in many documented cases all over Florida.
Several States of
the Union have realized this problem and are in the process of trying to
change the Status Quo.
UNTIL NOW,
Florida is not one of them!
It will be the mission
and goal of our Organization and especially the HOA Committee to convince
our legislators that new Statutes are desperately needed to protect the
Rights
of the Consumer by creating better Statutes and especially install the necessary methods to enforce these Statutes.
You may not be effected
by these described problems yet, but it could happen to you any day. So,
please help our Committee Members to create the necessary tools to protect
your Rights in the future.
If you live in a
HOA your livelihood may be threatened one day by bad Statutes and the lack
of enforcement!
If you have any problems
to report in your community or have any questions, please post it on our
Bulletin Board below or send us an e-mail!
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