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GREED IS LONG IN PLAY
By
Jan Bergemann
Published March 24, 2023
The real problem is caused by board
members who sign CAM contracts without reading them or only read
page 1.
Let’s face it, there are too many CAMs
here in Florida who don’t even know the statutes regulating
their profession, much less the rules and statutes regulating
the community associations regulating the communities they are
supposed to manage.
And they are now suddenly experts in
structural contraction, wanting to charge – often outrageous
sums of money – to supervise specialized contractors? Well,
board members signing such contracts must be outright stupid or
plainly don’t care about their neighbors’ money.
If a board feels that the work of a
contractor they hired needs supervision, they either hired the
wrong contractor – or they should hire an expert to do the
supervision – like a specialized engineer who has no connection
with the firm of the contractor.
Remember, we have seen CAMs even
recommending contractors without even checking if these
companies have the necessary licenses and insurance.
That goes as well for contractors who
have a direct connection with the CAM firm, being part of the
big corporation operating under the same umbrella. Just because
management firm and contractor have different names doesn’t mean
they are not part of the same parent company.
Then there are the management firms
who charge contractors a certain amount of money to be on the “preferred
vendors” list. If the vendor is not on that list,
the CAM will prevent them from submitting bids to the
association.
These games are going on since many
years and since CAM-Licensing is unwilling to really enforce the
laws regulating CAMS (FS
468.431-438), because some of practices are a clear
violation of these statutes.
BOARD MEMBERS BEWARE!
Don’t sign CAM contracts that contain
costly provisions!
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Jan Bergemann is president of Cyber Citizens For Justice,
Florida
's largest state-wide property owners' advocacy group.
CCFJ works on legislation to help owners living in
community
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associations. He moved to
Florida
in 1995 - hoping to retire. He moved into a HOA, where the
developer cheated the homeowners and used the association dues
for his own purposes. End of retirement!
CCFJ was born in the year 2000, when some owners met in
Tallahassee
- finding out that power is only in numbers. Bergemann was a
member of Governor Jeb Bush's HOA Task force in 2003/2004.
The organization has two websites to inform interested
Florida
homeowners and condo owners:
News Website: http://www.ccfj.net/.
Educational Website: http://www.ccfjfoundation.net/.
We think that only owners can really represent owners, since all
service providers surely have a different interest! We are
trying to create owner-friendly laws, but the best laws are
useless without enforcement. And enforcement is totally lacking
in
Florida
!
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