After more than two years of trying to get help from government agencies, some condo owners in Grand Vista Condominium Association finally saw some progress being made. The DBPR (Department of Business and Professional Regulation) levied fines against the board of the association, amounting to more than $45,000. And DERM, the Department of Environmental Resource Management, levied another fine of $5,260. According to the DBPR, this is the most severe civil penalty ever imposed on a non-developer managed condominium. And it added Grand Vista to the list of top five worst cases ever seen by the DBPR in all the years it has been reviewing these matters. 

But after all the efforts of the homeowners to have their board comply with the Florida Statutes, the actual success really backfires. The board voted on Friday evening, August 1, 2003, to approve a special assessment in the amount of $46,234.52 for unclear purposes, payable by the homeowners, who have tried for many years to correct these problems and elect a new board.

Despite allegations that more than $360,000 is missing from association funds, the state attorneys and the office of the Attorney General Charlie Crist have so far failed the condo owners by not investigating this case of possible embezzlement.  Many Florida citizens had hoped for relief on these issues after the last elections. Don't forget, AG Charlie Crist ran on a platform of protecting consumers against fraud!   Maybe word hasn't gotten around yet in all the offices? 

In a letter to DBPR Secretary Diane Carr dated June 16, 2003, one of the condo owners complained about lack of action and enforcement! All the alleged violations were listed -- and it sure was a long list! But the letter and some pushing from supportive Florida legislators like House Representative Julio Robaina (see letter), must have helped. 

It is very obvious that there is no real help for desperate condo owners in Florida. The fines will definitely get the attention of many people, but do they help to find reasonable solutions for the condo owners under siege? In the end, the same owners who complained about the violations are the ones who will be assessed for the violations! 

I don't think that is the idea behind the system our legislators created. Please read the letter of Eddie Hernandez, one of the condo owners trying to right the wrong. It clearly shows the frustration of the owners who pay for the problems their board create. And there is no real protection by any agency in our government!

THIS HAS TO CHANGE! Homeowners and condo owners need to be protected from these problems. Most of them just don't have the necessary finances to fight for their rights by paying for civil litigation, after already paying for the biggest investment of their lives -- their HOME!

Failure of the system was predictable, when our legislators made these boards and their attorneys and managers "Judge, Jury and Executioner" (see evaluation of a retired judge to a Law Revision Commission).

So said President James Madison during the early 1800s in The Federalist (#47)(quote):"Placing all power, executive, legislative, and judicial in the hands of one person or one group of persons is the very definition of tyranny." 

This mandated properties' association system desperately needs changes, real fast!