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SO WHAT MAY BE IN STORE FOR 2020? – PART TWO
By
Eric Glazer, Esq.
Published January 13, 2020
Last week we blogged about some association bills that were
filed in Florida’s Legislature. I thought two were bad but one
was good. Here are some more:
CS/HB 0623:
1.
Provides that if a condominium association's
insurance policy does not provide rights for subrogation against
the unit owners in the association, an insurance policy issued
to an individual unit owner located in the association may not
provide rights of subrogation against the condominium
association. This sounds fair. Here is what it means…..Let’s
say a condo is forced to put in a claim because a unit owner’s
negligence caused a flood. If the condo’s policy has rights of
subrogation against that negligent owner, the insurance company
can sue that negligent owner to get its money back. But if
there are no subrogation rights in the insurance policy, the
insurance company cannot get its money back. On the flip side,
let’s say the condo’s negligence causes damage to a unit and the
unit owner’s insurance company pays a claim. This new law
basically says that’s it’s not fair for only one party to have
subrogation rights. If the owner’s policy has rights of
subrogation against the association, the insurance company can
sue the association to get its money back. But if there are no
subrogation rights in the insurance policy, the insurance
company cannot get its money back. This new law attempts to
say, if one party does not have subrogation rights – neither
does the other.
2.
Clarifies that an association may not inquire as
to why an owner wants access to the official records.
3.
Allows condo associations to maintain either an
official website or an app.
4.
Clarifies that only board service that occurs on
or after July 1, 2018, may be used when calculating a board
member's term limit.
5.
In terms of transfer fees – it would clarify that
an association can charge an applicant $100.00 plus the actual
costs of the background check or screening.
6.
Completely removes the section on service
provider conflicts.
7.
An owner would be allowed to install an
“alternative fuel station” in their limited common element
parking space.
8.
Provides for fines against a tenant of a unit.
9.
Would allow the Ombudsman’s office to be located
outside of Leon County.
This bill is expected to make its way through The Florida
Legislature without much of a fight. Nothing wrong with it –
except for the fact that it fails to address things that need to
be addressed. The bill does not address fixing a broken
arbitration system, does not address mandatory board
certification by taking an educational seminar only, and does
not address The Florida Legislature continuing to take $4.00 per
unit from every condo owner in the state, while sweeping the
unspent monies into the general revenue fund each year.
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About
HOA & Condo Blog
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Eric Glazer graduated from
the University of Miami School of Law in 1992 after
receiving a B.A. from NYU. He has practiced community
association law for more than 2
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decades and is the owner of Glazer
and Sachs, P.A. a seven attorney law firm with offices in
Fort Lauderdale and Orlando and satellite offices in Naples,
Fort Myers and Tampa.
Since 2009, Eric has been the host
of Condo Craze and HOAs, a weekly one hour radio show that airs
at noon each Sunday on 850 WFTL.
See:
www.condocrazeandhoas.com.
He is the first attorney in the
State of Florida that designed a course that certifies
condominium residents as eligible to serve on a condominium
Board of Directors and has now certified more than 10,000
Floridians all across the state. He is certified as a Circuit
Court Mediator by The Florida Supreme Court and has mediated
dozens of disputes between associations and unit owners. Eric
also devotes significant time to advancing legislation in the
best interest of Florida community association members.
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