Owners of Condos are defenseless
(Literally Translated)
The first thing that caught the attention
of Eddie Hernandez regarding the problems at his condominium was seeing
a list of deadbeat debtors posted a two doors distance from his apartment,
which indicated that he owed $150 for his association dues.
When he informed the board of directors
of Grand Vista Condominium in Hialeah Gardens that he had paid his dues
and asked them to show him the accounting records, they responded by increasing
his debt to $700 and later $1,400.
Once he persisted on reviewing the financial
records of the association, they put a lien on his unit and threatened
to foreclose on his property.
Three years later, after an arduous battle
being led by a minuscule group of incomformists that had to convince the
reticent authorities, an investigation by the state discovered that the
board had violated a record of 15 regulations. They're now searching
for $300,000 that were supposedly in the reserve accounts of the association.
Ironically, current laws only permit fines
to be imposed on the association as a whole or an entity and not on the
individuals that manage it and so the fine of $80,000 imposed by the state
won't be paid by those that committed the violations, but rather those
that reported them to the authorities.
Within the condo wars and the battles that
thousands of unit owners face with their associations, Grand Vista is a
legend and an example of a growing problem.
Based on a projection that 40 percent of
Florida residents will live in an association in the next six years, for
critics of the actual legislative system that regulates this situation,
certain changes are imperative in order to control the multiplying number
of abusive cases.
''I call these associations the Mafia of
the condominiums'', said State Representative Julio Robaina, who is chairman
of a committee that has during the past several months heard a great multitude
of horror stories such as the one at Grand Vista and he has submitted their
recommendations.
He concluded that the legal system is weak
and that the Department of Business and Professional Regulations (DBPR)
of Florida does not have the necessary strength, including imposing penalties
for violations they investigate, so legislators must provide for better
resources so the DBPR can handle the thousands of complaints they get annually.
Each unit pays $4 to the state to fund
a special budget for condominiums, but legislators have been using these
funds regularly to fill other gaps in the state's budget.
Amongst the list of recommendations is
the creation of an office to defend unit owners with investigative and
enforcement powers and the jurisdiction to penalize board members of an
association, and make certain that any criminal violation is properly referred
to the state attorney's office.
With regard to the Grand Vista case, for
the time being, this does not look very promising as it was learned this
past Tuesday during a verbal confrontation between Hernández and
Fred Kernstein, Chief of Economics Crime for the State Attorney's office
of Miami-Dade.
Kernstein pointed out that, aside from
the investigations by the DBPR, unit owners just did not have any proof
and he recommended that the unit owners of Grand Vista get an audit done.
According to the state attorney, these
frustrated unit owners are confusing civil infractions with criminal violations.
''In this state people aren't held accountable
for their crimes", Hernández responded.
The recommendations from Robaina's committee
have not been well received by certain sectors of the legal community,
which have for several years been focusing on laws governing condominiums
and home owner associations.
''You have to put things into perspective'',
pointed out attorney Gary Poliakof, who is one of the leading experts in
Florida regarding this matter ''Many of these complaints refer to things
that are already resolved in our current legislation'', he added.
Poliakof reassured that cases like Grand
Vista are "extreme and isolated cases", hence last year there were 1,675
complaints, to which he stated that the DBPR was "doing a great job".
Robaina responded that Poliakof's attitude
seems to be the responses made by a group of attorneys that have dominated
and been very lucrative during past years representing associations.
''I understand why they're not interested
in changing things; they make a living defending and litigating problems
that occur in condominiums", the representative added.
After three years of tension, the Grand
Vista board of directors were changed recently. None of the former
board members, some of which are being accused of embezzling association
funds wanted to speak to El Nuevo Herald.
The new treasurer, Otto Tianga, reassured
us that the condominium's bank accounts were emptied out.
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