Article Courtesy of The Palm Beach Post

By Kimberly Miller

Published April 11, 2014

ROYAL PALM BEACH — A legislative effort to increase state scrutiny of Florida homeowners associations withered this year under opposition from influential community boards that fought the “condoization” of associations.

Bill sponsor Sen. Alan Hays, R-Umatilla, said floods of homeowner complaints about their associations spurred him to write the bill. The proposal built on a 2013 law that required the first census of Florida’s HOAs as a step in creating regulations for associations and giving the state authority to investigate complaints and enforce rules.

But Hays’ bill (SB 1348) never garnered a House companion or a hearing in a single Senate committee.

“At this point, the bill will not pass this year, but we are hopeful for next year,” said Hays, whose district is northwest of Orlando.

About 2.6 million homes statewide are in communities run by homeowners associations, according to the census taken by Florida’s Department of Business and Professional Regulation.

Palm Beach County reported the largest number of associations statewide with 1,572 to oversee 299,286 homes or undeveloped lots.

Condominium associations have long been governed by laws that give the state power to review complaints from residents, issue fines and conduct recalls if boards act unlawfully.

HOAs have not been subject to the same oversight, although the state can arbitrate election disputes and homeowners can request mediation in some situations.

The Alliance of Del-ray Residential Associations and the Coalition of Boynton West Residential Associations opposed the legislation, saying homeowners associations are different from condominium associations and can’t be regulated by the same rules.

Condominium associations oversee more shared elements, such as roofs, insurance, pools and sometimes cable and water expenses. HOAs are more diverse and have fewer shared elements.

“Last year, we said this is just the first step to their condoizing homeowners associations,” said Myrna Rosoff, president of the Coalition of Boynton West Residential Associations, or COBWRA, which includes 106 associations and an estimated 125,000 homeowners. “What they are looking to do is bring us under a type of control — a restriction — that is inappropriate and inefficient.”

The bill would have imposed a $4 per-home fee to help pay for oversight by the Department of Business and Professional Regulation. The $4 fee would generate more than $10.5 million.  

“It’s strange in a government that is saying we have to get smaller and more efficient to be setting up a whole new administration under the (Department of Business and Professional Regulation),” Rosoff said. 

Jan Bergemann, a DeLand resident who has worked for HOA reform as president of the grassroots organization Cyber Citizens for Justice, said the bill died because politicians, including Gov. Rick Scott, don’t want to be seen as raising fees or taxes during an election year.

“We were really, really, really mad because the bill was more or less killed through the back door,” Bergemann said.

Scott’s office said the governor had not taken a position on the bill, but “works to ensure the cost of living stays low in Florida.”

The proposal also would have given the department the authority to investigate complaints and enforce compliance with respect to HOAs still under developer control.

After the association is turned over to the community, the division would only be able to investigate complaints related to financial issues, elections and access to association records.   Royal Palm Beach homeowner Gene Klusmeier, 68, was in favor of the bill and believes more accountability is needed after a recent battle he had over his Ford F-250 pickup truck.   The Village Walk Homeowners Association, where Klusmeier lives, restricts pickup parking

to designated areas, according to a June 2013 complaint Klusmeier filed with the Palm Beach County Office of Equal Opportunity.

Klusmeier, a disabled veteran with letters from his doctor saying he can’t walk more than 100 yards, asked for a special accommodation to park his truck closer to his home. The association board refused, saying the truck could be parked in his garage. It also questioned his disability, according to an Office of Equal Opportunity report.

Employees with the office measured Klusmeier’s garage, and declared the truck wouldn’t fit. In February, the Equal Opportunity office found there were “reasonable grounds to believe that (the association) violated fair housing laws.”

“The HOA believes that as soon as you enter its domain, you leave the United States,” Klusmeier said. “That’s the way they operate.”

But Rosoff said there are already measures homeowners unhappy with their boards can take, including recalling board members.

“The solutions are usually within their association documents, but if they don’t like the board, someone should stand up and be counted and recall,” Rosoff said.