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LOTS OF CONFUSION?
By
Jan Bergemann
Published July 24, 2020
There are always hot debates going on what an association can –
or cannot – do in regards to posting names of delinquent owners
and what kind of documents can be required from a potential
renter/buyer of a unit/home.
Financial issues are always tricky, especially when it comes to
the privacy of the owner/renter.
Let’s make one thing pretty clear: There is no real privacy of
documents once it’s in the hands of the association.
Board members change, managers change – and so does
office-personnel. And all of them can see all these documents.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with background checks, But
then it gets complicated. We hear often that associations can
check credit scores. But imagine the following scenario: First
buyer gets rejected due to bad credit score, the next buyer is a
foreigner, who, as a foreigner, has no credit score at all,
because this country is about the only one that deals with the
nonsense of credit scores. European bankers, for example, laugh
about this system, because in reality a good credit score means
that the person has lots of debts. Have you ever realized that
your credit score goes down if you pay off a credit or even a
credit card?
Let’s say: The board approves the second buyer, even without a
credit score. Wouldn’t the rejected buyer have a reason to
complain about selective enforcement? No matter what, there is
always somebody who has a reason to complain.
And posting the names of delinquent owners? The solution is very
easy: They can’t be singled out, like posting a list of names
and units of delinquent owners on the bulletin board. FDCPA is
very clear about it and associations have paid dearly for
violating FDCPA.
But there is a very easy solution:
Remember, FS 718.111(12)11.b. and FS
720.303(4)j.2. state under OFFICIAL RECORDS:
A current account and a monthly, bimonthly, or quarterly
statement of the account for each unit designating the name of
the unit owner, the due date and amount of each assessment, the
amount paid on the account, and the balance due.
With other words, there is nothing wrong with publishing the
complete list of all owners, including the owners who are
delinquent.
I hope these explanations are helpful and sort out some of the
confusion that seems to exist!
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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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