DO COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION MANAGERS GET AWAY WITH
MURDER?
By
Eric Glazer, Esq.
Published November 11, 2013
Chapter 468 of The Florida Statutes contains
numerous provisions about how community association managers get
disciplined by the Department of Business and Professional
Regulation. This year, The Florida Legislature amended Florida
law to allow community association managers to get disciplined
if they violate the Florida condominium, co-op or HOA
statutes. The Florida Supreme Court is due to hand down a
decision which may consider some of the normal duties of a
community association manager to be the unauthorized practice of
law. Two years ago, licensed managers almost lost their
profession when there was an attempt to deregulate them, now
there's an effort to regulate everything they do. Hey
managers! You are on the radar.
Why is it then that there is at least a
perception that community association managers can do whatever
they want with little or no fear of actually losing their
license or even being suspended?
I have come in contact one way or another
with thousands of community association managers over my
career. In very few circumstances have I felt that there was a
clear case of discipline warranted against a community
association manager. The exceptions were when I proved at trial
that the manager deliberately threw an election, or when it
became clear that the manager stole cash payments from unit
owners that should have gone into the association's bank
account. Failing to turn over the association's official
records after being terminated is also something that deserves
discipline.
So, what's your take? Can community
association managers get away with murder? Or, is the
probability of CAM discipline just about the same as the
probability of discipline against the association attorney,
board members or other vendors that work for the association?
