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COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION MANAGERS ARE IN THE CROSSHAIRS- PART 1
By
Eric Glazer, Esq.
Published January 29, 2024
Representative Vicki Lopez, Senator Jennifer Bradley and
Senator Jason Pizzo have filed companion bills HB1021 and
SB1178. Leave no doubt, these bills take aim at community
association managers and community association management
companies.
I will tell you that in my 32 years of practice, too many
times management companies have refused to provide or return
copies of an association’s records after they have been
terminated by the association. These new bills address that
head on and provide:
468.4334 Professional practice
standards; liability.—
(3) A community association manager or
a community association management firm shall return all
community association official records within its possession
to the community association within 20 business days after
termination of a contractual agreement to provide community
association management services to the community association
or receipt of a written request for return of the official
records, whichever occurs first. Failure of a community
association manager or a community association management
firm to timely return all of the official records within its
possession to the community association creates a rebuttable
presumption that the association willfully failed to comply
with this subsection. A community association manager or a
community association management firm that fails to timely
return community association records is subject to
suspension of its license under s. 468.436, and a civil
penalty of $1,000 per day for up to 10 days, assessed
beginning on the 21st day after termination of a contractual
agreement to provide community association management
services to the community association or receipt of a
written request from the association for return of the
records, whichever occurs first.
I’ll say this…………it’s a law long overdue. Condominium
associations simply cannot function without a return of
their records and there is no reason for a management
company not to immediately return the records when fired.
Too many times I have seen the records kept by the
management company simply because they were peeved that they
were terminated.
This is going to be a very interesting legislative session
coming up. Community association managers and management
companies have long had their way in Tallahassee. It seems
like there are a few new Sheriff’s in town that are about to
change all that.
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About
HOA & Condo Blog
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Eric Glazer graduated
from the University of Miami School of Law in 1992 after
receiving a B.A. from NYU. He has practiced community
association law for three decades and is the owner of
Glazer and Sachs, P.A. a five attorney law firm with
offices in Fort Lauderdale and Orlando.
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Eric is Board Certified by The Florida Bar in
Condominium and Planned Development Law.
Since 2009, Eric
has been the host of Condo Craze and HOAs, a weekly one-hour
radio show airing at 11 a.m. each Sunday on 850 WFTL. Recently,
he moved the show to YouTube, transforming it into a more
dynamic and interactive experience. This move not only allows
viewers to engage in live chats with Eric and other participants
but also enables a broader audience to access free advice,
making valuable insights more widely available.
See:
www.condocrazeandhoas.com.
Eric is the first attorney in the State of
Florida that designed a course that certifies condominium and
HOA residents as eligible to serve on a Board of Directors and
has now certified more than 20,000 Floridians all across the
state. He is certified as a Circuit Court Mediator by The
Florida Supreme Court and has mediated dozens of disputes
between associations and unit owners. Eric also devotes
significant time to advancing legislation in the best interest
of Florida community association members.
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