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TOTAL LACK OF INFORMATION – AND RESERVE FUNDS?
By
Jan Bergemann
Published September 23, 2022
I don’t think that anybody ever
believed that CAMs or even attorneys are in the “INFORMATION
BUSINESS”. It’s not necessarily a well-kept secret that
many CAMS and association attorneys think that clueless board
members are easier to “milk” than well-informed ones.
But I have heard that even many
boards, despite being well-informed and full-well knowing the
financial burden put on hi-rise condos by the new Condo Safety
Bill are plainly ignoring these new requirements in their budget
planning.
They just hope that the law firms
representing them in Tallahassee will be successful in doing
what they did with the fire-safety provisions some years ago:
Postpone the deadline created by the bill for some years!
Year for year the legislature in Tallahassee dealt with
FS 718.112(2)(l)Firesafety.
The deadline was
prolonged, then shortened, then prolonged again. In between a
governor vetoed the total bill and then the process started all
over again. Now the deadline is set for “before
January 1, 2024”.
Will these new deadlines created by the Condo Safety Bill
survive the next legislative session? Who knows?
One thing is sure: If all the deadlines will stay in place many
families will lose their homes. Too many condo associations
voted down reserve funds year for year and now have peanuts in
the reserves instead of the money really needed. For all these
families there are only three options:
-
The Legislature postpones the deadlines in next
year’s legislative session.
-
Sell their homes as long as it is still sellable for a
reasonable price.
-
Lose their hoe to foreclosure.
The failure of these associations to create the necessary fully
funded reserve funds is now backfiring!
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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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