Even though I just completed a difficult stretch of
teaching lots of board certification classes all over the state,
I always like to think of ways to improve the seminar and keep
attendees entertained on one hand, but promote just how serious
the topic is on the other. While I take my responsibility to
teach very seriously, I’m not convinced that The Florida
Legislature feels the same way about the importance of condo and
HOA education and why it should be mandatory. I’ll make some
enemies today as well and say that not everyone who is teaching
these Board Certification classes should be teaching them
because at least in my humble opinion, they are not qualified.
A few years ago, The Florida Supreme Court issued an
opinion as to what a licensed Florida Community Association
Manager can and cannot do. Here are some of the things they
cannot do because it would be considered the practice of law:
1.
determine the timing, method, and form of giving notices of
meetings; where the determination would require the
interpretation and application both of condominium acts and of
the community association's governing documents—
2.
determine the votes necessary for certain actions by community
associations;
3.
address questions asking for the application of a statute or
rule;
4.
determine the number of affirmative votes needed to pass a
proposition or amendment to recorded documents;
5.
determine the number of owners' votes needed to establish a
quorum.
It seems pretty clear to me that The Florida Supreme Court does
not managers answering legal questions. If a manager needs to
look at a statute to give the answer to a question, the manager
needs to call the attorney for the answer.
I can only speak for the seminars that I teach, but half the
time is spent explaining the statute and the other half is spent
answering questions related to the statute. It seems pretty
clear to me that a community association manager would thus be
precluded from teaching the seminar pursuant to an opinion of
our state Supreme Court. Yet, the Department of Business and
Professional Regulation continues to allow non attorneys to
teach the law year after year after year.
Not only is this area of law often confusing, but The Florida
Bar has confirmed that is an area of the law that warrants board
certification. There are over 77,000 licensed Florida
attorneys. Only 127 are board certified in Condominium and
Planned Development Law. While I’m not suggesting that only
Board Certified attorneys be allowed to teach, I am suggesting
that at a minimum, a certification class for Board members not
be taught by anyone who is not licensed to practice Florida
law. By the way, I should not be allowed to teach medicine,
accounting, electricity or plumbing. I’m not qualified. Ask my
wife.
I want to hear from those of you that have taken more than one
Board Certification course. Let us know if you believe I’m
wrong or right.
