Condo owners find redress with recall votes

Article Courtesy of The Sun Sentinel

By Joe Kollin

Published April 16, 2008

 

Although it takes a lot of work, leaders of successful recall efforts want dissatisfied owners to be aware that state law provides a way for them to do it.

"Please let other HOAs know they can do it themselves!" said Andy O'Boyle, who became president of Shenandoah, a 1,400-unit homeowner association in Davie, after a recall last month.

"To all other associations, do not give up hope," offered Ron Fernandez, who led a recall in December at Lauderdale West in Plantation.

 

In the 12 months ending Feb. 29, the state resolved 101 condo recall cases and 25 homeowner cases. The previous year, there were 92 condo and 30 homeowner cases, according to the Division of Florida Land Sales, Condominiums & Mobile Homes.

The figures aren't a total count of recalls. The state includes only those where a board rejects the recall vote and the state provides an arbitrator.

Experts say they can't even guess how many recalls there really are. But they likely are only a small proportion of the 25,006 condo associations in Florida as of Jan. 31 and an estimated equal number of homeowner associations.

Although state law doesn't require a reason for recalling a board, there generally is one.

At the Delray Racquet Club, a 460-unit condo in Delray Beach, owners were angry at the "irrational spending and the lack of credible accounting," said Frank Harrison, who led the recall and is the association's current president.

At Lauderdale West, people "were fed up with the actions of this board. Registered letters were never answered, it was impossible to get to see documents and the list goes on," Fernandez said in an e-mail.

"The board was very abusive to owners. It wouldn't listen us," O'Boyle said of Shenandoah. "Ask about budget issues and you got pushed around and weren't answered directly, or you were told to go get on the board yourself. So I went out and got [more than enough] proxies for a recall."

Shenandoah's new board meets for the first time next week, but it already is working on new projects. They include a " Paul Revere Committee" to warn owners a month in advance that it will enforce specific rules, such as requiring them to repair broken fences. That will give owners plenty of time before they are cited for a violation, O'Boyle said.

"It's all about communication, that's what we're trying to establish," said O'Boyle, a Realtor.

Whether recalls are good or bad depends on where you sit.

Will Garelick was recalled earlier this year from a seat on the board of the 208-unit Greens of Inverrary Phase I condo association in Lauderhill. The reason, he said, was, "I ask too many questions."

He doesn't agree with the state recall laws.

"They're a farce," he said. "As [some people] will tell you, once you buy a condo in the state of Florida, you have left the United States and you are in a gulag in Russia."


See the following state sites for more on recalls:
Recall procedures for homeowner associations: www.myflorida.com/dbpr/lsc/LSCMHHOAprocedures.html
Recall procedures for condos and co-ops: www.my florida.com/dbpr/lsc/ documents/recallsample.pdf
Recall arbitration for homeowner associations: www.myflorida.com/dbpr/lsc/homeowners.html
Recall arbitration for condos and co-ops: www.my florida.com/dbpr/lsc/ arbitration.html 
Recall information for condos and co-ops: www.my florida.com/dbpr/lsc/ARB/ LSCMHArbitration Education.html


READ: RECALL BOARD OF DIRECTORS



Q&A

Q. A Tamarac reader is perplexed about what financial questions the board can ask potential buyers. Are there any privacy or other legal restrictions on boards that want to determine the financial responsibility of those who want to buy?

A. The best way to learn about the financial situation of a potential buyer is to obtain a credit report, says Matthew Zifrony, a director with the Tripp Scott law firm in Fort Lauderdale and president of a large Weston homeowner association. Since most associations already have applications they require all potential buyers to sign, they should include a clause so the potential buyer, by signing the application, consents to the association obtaining, using and considering the credit report as part of the review process, he said. That is necessary because to obtain a report, the association must first obtain the consent of the potential buyer.

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