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DEVELOPER OR BULK BUYER?
By
Jan Bergemann
Published December 10, 2021
When in doubt about association control always check out
FS 718.301.
This chapter explains in detail who controls the association by
means of seats on the board. Owners are normally very eager to
take control of the association, but there are still limitations
set up by the Florida legislature.
As seen in the arbitration case Eric posted in his blog on
Monday owners can’t recall the developer’s/bulk buyer
representative as long as they have the right to keep one seat
on the board. All other board seats can be recalled by the
owners.
We see this happening pretty often, because developers love to
see owners occupying the seats on the board who are
developer-“friendly” – hoping that the board will not go
after the developer for any problems caused by initial
construction.
This way – and with the help of a “friendly” management company
– developers often cause owners to miss the deadline to file for
litigation for defects or promises not kept.
Owners should always make sure that they don’t miss these
deadlines created by the Florida legislature.
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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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