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NECESSARY COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION BILL
By
Jan Bergemann
Published March 25, 2022
After many not-so-good experiences I’m not really a fan of
Advisory Councils or Task Forces any more. The HOA Task Force
traveled in 2003-2004 through Florida, listening to owners’
complaints and discussing improvements to the existing Florida
statutes 720. But in the end the so-called Task Force Bill only
contained the provisions Bill Sklar and Joe Adams wanted in the
bill. The main problem brought to the attention of the Task
Force by the owners was the total lack of regulation. This was
clearly ignored since it didn’t fit into the agenda of these
attorneys, because it would have decreased the income of these
attorneys: A LOT LESS EXPENSIVE LAWSUITS!
I don’t think that any Council is need to create a great
community association bill that would cover the main concerns of
more than 4 (four) million families living in Florida’s
mandatory community associations.
Florida legislators filed great bill before the session started
only to see their great ideas destroyed by House leadership.
Speaker Sprowls and future Speaker Perez on purpose destroyed
the good intentions of their Republican colleagues.
Just add the language of these bills together and we have a
REFORM BILL that will make all these owners happy.
Here are the bills to be combined for reasonable Community
Association Bill:
SB 1702:
Mandatory Building Inspections (Senator Jennifer Bradley)
HB 811: Condominium
Association Complaints and Investigations (Representative Tom
Fabricio)
SB 394:
Mandatory Education Requirements (Senator Ana Maria Rodriguez)
SB 1296:
Homeowners’ Association Ombudsman (Senator Danny Burgess)
CS/HB 7069:
Condominium and Cooperative Associations (as already approved by
the Senate in a bi-partisan 38:0 Vote)
This combined bill
would create the necessary safety inspections, would build up
reserve funds without pricing condo owners out of their homes,
would protect the money that is necessary for all the added cost
from scams, abuses and embezzlement, would create the necessary
education of board members in charge of the financial welfare of
all owners and would create an office for owners in HOAs to turn
to for simple issues -- the first step in finally regulating
Florida's homeowners' associations.
Combine the language of these bills -- and property
insurance reform -- and you have bills that will make millions
of voters happy!
That’s how easy it could be – but it seems nothing is easy in
Tallahassee!
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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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