Article
Courtesy of NEWS 13
By
Stephanie Bechara
Published January 21, 2017
Poinciana residents who are in disagreement with their
homeowners association are rooting for two Florida house bills that have
just been filed.
FL Rep. John Cortes filed 2 HOA-related bills
Amanda Geltz has lived in Poinciana for more than a
decade. She’s one of the many residents in a deadlock with the Association
of Poinciana Villages, APV on leadership.
She is also in dispute
with the management company, FirstService Residential, on
how delinquent fees should be dealt with.
“I have a vested interest because I live here in the
community, this is where I raise my family,” Geltz said.
She’s glad to hear FL Rep. John Cortes, D-Kissimmee,
recently filed two homeowners association-related bills.
HB 135 is meant to add more guidelines on the HOA elections
to make the process fairer, Cortes said. HB 137 would allow
mandatory nonbinding arbitration in HOA-related disputes to
negotiate a settlement instead of involving the courts as a
first measure, which can be costly. |
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A pair of Florida bills are meant to tackle disputes
between residents and the HOA in Poinciana. But it applies to HOAs
throughout Florida.
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“There’s really not that much regulation for homeowners
associations and I am trying to get some relief,” Cortes said. “It’s baby
steps, but we need more because it's not just here in Osceola County.”
We reached out to APV, who sent a statement saying the bill filed by Cortes
makes sense when applied to condos but not a community like Poinciana with
26,000 homes.
“... The type of election process he proposes would come at a very high cost
and we would be forced to increase homeowner assessments as a result,
something we have not had to do for the past six years.”
“And I don’t know everything. So if you have information talk to me, call
me,” Cortes explained. “I like to learn too because you guys live here and
you live in other parts of the state and that helps me out to better help
you out. Because this is a bill for all of Florida, not just for Poinciana.”
Both bills were referred to respective committees for review. Geltz just
hopes the bills can at least make it to the Florida House floor.
“The people running the community aren’t actually vested," Geltz said. "They
don’t live here. They don’t have to raise their family here.”
The Association of Poinciana Villages and Poinciana residents are in the
middle of litigation. These bills will be presented during Osceola County’s
Legislative Delegation meeting Wednesday at 9 a.m. in the County
Administration Building.
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