SOME OTHER COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION PENDING LEGISLATION
By
Eric Glazer, Esq.
Published February 5, 2018
Representative George Moraitis has again filed a
bill, House Bill 1061, that would allow community associations
to opt-out of the requirement not only of a fire sprinkler
system, but also for an engineered life safety system. You may
recall that this was an extremely popular bill last year as it
seeks to save associations from spending a lot of money on an
engineered life safety system if the unit owners vote in favor
of same. There was only one vote in both the House and Senate
last year against the bill. Then, that terrible fire happened
in London, England and Governor Scott thought that in light of
that fire, it was best to veto the bill. Let’s see what happens
this year.
Representative Moraitis also filed HB 841 which
attempts to do a lot, including: for condos --- requiring
notices of special assessment meetings to specifically state
that assessments will be considered and provide the estimated
cost and description of the purposes for such assessments;
allowing for notices of a meeting on the association’s website;
clarifying that a Board can reject an attempted recall if the
ballots are not facially valid; provides for the award of
prevailing party attorney’s fees in recall cases under certain
circumstances; requires the votes for material alterations to
take place before the material alterations are commenced; allows
the Board to enter into a contract with a company that has a
financial relationship with a director if the relationship is
disclosed, 2/3 of the non interested board members vote in favor
of the contract and the owners have the right to cancel said
contract; clarifies the fining process and when the fine is due;
extends the time period for classification as a bulk buyer; In
an HOA, clarifies that Board members can communicate by e-mail
but cannot vote by e-mail; in an HOA incorporated after July 1st,
2018 or if an existing HOA votes in favor, requires reserves for
items that are anticipated to cost $100,000.00 or more to repair
or replace; in an HOA allows Boards to reserve for items that
are expected to cost in excess of $25,000.00 to repair or
replace and allows the owners to waive reserve funding; in an
HOA if an election is not required because there are either an
equal number or fewer qualified candidates than vacancies exist,
and if nominations from the floor are not required pursuant to
this section or the bylaws, write-in nominations are not
permitted and such qualified candidates shall commence service
on the board of directors, regardless of whether a quorum is
attained at the annual meeting.
Representative Charlie Stone has filed House Bill
377 which also attempts to do a lot, including: making a
community association manager or management firm personally
liable for damages if they unlawfully deny access to official
records, requiring developers of HOAs to turn over control of
the community by certain time deadlines as opposed to only
requiring turnover upon a percentage of sales, in HOAs, allowing
the DBPR to provide binding arbitration in disputes involving
covenants, restrictions, rule enforcement, and duties to
maintain and make safe pursuant to the declaration of covenants,
rules and regulations, and other governing documents; disputes
involving assessments; and disputes involving the official
records of the homeowners' association; in an HOA grants The
Department of Business and Professional Regulation the authority
to enforce and ensure compliance with Chapter 720 (The Florida
Homeowner’s Association Act) and rules relating to records
access, financial management, and elections of homeowners'
associations and grants the DBPR the authority to investigate
any complaint made to the department against a homeowners'
association; requires the seller of a home in an HOA to provide
a prospective buyer with the association's governing documents,
including the declaration of covenants, articles and bylaws,
rules and regulations, and operating budget for the current
year, and any amendment to such documents. The seller must
provide the prospective buyer with such documents at least 7
days before closing. The prospective buyer may terminate the
contract for purchase within 3 days after receipt of such
documents; allows owners in an HOA to file a lawsuit against the
developer if the developer abandons or fails to maintain the
amenities or infrastructure, fails to comply with the governing
documents, and prohibits a developer from using association
funds for a purpose not specifically authorized in a homeowners'
association budget adopted in accordance with the governing
documents and s. 720.303.
There is a lot of pending legislation this year.
Some bills won’t get far and some will. If you like or dislike
any of the proposed bills, now is the time to contact your local
legislators and let them know how you feel. Don’t wait until
it’s too late!
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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 more than 2
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decades and is the owner of Glazer
and Associates, P.A. a seven attorney law firm with offices in
Fort Lauderdale and Orlando and satellite offices in Naples,
Fort Myers and Tampa.
Since 2009, Eric has been the host
of Condo Craze and HOAs, a weekly one hour radio show that airs
at noon each Sunday on 850 WFTL.
See:
www.condocrazeandhoas.com.
He is the first attorney in the
State of Florida that designed a course that certifies
condominium residents as eligible to serve on a condominium
Board of Directors and has now certified more than 10,000
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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