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STOP THE CROWD FROM BLAMING THE BOARD
By
Eric Glazer, Esq.
Published February 13, 2023
Many of the associations I represent are
getting ahead of the curve and they’re educating their owners
about the expenses that are coming by having me show up at the
condominium and put on a Power Point presentation showing
precisely how these new laws came to be, including showing the
actual vote by The Florida Legislature.
It’s a smart move by boards to have their
counsel tell all the owners about all of these expenses that are
coming, AND THAT THEY ARE MANDATED BY LAW AND ARE IN NO WAY
SHAPE OR FORM CAUSED BY OR ARE THE FAULT OF THE BOARD OF
DIRECTORS: To remind everyone, here’s what’s coming:
1.
If you are a building of at least 75
feet in height, by December 31st, 2023 you need to
have sprinklers installed or an engineered life safety system;
2.
Starting immediately, buildings that
are at least 30 years old (25 years old if within 3 miles of the
coast) need to complete a PHASE ONE study of the property by a
Florida architect or engineer every ten years;
3.
If the PHASE ONE STUDY requires a
PHASE TWO STUDY (and it will), the association must let the
PHASE TWO architect or engineer inspect the property and make a
list of all of the things that need repair in order for the
building to be safe; the association must then make all
of the required repairs;)
4.
Starting on January 1st,
2025 the association’s budget must contain reserves for 10
different categories.
For those associations that never put away
money for reserves, or never made repairs or put off the fire
safety requirements, the amount you pay each month is about to
go up dramatically. Most associations will take out long term
loans in order to pay for all of these new repairs.
BOARD MEMBERS ARE WISE TO GET OUT IN FRONT OF
THIS. DON’T LET THE OWNERS BLAME YOU FOR WHAT IS ABOUT TO
HAPPEN. Don’t let Board meetings turn into chaos. One way of
doing this is by having the association’s counsel explain in
simple terms that this is not the Board’s fault. It is
completely out of the Board’s hands. In fact, the new laws say
that if the Board members do not take these actions, it is a
breach of their fiduciary duty.
Selling all of this to some unit owners is
not going to be easy. Boards who don’t educate their owners
will be accused of all kinds of wrongdoing. Stop it before it
starts. Let your counsel do it for you.
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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 three decades and is the owner of
Glazer and Sachs, P.A. a five attorney law firm with
offices in Fort Lauderdale and Orlando.
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Eric is Board Certified by The Florida Bar in
Condominium and Planned Development Law.
Since 2009, Eric has been the host of Condo Craze
and HOAs, a weekly one hour radio show that airs at 11:00 a.m.
each Sunday on 850 WFTL.
See:
www.condocrazeandhoas.com.
Eric is the first attorney in the State of
Florida that designed a course that certifies condominium and
HOA residents as eligible to serve on a Board of Directors and
has now certified more than 20,000 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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