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Article Courtesy of The Sun
Sentinel
By MARIA CHERCOLES
Published October 3, 2008
Florida
homeowners living in community associations want more authority over
fellow owners who fail to pay their association fees or violate community
rules, and they are also willing to fund a division to oversee their
association, according to a recent survey by the Community Advocacy
Network, an association lobby group. The survey's findings could influence
homeowner association legislation, which so far has made it more difficult
for associations to collect dues.
"Homeowners want to make it easier for homeowner associations to
[place a] lien on property," said Donna Berger, executive director of
the Advocacy Network . "It is too difficult to go after people who
are not paying. It works against the board."
The online survey was open during August for both board members and
nonmembers living in single-family residential communities governed by a
homeowners' association. A total of 282 people took the 17-question
survey, which asked, for example, how legislative changes would assist
in the operation and administration of the community. Forty-four percent
said the most important change would be to have "greater ability to
pursue delinquent owners via the lien and foreclosure process."
Forty-three percent said the most important change would be "greater
enforcement ability against owners who violate the governing
documents."
Additionally, 63 percent of respondents said they support the appointment
of an independent division to regulate and oversee homeowners'
associations — a regulation lawmakers already plan to file next year.
Thirty-seven percent voted against appointing such a division. A similar
division already oversees condominiums and cooperatives for an annual $4
fee per unit owner. Yet only 52 percent of the survey respondents were
willing to pay the fee, while 48 percent oppose it.
Charlotte
Greenbarg, president of the Broward Coalition, said the opinion is not so
much about foreclosure, which associations already have the power to do,
but about regulation to solve individual issues within homeowners'
associations. Homeowners realized the condominium association was being
run efficiently and now want to be regulated the same way, she said.
But not everyone finds the survey relevant. Jan Bergemann, president of
Cyber Citizens for Justice, a consumer alliance that represents
homeowners, said the number of people who took the poll is not a
significant representation of the homeowner community. His organization
recently surveyed 1,033 homeowners and will release the results soon. That
survey, Bergemann said, shows that homeowners want higher accountability
from the directors and more enforcement from the law.
"Saying the board needs more power makes no sense. There is no more
power than [liens and] foreclosure," he said. "If you have the
power to put people living under a bridge, what more power do you
need?"
The Advocacy Network's survey also showed that less than 5 percent of
residents regularly attended board meetings, 53 percent of homeowners said
they would allow homeowner association directors from serving more than
two-year terms, and 80 percent said they disapprove of any salary
compensation for board members. Sixty-eight percent think homeowners
should be able to speak to every item on a board meeting agenda, not just
items that owners have petitioned to be on the agenda.
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