ARBITRATION SECTION OF THE DIVISION? USELESS!

By Jan Bergemann

Published January 25, 2019

 

According to a bill proposal of the Florida BAR – not officially published yet – the Arbitration Section of the Division of Florida Condominiums, Timeshares and Mobile Homes will be dissolved. And I have to agree: The attorneys manning this section of the Division are in my opinion useless.

 

But in reality the whole Division is useless, because this government agency has turned into a total waste of condo-owners’ money. If the employees of the Division would just read – and follow – the words printed on top of the Division Home page, all would be great.

 

In very uncertain words it’s spelled out what this Division should be all about: “The Division of Florida Condominiums, Timeshares and Mobile Homes is charged with providing oversight of the Florida residential communities we regulate through education, complaint resolution, mediation and arbitration, and developer disclosure.”

 

But over the years more and more useless employees have been hired and the whole Division turned into a total disaster, who effectively ignored the fact that the Division was created to provide oversight and enforce the laws created by the Florida legislature.

 

Florida’s condo-owners are paying $4 annually for something that is not worth a dime. The employees of the Division plainly fail to do what they are being paid for!

 

Let’s face it: The idea of a Division enforcing the laws and making inexpensive – and fast – rulings on disputes is great – only the people manning the Division have totally failed to supply these services the condo owners are being charged for.

 

For many years CCFJ has tried to get the legislature to enact bills that would put HOAs (FS720 – The HOA ACT) under the jurisdiction of the Division. No more – since this Division is doing more harm than good to Florida’s condo owners.

 

In all reality the Florida Bar should have a bill filed that dissolves the whole Division – because it’s totally useless as is - caused by the unwillingness of the employees to do the job they are being paid for.

 

Then we could altogether work on creating an agency that would be providing oversight over Florida’s community associations. An agency that is really doing what it is tasked to do. Without employees who have obviously nothing better to do than writing ridiculous letters and waiting for their next paycheck.


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Jan Bergemann 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  

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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