PENNY WISE POUND FOOLISH

By Eric Glazer, Esq.

Published April 17, 2023

 

In light of the new laws requiring mandatory inspections, mandatory repairs and mandatory reserve studies, some associations are looking to cut back and save money.  That’s not a bad idea; unless you’re cutting back on your legal counsel reviewing all of the contracts provided to you by those engineers, architects or general contractors who perform any of these inspections or repairs.

 

I’m starting to see more of this and it’s an alarming trend.  It boggles my mind that an association would spend millions of dollars on a contract for repair of their property, but won’t spend a few hours on their attorney reviewing that contract first.  No question in my mind that the failure of the Board to have that contract reviewed by counsel before signing, is a breach of their fiduciary duty to the unit owners they represent.

 

I teach a class called “Before You Sign That Contract.”  It talks about so many ways in which the association can suffer financial loss by having the wrong clauses in the contract or by failing to insert certain clauses into the contract.  Once sentence can potentially cost the association hundreds of thousands of dollars.  And you chose to cheap out on a few hours of attorney’s time?  Really?

 

Even smaller contracts need to be reviewed.  If the association does not have the proper remedies in the contract for the contractor’s breach, the situation can turn into a long lasting nightmare where the association will never be made whole.  And…….the association will have to spend its own attorney’s fees now to correct the problem with no chance of recovering them later on.

 

We are about to enter into a historic time here in Florida where these types of contracts will be flying off the shelves.  They will be everywhere, in every condominium.  Be careful.  If you didn’t hear me the first time, I said BE CAREFUL AND DON’T BE CHEAP.  GET LEGAL HELP BEFORE SIGNING.

 

DON’T COME TO ME AFTER YOU SIGNED A CONTRACT AND SAY “HEY ERIC…OUR ASSOCIATION SIGNED THIS MULTI MILLION DOLLAR CONTRACT.  CAN YOU NOW GET US OUT OF IT?

 

THE ANSWER IS OFTEN TIMES……NO I CANNOT.  YOU SHOULD HAVE ASKED ME TO LOOK AT IT BEFORE SIGNING IT.

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About HOA & Condo Blog

Eric Glazer

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.

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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