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SO WHAT CAN WE EXPECT IN 2024?
By
Eric Glazer, Esq.
Published December 4, 2023
I just finished watching the meeting
before The Regulated Industries Committee in The Florida
Senate. The topic, Florida condominiums and The DBPR.
I must say I found the meeting very
interesting.
The testimony of the former Florida
Condominium Ombudsman, Spencer Henning, was truly compelling.
He spoke of how corrupt boards who want to remain in power
literally never have to agree to turn over power, even if they
lose an election and even if they are recalled. If you don’t
like what they’re doing, you can sue them. That is if you have
$200,000.00 of your own money you’re willing to spend on
attorneys. He spoke of how, even if you sue them in court, they
drag it out long enough so that the new election comes around,
making your case moot and subject to dismissal.
Worst of all, he spoke of how
powerless his position was. People heard the term Florida
Condominium Ombudsman” and they assumed he had powers of the
almighty to correct wrongs in their community; especially when
clear cases of theft or other wrongdoing was going on. They
were wrong.
After Spencer came a prosecutor with
The Miami Dade State Attorney’s Office. He worked on The
Hammocks case and told everyone how he had to fight long and
hard for years to get access to records and that if he couldn’t
get access to records, what chance does a regular unit owner
have?
The topic of Arbitration came up. Of
course they spoke about what we already knew. Arbitrators can
enter orders that nobody has to listen to because their orders
are appealable to the circuit court for a trial de novo.
Here’s the scary part………….we now have
to budget for mandatory reserves and are passing special
assessments in the tens of millions of dollars. The bad guys
will soon have their hands on a lot of money.
So, The Florida Legislature now knows
that these are the problems that are currently plaguing
condominiums. You’re The Florida Legislature. What law would
you create?
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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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