By Jan Bergemann
Posted : August 4, 2003
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!
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