MY HOME IS MY CASTLE? NO MORE IN THE USA!
By
Jan Bergemann
Published August 19, 2022
FS 718
gives the association the irrevocable right to enter units.
(5) RIGHT
OF ACCESS TO UNITS.—
(a) The
association has the irrevocable right of access to each unit
during reasonable hours, when necessary for the maintenance,
repair, or replacement of any common elements or of any portion
of a unit to be maintained by the association pursuant to the
declaration or as necessary to prevent damage to the common
elements or to a unit.
The statutes clearly state that the right is given to the
association only for certain emergencies or necessary repairs.
We know that this right is often being abused and board members
and/or CAMs make up reasons for entering units without knowledge
of the owner, or even enter units without any reason – just to
have a look – or “worse”. I have seen many such cases in all
these years – and that is the reason for many unit-owners to
fight hard to prevent the association from getting a key.
Remember: We even had cases where Cams rented out units while
the “snowbirds” were away.
I will never forget the case of a condo owner well known for
criticizing the board. One day the association broke into his
unit – claiming emergency – and “found” fire accelerants in the
bath tub. The case dissolved in thin air, as expected, but the
damage was done. Some unit-owner in that association even
believed the board’s claim that this unit-owner was going to
fire-bomb the building.
Make no mistake: OUR HOME SHOULD BE OUR CASTLE! –
but it seems no longer to be the case. In recent times we have
seen many cases – in condos and in politics – where these rights
were clearly abused.
It seems that history is not one of the priorities our school
systems are teaching. But history is very important, especially
considering the old saying: “HISTORY REPEATS ITSELF!”
This is how abuse of citizens’ rights always started: Privacy
was ignored and homes were searched – under false pretenses.
Remember German history between 1933 and 1936? Hitler used the
Federal Police (called GeStaPo) to search the homes of political
enemies. And they always found “suspicious items”.
In case of the burning of the Reichstag the police found
fire-accelerants in the homes of the folks Hitler wanted to be
the guilty parties. And they were later sentenced and convicted
on this “evidence”. History showed that it was just a case of
getting rid of political enemies. The guys convicted had nothing
to do with the fire-bombing.
Do we want history to repeat itself in our great county? I don’t
think so! OUR HOMES SHOULD BE OUR CASTLES – even if our
opinions seriously differ from the opinion of the folks in
power!
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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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