The
Bottom Line
Department
of Business and Professional Regulation
July
19, 2013
Dear
Friends,
A
bill approved by the Florida Legislature and signed into law by
Governor Rick Scott requires new changes to the way a variety of
Homeowner Associations and its directors operate. The new law,
effective July 1, 2013, requires that HOAs, report new information
to the Department of Business and Professional Regulation (DBPR)
Division of Condominiums, Timeshares and Mobile Homes. We intend
to make this a very straightforward process by creating a website
by October 1, 2013, that will allow HOAs or their community
association manager to easily register their information before
the deadline of November 22, 2013.
The
new law also requires all Homeowner’s Associations to abide by
the following:
-
Extending
the records retention period to 7 years;
-
Requiring
records be kept within 45 miles of the community or within the
same county;
-
Providing
for the electronic maintenance of records;
-
Prohibiting
a fee for the photographing of official records;
-
Limiting
copying fees to 25 cents per page;
-
Prohibiting
personnel costs for document production for requests of less
than 25 pages or that take less than a half hour to fill; and
-
Limiting
personnel costs for document production to $20 per hour.
The
law also requires the following from association directors and
officers:
-
Requiring
newly elected directors to certify that they have read and
will uphold the governing documents or that they have taken a
DBPR-approved education course;
-
Providing
a process for associations to follow when entering a contract
with an entity in which a director has a financial interest,
including the ability for members to cancel the contract;
-
Prohibiting,
with exceptions, officers, directors and managers from
soliciting or accepting anything of value from those providing
or offering to provide goods or services to the association;
-
Providing
that officers or directors charged with felony theft or
embezzlement of association funds are automatically removed
from office; and
-
Requiring,
unless waived annually, that associations maintain fidelity
bonding.
Stay
tuned for more updates on when the website goes live to be sure
that all HOAs meet the November deadline.
Sincerely,
Ken Lawson
Secretary
Department
of Business and
Professional Regulation
1940 North Monroe Street
Tallahassee, Florida 32399
Customer Contact Center:
850.487.1395
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